Back Burner
Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, New York, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Regular|
Score
7.40
|
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“first brew of the year”
Long ago, British farmhouse brewers made special ales using the first runnings of the mash. These beers, now called barley wine, are brewed in the tradition of days past. At Southern Tier this long awaited brew is placed on the back burner until the start of the new year. Back Burner Barley Wine is a celebration of things to come and things remembered. It’s conceived in three small batches, using voluminous amounts of barley and hops. The process starts early in the morning and ends late into the night. We hope this rare brew reignites your spirit for another trip around the sun.
10% abv. • 15ºL
Long ago, British farmhouse brewers made special ales using the first runnings of the mash. These beers, now called barley wine, are brewed in the tradition of days past. At Southern Tier this long awaited brew is placed on the back burner until the start of the new year. Back Burner Barley Wine is a celebration of things to come and things remembered. It’s conceived in three small batches, using voluminous amounts of barley and hops. The process starts early in the morning and ends late into the night. We hope this rare brew reignites your spirit for another trip around the sun.
10% abv. • 15ºL
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7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Lovely golden-brown colour. Cherwy, lightly toasty barley wine nose with hints of alcohol and caramel. Chewy - very English - with slightly grassy/mossy hoppiness and a long sticky finish. Scrape your tongue after tasting this one.
Tried
on 22 Mar 2008
at 17:27
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Pours deep mahogany into a snifter. Mocha head with good retention leaves spot lacing as it recedes. Caramel and pine aromas. Sticky caramel upfront with a sweet grapefruit finish.
Tried
on 26 Feb 2008
at 18:58
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Thanks to decaturstevo for sharing this one. Clear deep amber with a small head. Complex aroma. Big malts that are held in check by some hop bitterness that balances yet lets the big malt shine through. Well done.
Tried
on 01 Feb 2008
at 06:39
8.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle: Poured a deep burgundy color ale with a medium foamy head with good retention and some nice foamy head with good retention and some nice lacing. Aroma of sweet caramel malt with some floral malt also discernable. Taste is also a well balance mix between some caramel malt with some notes of toffee, dry fruits with a floral and bitter hoppy ending. Body is slightly above average with some great carbonation and no alcohol was showing. Extreme take on the style but still well balance enough to be enjoyable.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Dec 2007
at 13:54
8/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Smallish yellow-orangeish head, over absolutely stunning burgundy to accajou beer. Cake bottom, apricot & orange marmalade, and fresh hops (C and other); faraway fusels and multitude of esters. Very fruity, and yet bitterish; all kinds of exotic fruit as lytchees, apricots, with hops and maple syrup-covered; in a very, very balanced way. Ends a bit spicy-peppery. This is absolutely great. After some oxydation to the air, it gets an aroma as from horse chestnut husk. A bit burning MF, ending a bit dry, even wry. Quinine in the aftertaste. Impressive beer. Just the lingering hops make it maybe a tad too bitter. Again thanks to puzzl!
Tried
on 01 Nov 2007
at 12:05
4.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 3
Texture 2
Overall 3.5
Bomber drunk on 10/3/07, 4 or 5 months of age.
Fantastic appearance. Huge amount of dark beige-yellow, frothy head that takes its time receding and leaves plentiful lacing. Fades to cover. Deep auburn-amber colored body is clear and full of carbonation, with no sediment on the bottom.
Appearances aside, this just about epitomizes what I don’t like about beer. First whiff garners some enjoyable and interesting fruity hop notes, but they quickly burn off and are not found again. In their place comes a more harsh, piney-citric hoppiness, tons of scratchy, dry caramel malts and oxidized, overly bready caramel malts. Very strong esters of strawberry and raspberry emerge on the end, but seem out of place. The alcohol is noticeable, burning through the finish. Syrupy residual sugars are found on the end, caramel-like and with little/no depth.
