Snow Blower
Austin Street Brewery in Portland, Maine, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Winter|
Score
7.14
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Snow Blower is our interpretation of an American barleywine. It packs plenty of toasted malt flavor featuring caramel and dark fruit with just enough bitterness to balance everything out. Weighing in at 10%, we recommend drinking this beer AFTER snow blowing, shoveling, or anytime you need a warming beverage during the cold Maine winter.
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8.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Flavor has rich caramel / toffee sweetness with plenty of fig and raisin. There is a light hop bitterness towards the end. Also a citrus hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium with a mild alcohol warmth after the swallow. This is exceptionally well-made barley wine that was NOT aged in a barrel with no adjuncts. Awesome!
Tried
on 22 Dec 2019
at 21:29
8.1/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Draught at the brewery, 2/17/17.
Almost a glowing ruby-copper with a light chill-haze but otherwise very nice clarity. Dark beige head atop is small but shows moderately-strong retention.
Layers of well-developed malt produce a clean, lightly bready character with notes of honey, dry caramel and a touch of vanilla. Esters and phenols as well as just a touch of spicy alcohol-like character add complexity and easily balance the relatively low maltiness (not undermalted, but it’s not a sugary mess like most barleywines). Red berry and other elegant fruit notes (apple, strawberry, very light cherry) perk up the finish with lingering caramel and bread.
Malty at first, with a typical caramel and honey-like character that integrates the fruitiness from the yeast and specialty malts to produce a moderately complex, balanced character with a soft texture and low but engaging carbonation. A "fuzzy" warming sensation is felt towards the finish, as the well-concealed alcohol tickles the palate while dainty fruit notes linger on. Bread, vanilla and more dry caramel notes are evident and the beer is well-attenuated but amply malty and supple for a barleywine. Very nice stuff; still a sipper, but well-made and drinkable. Reminds me of Aaron, though with less malt richness (less succulent raisin and toffee).
Almost a glowing ruby-copper with a light chill-haze but otherwise very nice clarity. Dark beige head atop is small but shows moderately-strong retention.
Layers of well-developed malt produce a clean, lightly bready character with notes of honey, dry caramel and a touch of vanilla. Esters and phenols as well as just a touch of spicy alcohol-like character add complexity and easily balance the relatively low maltiness (not undermalted, but it’s not a sugary mess like most barleywines). Red berry and other elegant fruit notes (apple, strawberry, very light cherry) perk up the finish with lingering caramel and bread.
Malty at first, with a typical caramel and honey-like character that integrates the fruitiness from the yeast and specialty malts to produce a moderately complex, balanced character with a soft texture and low but engaging carbonation. A "fuzzy" warming sensation is felt towards the finish, as the well-concealed alcohol tickles the palate while dainty fruit notes linger on. Bread, vanilla and more dry caramel notes are evident and the beer is well-attenuated but amply malty and supple for a barleywine. Very nice stuff; still a sipper, but well-made and drinkable. Reminds me of Aaron, though with less malt richness (less succulent raisin and toffee).
Tried
on 11 Apr 2017
at 19:30
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Northeast Bucket List Trip Beer #94. Keg at the brewery. Pours a slightly hazy red with a thin fizzy tan head. Poor head retention. Aroma of dark fruit and toffee. The taste is toffee, caramel, citrus hops. Medium bodied, bitter finish.
Tried
on 21 Feb 2015
at 20:03