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Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Special Out of Production|
Score
7.50
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But for the question of primary importance: What is the beer?
Well, it’s our Pretty Things barleywine. Inspired by malted barley, a tribute to the barleycorn. Yes, it’s simple, but that’s what barleywines are all about. Ever since brewing in England, Dann has dreamed of making a barley-focused beer using the malts of Yorkshire (and never hesitates to plug his favorite: Thomas Fawcett & Sons).
Give barley a chance and this mysterious little grain can do grand things!
To get the density of sugars needed for this sort of beer, we employed "double mashing". The brewhouse that we work on can only get to maybe 18 plato for a single running of wort: but we wanted 27 plato! So we combined two brews by running wort into the kettle and then using it to mash in the second batch. We don’t take credit for this idea. We’re certain it has been done many, many times before. But it wasn’t until Will Meyers (the great Cantabridgian Cervecero) brought this method to our attention that we realized we could brew a barleywine of proper gravity... (he never told us that he hadn’t actually performed this sort of brewing before!). Anyway, it works!!
We fermented with a blend of English and Belgian yeast strains that seemed to work quite well together fermenting down to 4 plato in short order (that’s 13.5% abv if you’re counting). Expect an aroma of juicy sultanas, malted milk balls, and alcohol deliciousness. It’s got a medium body and is a little more spritsy than we’re sure the Brits would like. Serve over 50 degrees fahrenheit in a stemmed glass.
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
2010 and 2013 bottles and a 2015 growlered keg pour. Down at SMOD, courtesy of Bob. What a fella. The 2013 bottle was best although there wasn’t much in it. Warming booze. Fig and plum and raisins. Sherry notes. Some oxidation. All in surprisingly good condition. Absolutely a treat to try. Gonna average the three out.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
22oz @ Sales Force. Appearance: very dark copper with a nice beige head. Aroma: malty, lots of caramel, some figs and maybe light hops. Taste: very sweet, lots of caramel and malts, lacks body, though. Overall: smells better, than it tastes. it is still good, but I expected a bit more based on the aroma.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle. Medium brown. Just a thin head. Alcohol and bubblegum phenols up front on the aroma, with the rest of the beer underneath. On the palate, soft body but the alcohol brings rough edges. There's a touch of dried fruits to add some fun to it.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
2015 bottle drank in 2020: Poured a deep burgundy color ale with a large off-white foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of caramelized malt notes with light toffee notes with light residual sugar notes is quite enticing. Taste is a great mix of caramelized malt notes with some toffee notes and light residual sugar notes. Body is about average for style with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Well balanced beer with right level of complexity and good drinkability.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8
650ml bottle. Clear, dark, chestnut colour with small, creamy, moderately lasting and lacing, beige head. Nutty, toasty, minimally smoky, malty aroma, earthy hints of Brazil nut, chocolately overtones. Taste is initially minimally dry, nutty malty with earthy hints of Brazil nut, a minimally smoky, woody touch, later sweet caramel malty with notes of toffee, nougat, a touch of treacle, milk chocolate, caramel, fruity hints of dried fruit, raisin, plum; lingering, sweet, malty finish, very well hidden alcohol. Oily to viscous texture, smooth and soft, minimally sticky palate, fine and gentle carbonation. Very tasty, extraordinarily harmonious at a high level of complexity, excellent mouthfeel, dangerously drinkable. Very, very nice.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
650ml bottle. (11.0% ABV) 2015 vintage. Pours a murky deep garnet with a small, creamy, long lasting, beige head that leaves curtains of lace. Sweet aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, caramel, bread, toffee, raisin and fig. Sweet flavour of toasted bready malt, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, chocolate, plum, cherry, raisin, fig and molasses with a dry, warming booze finish. Medium to full body with a smooth, sticky texture and soft carbonation. Nicely done. Well balanced, has some complexity and the ABV is well hidden.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
November 2015 bomber shared by AdamC on 7/29/17. Also on tap pretty much permanently at Deep Ellum over the years.
Clear, chestnut-ruby body with a dark beige head atop showing good retention for its age.
Warm malt and soft red fruit tones mix together showing cherry, plum strawberry and light caramel-toffee. Low on any annoying breadiness, excess of alcohol or oxidation (just a minor touch of that). Light peppery phenols is all you get as far as the alcohol here and it never comes off syrupy as far as the malt goes. Very English and quite well-done if you like those types of barleywines (I do, in as much as I like barleywines - which is not at all anymore, really).
Candied orange, plum, strawberry and bright cherry interlaced with dry toffee, raisin and caramel with biscuit, vanilla and pepper on the finish. Definitely some warmth and alcohol but it only serves to balance the malt, which is already nicely attenuated. Low but ample carbonation and a soft, malty texture that belies the specialty malt here. Very nice and has aged gracefully.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
22 oz bottle in a trade with ClarkVV awhile ago. This is dated Nov 2015. Deep mahogany brown with a good amount of carbonation left. Aroma is figs, mild caramel malt, dark fruit and a English ale yeast.
Flavor has bready malt, dark fruits, maybe mild Apple. Medium bodied with the booze almost hidden. No alcohol note or sugar. This aged pretty nice and enjoyable. Rest in Peace Pretty Things.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bomber from AFH. 11/2015 Bottle date. looks like caramel syrup. very filtered. no sediment. smells like caramel, chocolate and candy bar. This tastes great. caramel, creamy with butterscotch, old apple, sweet middle, dry oily finish. tasty.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Deep dark brown coloured body with a thinnish, fast-dying tan head and a touch of a muddied brown glow. Aroma toasted malt, alcohol, pit fruits, raisins, earth and a bit of caramel. Medium to Full-bodied; Strong rich malty flavour at first with alcohol, toffee, earth, grain and an oaky and cedar flavour up front that fades to a smooth caramel sweetness that finishes with some alcohol and bitterness from hops and unfinished sugars from caramel and fruits. Aftertaste is smooth-ish with some caramel strength and a dose of hops and bitterness coupled with oaky and dry flavours and finishing with a ton of alcohol warmth. Overall, a nice barley wine with good flavours and a rich finish showing some nutty and earthy finishes that shows some alcohol, but relatively smooth for the style. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Whole Foods in New York (Bowery), New York on 05-December-2016 for US$9,99 sampled at home in Washington on Christmas Day, 25-December-2016. Bottled: November 2015 // Purchased: December 2015 // Sampled: December 2016