Flavor is a blast of palate-numbing pine-citric bitterness, with low amounts of actual hop flavor. Malts are crusty, scratchy and bare up front, gaining some help from the creamy-like consistency provided by the carbonation and ending on a syrupy-sweet, cloying caramel flavor. With breathing, I either get oxidation or a popcorn-like scratchy dryness (or both). Not my cup of tea, to say the very least. Went down the drain very quickly.
Fantastic appearance. Huge amount of dark beige-yellow, frothy head that takes its time receding and leaves plentiful lacing. Fades to cover. Deep auburn-amber colored body is clear and full of carbonation, with no sediment on the bottom.
Appearances aside, this just about epitomizes what I don’t like about beer. First whiff garners some enjoyable and interesting fruity hop notes, but they quickly burn off and are not found again. In their place comes a more harsh, piney-citric hoppiness, tons of scratchy, dry caramel malts and oxidized, overly bready caramel malts. Very strong esters of strawberry and raspberry emerge on the end, but seem out of place. The alcohol is noticeable, burning through the finish. Syrupy residual sugars are found on the end, caramel-like and with little/no depth.
Flavor is a blast of palate-numbing pine-citric bitterness, with low amounts of actual hop flavor. Malts are crusty, scratchy and bare up front, gaining some help from the creamy-like consistency provided by the carbonation and ending on a syrupy-sweet, cloying caramel flavor. With breathing, I either get oxidation or a popcorn-like scratchy dryness (or both). Not my cup of tea, to say the very least. Went down the drain very quickly.
Tried
on 31 Oct 2007
at 16:47
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
22 oz bottle; Nose of dark fruit, caramel, wheaties cereal, alcohol, and hops; dark rusty brown with a small beige head; flavor of dark fruit, bourbon, and light hop bitterness.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Oct 2007
at 23:22
7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bouteille 2007 (650ml), courtoisie de Hogtownharry. De couleur rouge-brune foncée et transparente. Nez malté de caramel toffee sucré légèrement rôti, de houblon citrique (pamplemousse) aux petites notes herbeuses et terreuses, fruité (raisins, prunes, léger d’agrumes, petites notes de figues), léger d’alcool et de biscuits ainsi que des notes de sucre brun. Moyenne-ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen-bas et une texture moyennement crémeuse et sirupeuse. Goût fruité (moyen de raisins et de prunes, notes d’agrumes, traces de figues) et accompagné d’un goût moyennement amer de houblon citrique (pamplemousse) et aux notes terreuses (présent toute la gorgée) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté de caramel toffee bien sucré et moyennement rôti ainsi qu’un léger goût de biscuits et de faibles notes de sucre brun et de chocolat noir parallèlement à un moyen goût d’alcool doux et un peu réchauffant puis en finale l’on assiste à un regain d’amertume de houblon légèrement plus terreuse et herbeuse ainsi qu’avec des petites notes résineuses. Post-goût long, moyennement amer de houblon citrique, légèrement herbeux et terreux avec un moyen goût rôti, fruité (moût de raisins, zest d’agrumes) et également un léger goût d’alcool.
Tried
on 25 Sep 2007
at 00:19
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Clear toffee body, medium cream head, patchy. Aroma of dense, burnt caramels, toffee, toast, and prickly alcohol. Big, faded citrusy hops punch the palate, coating the heavy, burnt caramel and toast malts with a bitter astringency. Basic, not stretching any boundaries. Southern Tier has a distinct yeast strain that leaves a dusty, slightly medicinal characteristic in all of their beers. Sweetness increases as the beer warms. Not bad, but rather plain.
Tried
on 17 Sep 2007
at 17:51
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Hazy dark ruby color; very thin head. The aroma shows some apples, less powerful than expected, with light hop flowers. Strong body, full malty, a lot of caramel flavor, very well combined with a strong hopping (85 IBU), of good quality. Hoppier than an English Barley Wine, maltier than an American Ale, it misses some stronger aromatic character, but it’s still very enjoyable.
Tried
from Can
on 24 Jul 2007
at 02:46