Deschutes Mirror Mirror 2009 Re-Review

This is another beer generously donated by my friend Maggs. Thanks again, Maggs! I had this beer once when it was fairly fresh, so it will be very interesting to see how it is now, both in regards to the age in the beer and the change of my palate. You can read my original review here.

Stats:
Barleywine. 11.0% ABV. 30 IBUs. Oregon. Limited Release.

Rose and caramel in color with just a tiny bit of head on top.

The nose is outrageous. I’m getting some caramel, figs, wine, oak, brown sugar, vanilla, and a hint of mint.

Mouthfeel is huge, but the carbonation is still all there.

Sweet, boozy, sweet, oh and boozy. Holy crap, the alcohol has not calmed down at all and my mouth is on fire. Everything that you get on the nose, is on the palate, as well. It’s quite sweet still and has a huge finish of figs, dates, and vanilla.

Wow. I’m really surprised by the booze and the sweetness. The hops have begun to break down, creating a menthol-mint action, but it’s still a huge, full-flavored bruiser of a beer. 92 points.

Hale’s Rudyard’s Rare Barleywine 2007

Can’t say much about this beer because Hale’s has an old and terrible website. This bottle was given to me from my friend Maggs, thanks Maggs! This is an 07 vintage, so it will be interesting to see how well it’s held up.

Stats:
English Barleywine. 10.0% ABV. Washington. Limited Release.

It’s got a very “coke” like appearance with no head and a raisin color. There was a ton of sediment in large chunks.

The nose is very dark and sweet. There’s molasses, raisins, plums, whiskey, prunes, and a bit of booze.

Mouthfeel is medium with a little bit of carbonation. I’m surprised the carbonation is still fairly present.

Raisins, plums, whiskey, vanilla, molasses all come through. There’s a wonderful hint of coffee and vanilla on the finish. Surprisingly bitter. The length features a beautiful espresso flavor.

Wow. This is really damn good. It has held up very well, and doesn’t taste oxidized at all. I wouldn’t expect this to be a beer from 2007. 93 points.

Beer Club 12/10/11 Winter Seasonals

Yes, I’m finally getting around to posting a recap of the last beer club. This one might be on the shorter side, because we consumed the largest amount of beer for a beer club yet. It was also the smallest crowd that we’ve had for a beer club. So we drank a lot. I grabbed a bunch of random Winter seasonals. Some are my favorites, and some I just thought would be interesting.

We started with the Winter Bock from Silver City. This one was actually a big hit. It’s an easy-drinking beer, with a hint of sweetness, which went over very well.

The 10 Degrees Below is one of my favorite seasonals from this state. It’s a weizenbock, which makes it an interesting, and delicious, twist for the season.

Moving back to Silver City, we have the Old Scrooge. This is actually considered an English Barleywine. I have to say that the beer seems like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. It’s more like a cross between a winter warmer and a barleywine. I don’t think this one was a winner for anyone.

Moving on to a winter warmer from Oregon, the Laurelwood Vinter Varmer went over pretty well. It’s an alright beer, but doesn’t blow me away, especially with all the other great examples out there.

Then one of my favorites, the Deschutes Jubelale. I love this beer, but it didn’t seem to be a huge hit that night. It’s my favorite winter warmer, and it’s just a delicious beer. This year’s batch is actually quite a bit different, but every bit as excellent as last year’s.

And now for something a little different. This hopped up New Belgium Snow Day actually went over pretty well. Even though it’s a hoppy mother of a beer, the bitterness was on the lower side, which made it fairly drinkable for the rest of the club. I was expecting people to hate this, but they didn’t.

And here’s another one of my favorite Winter beers. This barleywine was a bit too much for everyone, except the one person who is a big fan of barleywines. I love this beer, and I’ve got one stashed away for next Christmas.

To end the night, we had the imperial stout from Port Brewing called Santa’s Little Helper. The beer was surprisingly light for an imperial stout, but it still had a bite. I wish we would have had this one before the HotD barleywine, because it wasn’t a very roasty beer and the hops from the barleywine really destroyed the palate.

We’ll see you next month!

Real Ale Sisyphus 2010

This is is the final review for the Real Ale’s I got from Ben (@bttreemonkey). I accidentally deleted the review of the brown ale, but I’ll just tell you that it was a decent beer and standard in the brown ale category. But this one I was really excited about, mainly because it has one of the best looking labels I’ve seen. It’s a barleywine rolling in at 10-11% ABV,

Stats:
American Barleywine. 10.0% ABV. 77 IBUs. Texas

Fairly orange in color and not a whole lot of head.

Typical barleywine style aroma with heavy malt and sweetness coming through. This has a lot of toffee and caramel, hint of vanilla.

An absolutely huge mouthfeel, chewy and a bit cloying.

Orange, caramel, vanilla, pineapple, and toffee, with a nice hop bitterness and balance.

This barleywine is a little bit lighter and brighter than most which brings some light fruits. This beer is considerably sweet, even for a barleywine, which makes it a huge beer and can probably age extremely well. Set a few of these aside and try them out in a year or two. 91 points.

Anchor Old Foghorn

This barleywine uses only 2-row and Cascade hops, and hails from San Fran. I’ve always been a fan of their steam beer, but havn’t had much else.

Stats:
Barleywine. 8.8% ABV. California.

Dark caramel color with not much head.

Fairly typical barleywine aroma. Lots of sweetness, caramel, vanilla, alcohol, brown sugar, and some dark fruit.

Mouthfeel is alright, but more highly carbonated than most.

Lots of sweetness here, even for a barleywine. Again lots of caramel, dark fruits, brown sugar, baked apples, and a nice vanilla backend. Alcohol does show a bit when it’s warm.

