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Stone Brewing has done a good job of retiring then bringing back old favorites by not going too overboard on but also not letting interest flag in beers like the newly back Old Guardian Barleywine. Though I do think that a 12oz can would be better for such a big beer.
Each year, I select a birthday beer. A marker of the past year and hopefully positive harbinger for the next. For 2024, I am drinking …..
A barleywine from Breakside, Life Volume 3.
Seemed apropos to have this as a birthday beer. Aroma is really super grain forward. Like wort almost without that odd young, green beer taste. Very much on the sweet side as well. 9.5% on the ABV but does not taste it in the least. There is a slight caramel note here but overall pretty straight grain which I find fascinating with each sip.
Even in the dog days of summer, I like to see barrel-aged beers released and Chapman Crafted, who recently hit their 7 year mark has a new one out…
“Oaks & Owls is our Barrel-Aged Barleywine aged in Blinking Owl Distillery (from nearby Santa Ana) rye barrels for 18 months. The American oak barrels give this brew a subtle spice with a hint of vanilla.This beer is malty and has notes of sweet bread, toffee, and dried fruit.”
The Bruery has a lot of very creative beers each year. I do scroll by many of them but each time I do see one or two that pique my interest. Such as….
…rye and barrel is just a great start and barleywine and smoked make things unique so I will look for it.
Barleywines are always sneaking around the periphery. They pop up here and there but never in stout numbers but there is a new one in Downtown LA at Hi-Def Brewing…
…you will be singing alto after the rye and bourbon.
Usually, I am a little late to online beer sales. The beer goddesses smiled upon me this time though and I snared one bottle of this Sierra Nevada meets Buffalo Trace barleywine.
Here is the description from the brewery, “Brewers hand-picked vintages of Bigfoot already aging in bourbon whiskey barrels — for up to 7 years — and after a final year in E.H. Taylor barrels, the beer that emerged was simply unreal, and at 15% ABV, full of immense flavor.”
Using the same packaging as the E.H. Taylor bourbon is a great choice, that is some classy, handsome, rugged design. Having it caged and corked is another high-end look.
BBAB pours a dark brown color with a streak of red to it. On the nose, the bourbon is not super big which came as a bit of a surprise (not the biggest one, get to that a bit later). This very smooth with close to a caramel taste to it. The rough, spiky hop notes in regular Bigfoot have been completely sanded down.
The biggest surprise is that this does not taste 15% or anywhere near it. Not in aroma, viscosity or taste. This is not a beer that you need to pace yourself with.
Overall, this was really good but I was letdown by the lack of bourbon.
Time to barleywine, two ways with Smog City Brewing. Bourbon O.E.
For 2022, there is the OG O.E. aa well as a special variant that “was aged in Garrison Brothers Balmorhea Bourbon barrels and is absolutly oozing with bourbon characteristics. If you love bourbon, this variant is not to be missed.”
Bourbon Barrel – starting with the standard bearer. it has a subdued initial nose to it. the bourbon and wood is there but I also get a cherry note that is followed by a soft vanilla. There is no mistaking that this beer is nearly 14% abv but it is not heavy at all.
Balmorhea Barrel – this aroma tickled my nose literally and figuratively. Leather and vanilla are the leads and the first sip yields caramel as well. Oddly is a bit more fizzy and with much less of an alcohol burn to it.
Amazing how different these two beers are but I would nudge the Balmorhea ahead of the standard. The toned down alcohol brought the other flavors up a notch in my view.
Arrow Lodge comes at the barleywine style with a caffeine twist with their new Arrow Pressed “smooth sipper” with beans from Valiant Coffee Roasters. Might be time to see how they spin the barleywine style.
Next up is a dickens of a beer from Silver City Brewing.
“Old Scrooge Christmas Ale is the brewery’s most award-winning beer. Through the years it has been awarded 13 medals that includes 6 from the Great American Beer Festival and one award from the World Beer Cup.
This take on an English-Style Barleywine is a malty ale that derives from a long boil time, cool fermentation and extended aging. Silver City uses a malt bill of NW Pale, British Pale, Caramel, and Munich with Columbus and Willamette hops.”
Unlike some, I like a good barleywine now and again and if it is from The Lost Abbey, you can double that emotion. But even more appealing is the idea forwarded by the Abbey of a “contemplative pause”. Good idea for all beers but even better for this beer style.