Draught at the brewery, 12/16/17.
Good clarity on this ruby-auburn beer with a small, dark beige head atop showing moderate retention.
Tons of bread crust, brown bread, dry caramel and light toffee give a very true impression of a small English barleywine. Throw in tons of fruity yeast and fruity malt with little/no hop character. No alcohol or flaw. Clean.
In the mouth it's chock-full of specialty malt. Caramel, bread and acidity from the malt, with red fruit, more bread, pretzel, heavy biscuit. The list goes on. Attenuation is very high as is the carbonation. Comes off slightly thin even and the heavy bread and dry malt character just exacerbates thing. Some fruity, juicy hops, more yeast character, softer base malt, more base malt sweetness. Needs at least one of those things....otherwise, it's clean and shows no alcohol.