Once Upon A Time In Manchester No. 2: Barley Wine
Cloudwater Brew Co in Manchester, Greater Manchester, England 🏴
Barley Wine - Barley Series|
Score
7.61
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Deep malt flavours slowly unfold with each sip, demanding you take the time to appreciate every nuance.
J.W. Lees have brewed Harvest Ale every year for the past 39 years. It's an honour for us to be able to use their house yeast - a culture that's thousands of generations old - to brew our Barleywine.
Turning our hands to the classics is our way of saying thanks to trailblazing breweries for the part they played in the rich history of British brewing.
This barleywine gives aromas of sauvignon blanc, toffee apple esters, with deep sweet cherry cola flavours. A hint of foam banana esters lean into a full bodied strong beer which is full of complexity. It's a thing of beauty.
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Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
16oz can I brought back from London. Pours a muddy brown, legs, wispy white head. Treacle and caramel and malt on the nose. Buttery. Dried leaves. Root veg. Flavor has booze and caramel, sticky toffee pudding, all the malt. Full, sticky but sweet too.
Caramel, raisins, sweet malts, strong
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Thursday 16th October 2025. Cobweb tasting session with four friends, almost every beer being very old or just 'out of date' (mostly very old). My place being the venue. 440ml can from Simon, in date and a lovely break from the cobwebs. Amber body, light brown bubbles on top. Sweet malty brew with a depth of alcohol that sits nicely within it's flavours, liked it.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Light in overall flavour for a barley wine. Some fig, a little bit of florals, sweet tobacco. Pours orange brown with decent head. Snallygaster.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Can @ Best Of Beers, Aalborg. Pours Dark ruby amber with a creamy White head. Malty depth. Dried fruit, toffee, caramel and sultanas. Smooth and vinous. Delicious. 4.2.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Draft pour at Snallygaster 2025. Poured a dark amber color with a small tan head. Aroma was big caramel, raisin, sweet dates. Flavor was nutty toasted caramel, with some tobacco leaf.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
440ml can from Cloudwater online store in Manchester. An amber/ruby/brown coloured pour with a thinnish off white head on top. Rich, sweet, malty, caramel, dark fruit taste, aroma is something similar. I rather like it but it's incredibly sweet and not really what I was expecting from a Cloudwater beer. Would drink it again, reminded me of a mellow Fullers Vintage. Decent enough sweet boozy blast!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Can at home picked up from 73 Enid Street probably. A mostly clear reddish amber brown coloured pour with a a loose beige cap. Aroma is nice layered brown sugars, apple, apple turnover, caramel, white raisin, brown sugars, some warming alcohol. Flavour is composed of medium sweet, layered toffee, caramel, apple, dried fruits, Palate is medium full, meaty, mellow carbonation.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
440ml can. Clear amber/ruby colour with some sediment, small off-white head. Aroma of dried fruits, toffee, figs, raisins. Taste of sweet malts, toffee, dried fruits, figs, raisins, foam bananas (after reading it in the description I instantly tasted them), brown sugar sweetness, gentle alcohol warmth. Full bodied, smooth. Really great English BW.