Bottle. Red brown colour with no head. Aroma is sweet, alcohol, caramel. Flavour is alcohol, sweet, roasted, caramel, fruits.

Rating #1000!
And glad I am that I didn’t have to resort to Harrison’s Millennium! Corked 275 ml bottle, poured into goblet. Close to a ten-year old beer, my oldest so far. Sweet wine and honey smell. Pours bubbly with a thin head and a sherry colored body. Most of the conditioning yeast stayed behind in the bottle, so mine is nicely clear. Smelling it in the glass, I pick up some of the cork. That carries through to a sort of corked red wine taste. A little sour, yes. Grape taste laced with alcohol rather than a fine wine. These impressions overwhelm any basic malt & hops notes. I liked the initial impression, but it does run too far off what I think was intended by the brewers. Or maybe this is what we should expect from a ten-year old corked ale. Still interesting, and a nice choice for my ascension to beer godhood (cue trumptes).
Thanks to kramer17801 for sending this in trade last year!

Bottle consumed on 10/6/2006.
Gales appearance. Flat, somewhat murky even when trying to pour carefully. Purple-magenta-maroon tinges throughout a deep copper-garnet body. Film is left as it recedes but no head and thus no lace.
Chocolate covered prunes in the nose, with very sharp cedar notes, heavy alcohol graininess and a very large helping of plummy/grapey vinousness. Oxidation present, but it’s not cardboard and works well in Gales beers, I have always thought. More of a light brandy and port mixture, though not sweet like port. I guess the alcohol harshness is rather disconcerting, but the calvados dries things out and balances the malts well. Medium strength of aroma.
Thick, oily, chocolate-caramel begins the flavor, with grapes, prunes and light brandy soaked raisins. The calvados emerges, pleasantly I have to say, in the middle, with very dry tannins and almost a charred wood flavor. It crescendos in to the finish, gathering some alcohol warmth with it. Oxidation again is more in line with something like Thomas Hardys. If you don’t like Gales beers, this is going ruin your night, but I found it strangely appealing, and though the calvados is borderline overdone, I found enough flavor from it to get me through it. Oily, nearly flat texture. Would like to try this again down the road.

This is the seventh beer in our June 11th Old Ale Blind Tasting. It finished in 8th place. Courtesy of fishingnet.

Pours dark brown with zero head. First thought is that this has gotta be Gale’s. The aroma is fruity esters getting eaten up by tart brett and some earthiness. The flavor is dark dark dark fruit like dates and very ripe chilled cherries, some tartness as well as rich creamy caramel. Yummy. I also get some faint soy and tartness to go along with toffee and more caramel into the finish.

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 1996 vintage (this puppy is 10 years old!!!). Dirty brown color with no head. The aroma was a typical sweet dark fruit and slight caramel Barleywine odor. There was also a hint of red wine and vinegar. The mouth feel was thin like a red wine and it also tasted a bit like one too. The flavor components were sweet red wine grapes, a tart grape note, peaty, smoky and a tad sour. This flavor combination actually works pretty well. Very Enjoyable.

Cask. Amber, quite hazyish colour with small, but longlasting off white head. Aroma is caramel, roast and flowery hops as well as a bit earthy. Flavour is wood, caramel and fruity hops. Light touch of licorace and roast once it gets a bit warmer (served at 10 C)

Sampled at the Richmond Beer Industry Gathering 2006. Bottles 2001-2003. Clear amber body with no head. Sweet spice and caramel aroma. Dry clove flavor, with some vinegar in the background. 2002 Bottle had noticable butter to the aroma and flavor, possibly an off bottle?

2002. I’m not sure what to think of this. Reminds me of an English barleywine. The beer is still. There is lots of sourness which I believe is from the oak aging. Some balsamic vinegar, a little fruit. The alcohol is well hidden. The only flaw is the very thin palate.

Bottle Vintage 2005. Frothy white fair fully deminishing head. Redamber colour. Nice powerfull aroma. Strong bittter flavor with cinnamon notes. Creamy almost syruply palate.

Vintage 2001. A hazy amber beer with a fast disapearing beige head. The aroma is sweet alcoholic with strong notes of peaches, while the flavor is oxydiced malt with strong fruit notes - the strongest being peaches and citrus.