Fairly straight-forward and typical barleywine. 89 points.

Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws ’10

This is HOTD’s November release. It’s a big, west coast style barleywine with a whole lotta hops. This one might be a tad hard for some of you to find, at least their beers are for me. Let’s see how this tastes.

Stats:
Barleywine. 11.0% ABV. Oregon.

Dark caramel and red, and quite murky. Leaves a fantastic head and lacing.

There are a ton of aromatics on this one. Very hoppy, but also has a malty caramel component with a bunch of sweetness. A ton of pine on this one. Reminds me a lot of Bigfoot.

Very heavy mouthfeel. This is as thick as they come, but it does actually bring a lot of carbonation as well.

Lots of pine resin, brown sugar, molasses, apricots, honey, lemon. Lots of flavors here. I feel like someone put a forest in my mouth but then topped it off with some honey and brown sugar.

I generally say that barleywines need to be aged…but this one really does. This is like that red wine that is so tannic it needs to sit for 5 years to be drinkable. But don’t get me wrong, you can drink this now if you can stand the sweetness. Very well made beer, and akin to SN Bigfoot. If you want those hops, here you go. 91 points.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Jack and Ken’s Ale

This is the third release of the 30th Anniversary beers from Sierra Nevada. I was pretty excited about this one. I believe it is supposed to be a cross between a porter and a barleywine. I don’t think I’ve ever had a barleywine like this, with more roasted malts. It should be an interesting take.

Stats:
Barleywine. 10.2% ABV. California.

Dark, dark brown. Almost black, but not quite. I’ve had this open for awhile, but still keeps a tan head.

The nose is amazing. It’s like a barleywine, but with all this chocolate and a banana aroma….like chocolate covered bananas!

The mouthfeel is actually surprisingly thick and full bodied.

Mmm, so much chocolate with this beer. It’s barleywine-ish but with this roasted malt quality. There is a lot of chocolate, and a bit of roast flavor with banana and baked apples. There is a bit of alcohol, but doesn’t bother me.

I was surprised by this beer, and was absolutely floored. I love this beer, and you have to try it. It’s simply delicious. 94 points.

Full Sail Old Boardhead Reserve ’10

This is the 20th release of Old Boardhead. We mentioned this beer on GtwF, and had to grab it when I saw it in the store. I had the ’08 release and was rather pleased by it, so I’m hoping this will not be a let down, either. Besides, you can’t find too many barleywines this cheap. This beer features Centennial and Crystal hops and has a whopping 91 IBUs.

Stats:
Barleywine. 9.0% ABV. 91 IBUs. Oregon.

Burnt orange color, slightly on the lighter side for a barleywine. No head.

Typical barleywine nose with sweetness and malts coming through. Quite a bit of brown sugar and just a tad bit of pine.

Good mouthfeel, light to medium bodied with higher carbonation making this a pretty easy drinker.

Interesting palate. Quite fruity, it surprises me, but also has that “typical” barleywine flavor with some sweetness and lots of malts. There is a lot of orange and nectarine flavors that really rock the palate. Alcohol is only slightly apparent. The sweetness is actually pretty well contained. Definitely some hops here, but can’t tell that the IBUs are so high. Some nice vanilla and brown sugar notes on the finish, which lasts quite awhile.

This beer doesn’t disappoint. I’m surprised at how easy drinking this beer is right now. Slightly lower alcohol than some barleywines, but this doesn’t have as much sweetness either, making it a great fresh barleywine. Aging might suffer because of that, though. This is a surprisingly fruity and easy drinking barleywine, so grab it now! 91 points.

Alaskan Barley Wine 2009

This barley wine features “glacier-fed water, northwest hops, and premium two-row and specialty malts.” So not very specific there. But this is a limited release like most barley wines and is apart of their “Pilot Series”.

Stats:
Barley Wine. 10.4% ABV. Alaska.

Typical barley wine color with a brown, caramalized color. Not any head on this.

Very sweet nose with caramel, but there is this weird, food like smell that I can’t place exactly. Actually, I think what I get is some mushrooms, yeah. And just a little bit of hops.

Medium to full bodied with a slightly high carbonation, but pretty nice mouthfeel.

Not as sweet on the palate, but has that caramel and mushroom thing going on, with a little bit of orange and cherry. There is a hint of oak and vanilla, and a tiny bit of bitterness, but really vanilla-y on the back end which I really like. I’m also getting a bit of tobacco on the back.

Not a bad beer and surprisingly approachable at this age. 90 points.

Pike Old Bawdy 2007

I found this ’07 Pike barley wine a few weeks ago, and finally picked it up. The hops and malts actually change in this beer from year to year, but it most likely has some combination of Pale, Wheat, Crystal, and Peated malts with Columbus, Magnum, Cascade, and Centennial hops. This is actually the first year that the Pike brewery has bottled this beer in a 22oz. Bottle.

Stats:
Barleywine. 10% ABV. 90 IBUs. Washington.

A light caramlized color with a decent tan head.

Very fruity nose with sweetness coming through. Lots of caramel with brown sugar, lemon, plums and raisins. Nice nose. Smells a lot like a nice dessert. Really fresh smelling too. Just love this nose. And there is actually a menthol thing going on as well, that you can get on aged barley wines.

Medium to full bodied but actually has considerable carbonation.

A lot of sweetness and fruit on the initial attack, and all fruit in the mid-palate. There are dark and light fruits jumping around my mouth with a nice bit of bacon and brown sugar. The finish is where some hops come in and creates a slight bitterness, and a hint of alcohol.

Really not too bad. It could use some improvement, but I really do enjoy this barley wine. 92 points.