7.9/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 6.5
Dark amber body with big white head. Full floral aroma. Malty taste with thick fruit stripes. Balanced finish
Tried
on 30 Apr 2022
at 21:39
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6.5
Tasting at Matt's, bottle; bottled December 2020
Dark amber colour; the bottle is gushing. Intense aroma of bourbon; vanilla, malt. The body is getting thinner, I suspect there has been an infection here (not an Old Ale acidification), eating up those sugars thinning the body, adding acidity, some Brett character, and adding much carbonation.
Rough, not completely disgusting, but this is definitively infected.
Dark amber colour; the bottle is gushing. Intense aroma of bourbon; vanilla, malt. The body is getting thinner, I suspect there has been an infection here (not an Old Ale acidification), eating up those sugars thinning the body, adding acidity, some Brett character, and adding much carbonation.
Rough, not completely disgusting, but this is definitively infected.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Mar 2022
at 01:38
6.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
500mL bottle, pours a deep dark amber brown with a large beige head. Aroma brings out bourbon barrels, dark fruits, and brown sugar. Flavour is gently tart, with bready malt, toasted caramel, a little bourbon, and just a touch of tartness. Malty, barrel-heavy and just tart enough to be to style. Pretty reasonably brewed to style. Not the most complex of the style, but for a non-English-brewed English Strong Ale, this is solid.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Mar 2022
at 05:32
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Amber, and hazy. On the palate, it's got some fruity tartness, lots of barrel. Deep maltiness. Medium body. A bit fizzy, but I like the deep fruit notes. Hit of alcohol in the finish. But really, there's good things but something missing. Maybe needs to be rounded out a bit, which probably should have happened in the barrel but didn't.
Tried
on 18 Mar 2022
at 05:32
7.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Keg! Murky looking pale brown. Lots of raisiny port aroma up front. Sweet and full-bodied, with rich port, all kinds of malt and just enough bittering hops. A touch of acidity helps this get across the palate. The base beer is balanced and cohesive; the barrel is dominant.
Tried
on 27 Dec 2021
at 18:15
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Keg! Murky chestnut brown. Thin head. Sweet, sticky aroma bringing plums and vanilla but I’d say the barrel is less assertive here than on the port version. On the palate, it’s big, muscular, with lots of dark fruits, and the barrel steps it up a bit. The base has that same solid balance, but here the barrel takes it in a desserty direction (I guess that’s the vanilla).
Tried
on 27 Dec 2021
at 18:13
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Golden amber, cask head. Light and juicy body…I haven’t had cask in forever so this is more about acclimating to it. So quaffable. Moderate bitterness, light marmalade type notes. Drinks very well. You just don’t get this kind of quality over here very often.
Tried
from Cask
on 27 Dec 2021
at 18:11
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Tasting at Matt's slaughterhouse, bottle; bottled JUL 2020, 1 year old
Hazy light amber colour. Simple aroma, barely some malt. Medium body strength, medium sweetness, some caramel, not the malth depth one would expect, very light smoke, some light fruity esters, and a tiny feeling of vegetable bitterness.
Good-ish. Simplistic.
Hazy light amber colour. Simple aroma, barely some malt. Medium body strength, medium sweetness, some caramel, not the malth depth one would expect, very light smoke, some light fruity esters, and a tiny feeling of vegetable bitterness.
Good-ish. Simplistic.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Dec 2021
at 08:34
5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Poured from 500mL bottle (bottled July 2020). Hazy copper orange with small off white head. Veg, caramel and light booze. Disappointing.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Dec 2021
at 05:25
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6
500ml @ Matt's parents' place with an unhidden scenic view. Appearance: murky dark golden with a white head. Aroma: weird for the style classic European lager hops, sweet, malty, caramel, a bit dirty. Taste: along the same lines, thick, moderately sweet, some caramel, quite bitter. Overall: no, apparently, these guys have no idea what English Barleywine is.
Tried
on 16 Dec 2021
at 05:23