7.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Draft. Murky brown beer with a tan head. Bourbon and toffee aroma. Bourbon and big vanilla flavor with caramel/toffee. Medium-plus bodied. Bourbon and big vanilla linger with caramel and light dark fruit.

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Can, undated as far as I can tell, but purchased recently and matching the 2025 abv on UT, though not the description. In fact, I can't make much sense of any of the descriptions. The can I'm drinking does not specify a bourbon, nor does it use rye barrels, and is listed at 18 months of aging. Drunk 12/18/25, as pictured.
Smells sticky-sweet with lots of gooey, cakey vanilla and toffee. Bourbon just present enough to mostly balance, though I wouldn't hate a bit more. Some peppery heat but no overt alcohol.
More bourbon in the flavor, thankfully, with a pineapple and coconut (light) character from the wood and liquor. Peppery, dry heat with rich fig, toffee and vanilla. Lingering bourbon spice with a nearly syrupy texture at points, though ending a bit more dry than it begins. Very burly, big, rich and intense.

8.3

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Sample during Blarney Wine Festival 2025 on 03/15/2025. Dark chestnut color with a medium thin light beige head that dissipates quickly to a wispy film. Sparse spots of lacing on the glass. Aroma of roast malt, rye, oak and dark fruit. Full-bodied with flavors of oaky bourbon, vanilla, charred malt and dark fruit. The finish is oaky with a bourbon and malt aftertaste. Good Barley Wine all around.

8.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Bottle, 500 ml shared with Luka, MiroB, kajser27, Cvrle, JFK10000. Brown with small beige head. Caramel, toffee, some vanilla, figs, not super intensive, smooth. Medium bodied.

8.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Bottle at home. Pours deep reddish amber, nose is caramel, vanilla, coconut, berries, raisin, taste is similar, sweet, lots of barrel.

8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Rated at Nilsiä. Sweet and intense malty with some bourbon, vanilla, prunes, oak, figs, toffee and caramel.

8

Delicious

8.3

Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8

Barleywine by Jackie O’s, at Bar Beenhouwer. Thinnish and open, pale greyish white, dissolving head over a misty, deep amber-glowing ruddy-bronze beer, clouded with sediment. Aroma of pecan nut pie, almond paste, candied cherry, marzipan, strong vanilla-scenting oak wood, cognac, dried cranberries, sweet sherry to even white port, wet leather, nougat, fig jam. Sweet onset, candied fig and yellow raisin with some dried peach mixed in, softishly carbonated with rather thick-oily, vinous mouthfeel; toffeeish, pecan-nutty and peanutty maltiness with a thick layer of old brown honey- and nougat-like sweetness on top, acquiring soft herbal hoppy notes providing some balancing bitterness – but at no point does the whole become ‘American style’ bitter and sweetness remains dominant, so I guess this Prodigality comes closer to classic English barleywine than to typical postmodern American barleywine. Lovely retronasal vanilla effects from oak wood, marzipan and yellow raisin notes and warming cognac-like alcohol further grace a long, soothing, complex finish. Rich, sweet in a layered way (and perhaps a tad too sweet for some) but incredibly solid and ‘profound’. Great barleywine, but I was not expecting anything less from Jackie O’s.

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

On tap at Jackie O's, pours a clear copper amber with a small beige head. Aroma brings out soft bourbon barrels, dry English caramel malt, and bready malt. Flavour is complex and sweet but not cloying, with lots of caramel, honey-like sugars, and bourbon. A little on the sweet side for me, but there's a nice integration of flavours. Very nice.

8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Sample at the production facility as part of Ohio Brew Week on 07/11/2021.