7

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6

Backlog June 2009. Reddish brown body under a dense beige head. Strong aroma of malt, ripe fruit, caramel and alcohol. Taste is sweet malt, dry fruit, wood, alcohol and slightly harsh bitterness. Fine body with long lasting aftertaste. Several positive elements here, but ends up a bit raw and unfinished imo.

7.9

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

Purchased at the sterk, in Amsterdam during my first trip. Rich beer, a meal in the bottle, the alcool is really present, burning the throat, malty, plum. 02.09.2018

6

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

2014 vintage. Bottle from Bierkoning, Amsterdam. Aroma is sweet malt, grain, caramel, toffee, hoppy notes in the finish, touch of berries, caramelized sugar, alcohol. Flavour is sweet and moderate to medium hoppy bitter with a bittersweet finish. Quite boozy with alcohol burn. Body is above medium. Okay drinkable, but kind of rough harsh sugary malt boozy Barleywine, not my favourite.

5.6

Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5.5

It has been a long time since I've had this, but back in the 90s I found it a sweet, relatively run-of-the-mill BW with a herbal accent.

Today, it has a cloudy-murky appearance, and an amber-tan colour. There wasn't much of a head to start with but it's gone quickly. Lots of bubbles on the side of the glass, especially for such a sizeable beer. The aroma is sweet and malty. It's only been 9 months and you can smell already how sherryish this would be if I'd let it age. There's some breadcrusty richness to the malts, and all sorts of caramel. Hops are fairly background in the aroma, lending just a hint of herbal accent, and even that it almost lost in a slightly footy yeast character.
On the palate, it's thick, a little oily, and a little sticky. There is a slight carbonic prickle but just enough to drag this across the palate kicking and screaming. This is big chewy. My impressions from bygone years were pretty much on - this is a very standard BW. It definitely harkens to the formative years of the style in America, where big and chewy was all you needed to get respect. But these days, I like a little flair in my BW, and this doesn't really do that. It's very sweet, with just a shade of hop bitterness. But the malts are not dynamic, just more of that caramel/earth/sherry thing. I've had a lot of BWs like this. I still get that herbal accent, though maybe more sage whereas 10 years ago I thought juniper. It's not enough, though. At the end, the alcohol goes to the bash with the intense sugariness, with that dull earthy quality underneath. It's an uninspiring dynamic

bl

8.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8.5

Bottle at home. Nice darker red color, medium sized white to off-white head. Aroma is malty, more than I had expected. Just right for an old school barley wine indeed. Flavor is similar. Oh my, could it be, a real old school barley wine, malt forward, with a nice sticky texture, caramel notes, toffee notes, really, could it be?? Yes it is, an old school barleywine imo, firm malt base, good sticky sugary sweet notes, but in the end malt bitterness and sticky bitter notes dominate. Lovely barleywine imo, I use the way I like em!

8.4

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Fles 33cl in Putten gedeeld. 10,5%. Corn, stroperig, suikers, boozy, toffee, caramel, bitters, boozy, kruidig. Nadronk blijft lang hangen. (31-12-2019).

7.8

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

Hazy amber colour with thin head. Aroma and flavour are packed with sweet caramel malts . Smooth and dangerously easy to drink.

6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle. dark amber color. Plums and grassy herbal hops in both aroma and flavor. Malty sweetish, soft vinous notes. Woody finish. Nice.