Rating #8006, Beer #14 of 17 (8 beers on either side of #8000 plus the magic 8000th itself) Sampled as a Vertical Tasting of a ~7 year old can and a ~4 year old can, both kept in identical places in my condo/house while I moved and kept up saving these for the past four and seven years. Perfectly, crystal clear copper and deep amber coloured body with a brilliant ruby-tinted copper glow when held up to a light, and all with almost no head at all on the ~7 year beer and a single centimetre tall off-white head that shows on the ~4 year old batch. Aroma of the seven year old batch shows as a soft toffee and robust, earthy pungency with some very soft caramelised sugars and a touch of malt without much else and hardly any alcohol. Aroma of the four year old batch shows as much more assertive and pungent with some scotch whiskey, oak, barrel and charred oak notes with a dash of caramelised sugars towards the very end, but this is definitely stronger than the seven year old batch in the nose. Mediium-bodied; The seven year batch shows as a very nice soft and enjoyable sweetness from carmelised sugars, toffee and some very soft dry and deeper metalic and hoppy notes tha show the slightest amount of bitterness, around. The four year batch shows much more of a defined, woodsy, piney and floral hop flavoured beer with a lot of light bitterness and charred oak notes with some mellow sweetness, seemingly from fruit, with a bunch of other deeper and earthy grainy and malt notes that finish this one off pretty nicely. Overall, a very deep and complex beer, as you'd expect from the style that focuses on the pitted fruits and oak, dry, earthy flavours. I definitely preferred the 7 year old can over the 4 year old can, in terms of flavours, effervescence and especially complexity and drinkability. There was MUCH less pungency in the 7 year old can, and had almost the same amount of flavours without losing too much in terms of complexity or body with the extra 3 years. While I realise that not everyone can age a beer 7 or even 4 years before drinking, it's definitely worth something if you can snag a barley wine or other deep beer, hide away for a while and stumble across another of the same beer many years later in order to do a vertical tasting of some old beer, for an important beer milestone! These were the fourteenth beers of my 8000th celebration, the sixth on the 'other side' of 8000, but it was well worth saving both of these to sample vertically, some four and seven years later. I sampled these two 8,4 ounce (250 mL) can, purchased from La Bodega in Anchorage, Alaska on 23-May-2013 for US$2,85 alongside the same, 8,4 ounce can purchased from Whole Foods in Tyson's Corner (Falls church), Virginia on 10-March-2016 for US$2,89 sampled both at my house here in Washington on 03-May-2020 as Beer #14 of the 8000th Beer Celebration. 7 year old rating: 9,3,8,4,17 4 year old rating; 8,4,8,3,16 10+ year old rating (24-November-2024) S: alcohol - toffee - deep sugars A: hazy apricot body - thinnish tan head T: rich malt - caramelised sugars P: pitted fruits - deep malts - earthy finish O: rustic - complex...still...somehow - basement-y 8,4,8,4,16 Whole Foods: Tyson's Corner, VA, 23-March-2014 purchase, US$2,49

A rather formidable barleywine, boasting both the expected deep caramel-toffee-nut malt profile and a surprisingly fruity, balanced citrus hop backbone. The sweetness never grows overbearing, while the orange and lemon notes couple with berry undertones to provide a punch-like complexity before settling into a prolonged but manageable bitterness. A year has taken away almost all the boozy warmth, leaving a chewy, hefty texture that makes it way too easy to kill a can. Damn fine beer.

American-style barleywine apparently named after Cornelius De Boom, a Belgian entrepreneur drawn to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, making it to Honorary Belgian Consul with a street named after him - just round the corner from 21st Amendment. From a smallish and narrow, 250 ml can at BeerTemple in Amsterdam; apparently the first craft beer filled in this volume, intended to translate the old small English barleywine bottle concept to the 21st-century ’craft beer can’ idea. Lightly lacing, egg-white, moussy, stable head over a hazy deep orangey amber coloured beer. Intense, very seductive aroma of biscuit, orange zest, dried mango, brown rum, honey liqueur, marmelade, parsley, pink grapefruit, bourbon, lychee, pine resin, mandarin. Intense, yet ’clean’ fruitiness in the onset, a basket filled to the brim with ripe mango, lychee, granadilla and tangerine, sweet and ’candied’ with a balancing sourishness around it, soft carbo, very vinous, very oily, thick mouthfeel. Very biscuity, bit caramelly and very lightly nutty malt body, thick, syrupy and rich with honeyish sugary sweetness on top but near the end dried by a very potent hop dosage, very resiny, piney, grapefruity and ’tropical fruity’, orange peel and exotic pepper bitterness, paired with a glow of bourbon-like, very warming yet non-astringent alcohol. Very intense beer even for this style, but utterly delicious and rich, potentially the best American-style barleywine I ever had, with strong IIPA-like tendencies like many other Californian interpretations of this style.

Imported from my RateBeer account as 21st Amendment Lower de Boom Barleywine (by 21st Amendment Brewery):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 17/20, MyTotalScore: 4.1/5

16/I/17 - 8.4Fl. Oz. can @ Taco Monday (home) - BB: n/a, canned: XII/17/15 (2017-51) Thanks to Anthony for sharing the can!

Clear amber beer, creamy beige head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: quite some strawberry jam, fruity, peach, sweet, orange peel, zesty, some citrus. MF: soft carbon, medium to full body. Taste: sweet start, caramel malts, bitter hops, sugary touch, alcohol, some dried fruits. Aftertaste: alcohol, dry bitterness, caramel, alcohol, dried fruits, strawberry jam, vanilla, sweet, very nice beer! Also great story! :-D