Brewer's Reserve: Bourbon Barrel Barleywine
(has 3 batches)
Central Waters Brewing Co. in Amherst, Wisconsin, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Series|
Score
7.69
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An American Barleywine Ale aged in used oak bourbon barrels, this beer develops rich flavors of dark fruits and wood that deepen over time.
**2008 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal Winner**
**2008 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal Winner**
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7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 10
Overall 7
Bottle @ home thanks to Mista. Slightly unclear red to dark red color, small to average sized beige to light brown head. Aroma is malts, sweetness, sugar, alcohol, bourbon, wood. Taste malts, quite boozy, strong bourbon but a bit alcoholic instead of smooth soft and sweetish vanilla wood flavors, sugar. A hint of bitter in the finish. Full body, suitable medium carbonation. Nice, but too boozy to be top notch imo.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Jun 2015
at 16:53
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Poured from a 12 oz 2015 bottle. Aroma has a lot of dark caramel and toffee notes with some burnt toast and a light chocolate note. Moderate raisin, fig and prune. Medium light oak and bourbon. Pours a murky brown with a bit of a copper hue and a small, fairly thick, tan head that exhibits decent retention as it recedes to the edges where it lingers. Medium lacing and legs. Flavor is moderately sweet with quite a bit of caramel and toffee. Some toasted bread and nuts with a hint of chocolate. Lighter fruit than the aroma, but still quite a bit of raisin and fig with lesser plum and prune. Some moderate oak with medium light bourbon. Medium high bitterness and a touch of alcohol. Mouthfeel is medium full bodied with medium carbonation. Low astringency and medium low alcohol warmth. Overall, a nice beer with a great aroma, but the flavor finishes a bit rough with too much bitterness and oak tannins. Nice malt presence, but could use a touch more bourbon as well.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Apr 2015
at 02:28
8.5/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
Bottle, 2012. Pours hazy reddish hazel, medium creamy tan head, that dissipates slowly leaving nice residual and decent lacing. Aroma is bourbon, vanilla, oak, dark sugars. Flavor follows, medium sweet, and light plus bitter, lots of dark sugars and bourbon vanilla flavors, a bit of oxidation. Fullish body, creamy mouthfeel.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Mar 2015
at 20:52
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bottle from West at Ale Alpharetta. Clear brown, with a thin, beige head. Caramel, lots of vanilla, oak, butterscotch, and light piney hops. Very sweet, with a light hop bitterness. Heavy body, creamy, and a little warming. Overall, this is a nice, bourbon forward beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Mar 2015
at 20:35
9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 10
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
12 oz bottle from bytemesis. 2014 vintage. Aroma consists of whiskey, wood, coconut, vanilla, raisin, molasses, licorice, cough drop--wow, this is right up there with the best of the barrel aged malt-driven beers I’ve ever had. Smells like rum bread. Pours muddy brown with orange tints and a one finger beige head that falls into a ring and skiff of foam fairly quick; laces a little. Taste is nearly as good as the aroma, with all descriptors in place. The only thing pulling it back a little is its harshness; it’s fairly boozy and the licorice/cough drop aspect is dominant in flavor, nearly astringent. Carbonation is average, body is full. Really tasty, but it’s a sipper.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Mar 2015
at 00:10
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle split in the hotel room, Tacoma, thanks to Ferris 07/11/14. Dark chestnut brown with a decent beige covering that retains well. Nose is dark toffee fudge, nutty, light spice, dates, cake mix, bourbon rinse, tangy dark fruit peel. Taste comprises sweet licks, bourbon well evident, prunes, dark fruit, toffee fudge. Medium + body, dine carbonation, drying close caked in dark fruit rinds and sweetish licks finsihing with lightly warming alcohol. Solid BW - Bourbon evident but doesn’t take over.
Tried
from Bottle
on 04 Jan 2015
at 13:24
7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle - Toffee, chocolate and boozy bourbon. Dirty reddish brown and a thin light brown head. Raisin, brown sugar, prune and a long sweet finish. Bourbon is much lighter in the taste than in the nose.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Nov 2014
at 02:11