SorAlaMA Oooh! Barleywine

As soon as I saw Barleywine on the menu my eyes lit up and I'd plotted my course to this beer from when I first entered the pub. The time was now to finally enjoy it.

Except, two things combined to ruin this supposedly epiphanous moment. The first was the beer itself. This is both the worst barleywine I've ever had, and probably not a barleywine. It's 8.1% abv so just squeaking into the appropriate scale, but that's not where I have the issue. It's quite a cloudy brown sort of colour rather than amber and puts out a scent that's far too sweet. It's an artificial, candy sort of smell with a green grape edge in there and nail polish alcohol to boot.

My first thought on tasting it was that I should have ordered a smaller glass. It has a character of tart fruit and sugar, mildly reminiscent of Japanese umeshu. The flat mouthfeel is smooth enough but this is oddly sour, dry, solvent-like and just downright unpleasant. It's not a hopped up US Barleywine, or a pleasantly malty / smooth and deep English variant. I'm not one to protect beer class definitions by any means but this is no barleywine. I just don't know what to call it instead.

The second thing to ruin the experience was the staff. Yes, I turned up on a weeknight and maybe I'm spoiled at the excellent Sail and Anchor but witness this exchange:

Staffer: "What are you drinking there?"
Me: "A pretty bad barleywine, unfortunately"
Staffer (confused): "Oh, have you been to Bali then?"

Cue momentary confusion and massive facepalm. It's written on your damn menu board for chrissakes, apart from anything else. It's like serving these freaks continuously ordering cider and James Boag's Premium Light has rotted either the brains or the enthusiasm of most here.

Oh and Russian Imperial Stouts aren't necessarily from Russia either you idiots.

2.0

Green Flash Barleywine

The 2011 edition for reference.

First things first, this pours excellently, what a ripper body and head profile, just looks sensational. Mouth = watering. Full marks.

Aroma is primarily stonefruit, sweet fruit smells, some alcohol but only if you strain for it.

Wow. Flavour. This beer is really very flavoursome. FLAVOUR is what this beer screams while cold. Notes of toffee apple colour a wide progression of round flavours, it's well hopped to boot, feel like this is a tightrope balance they've somehow walked, mad skills. It's smooth without being heavy or torpid like these can sometimes get - indeed, if anything it is quite light bodied for the style.

The snag with this beer is an unexpected one - oddly, it actually gets a little worse as it warms, possibly due to its comparatively lightweight body. There's a bit too much red apple and watery red grape going on if you leave it, and the nose similarly worsens to reveal a few more stripped back nail polish alcoholic notes.

Quite a different barleywine and well worth a try.. impressive lightness but whether this is desirable is maybe a matter of personal choice. 7.5

Mikkeller Big Worse Barleywine

After loving Boogoop I was fairly amped for this beer.

Hmm.. poured without a great deal of head and a powdery mid-brown colour. Not the most attractive beer initially. Boozey nose, sweet malts, sugar, raisins.

It's pretty hot in the mouth too, the alcohol very evident to me, certainly more so than in comparable abv barleywines tested previously. But at the same time there's a slight lack of roundness in the mouthfeel. Flavours mirror the aroma, not much hop astrigency to back up the raisin cake character, bit heavy and sweet to my palate.

All in all then.. a bit of a disappointment to be honest. There are better options in the barleywine space. 6.0

North Coast Old Stock Ale 2012

Another barleywine, hooray!

This one's a fair bit removed from the frankly excellent other two tested - pours a totally different hue and with a more docile (read: elusive) head characteristic too. Sits heavy and portly in the glass.

Orange and marzipan come through on the nose.. quite light compared to the others and given its power at . Quite sticky in the mouth, heavy feel, malty flavour profile, some dark fruits in there too, bread, pudding, sultana, alcohol.

I'm aware this is one to be cellared etc ideally but at present all I can do is review what's in front of me - and at this stage it's just not that crash hot. Like Michael Clarke pre-captaincy, North Coast continue to talk a good game with a lot of fans but not really deliver at the highest level, to my palate at least. 6.0

Mikkeller / Three Floyds Boogoop

Growler time! And what better way to start than with 2 whole litres of a barleywine that clocks in at 10.4%?

That's 16.4 standard drinks right there, so even with a couple of people, depending on the character this could well have been a struggle. That it vanished with no trouble other than a lingering feeling of sorrow was a very good sign.

Pours beautifully this, attractive orange colour and a creamy lasting head that roils and furls. Aroma presents big hops, backing malt and various fruits, all really well balanced and enticing. Full marks for presentation.. this is mouthwatering.

Lovely mouthfeel to this, it's as heavy as befitting a beer of this girth but easy drinking too, warms the throat without bashing you about with its alcohol at any point. Notes of orange fruit and malts start the profile, followed by a wash of bitterness. All really top drawer stuff, very classy.

In short, bloody delicious. Just wish there was more.. 9.5

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale 2012 edition

This is one of those 'celebrity' beers, which are immediately tweeted about by their beer purveyors on entering stock, and then sell out almost instantly. The bandwagon was mounted, and the wallet emptied.

It's also the first barleywine on record.. 9.6% and daarrrrkk pour out of the bottle. Looks like a heavy rye or something at first glance. There's slight carbonation but not intrusive, and a nice lingering fluffy head.

Wow, this is a riot of flavours. There's orange there, stringent bitterness throughout, and heavy malt disguising the alcohol, which really doesn't manage to make its presence felt in aroma or taste. Heaps going on throughout the mouthful including pine and slight honey (?) but it's not hard to drink at all.. certainly not compared to most other things at this sort of range. Even appreciate the oily sort of mouthfeel, it's just right. Really enjoyed this a lot and recommend to anyone coming into winter time, if only to give you a break from all those excellent stouts and porters.

Not sure specifically if it's this beer, or the style that I'm digging but regardless this is a very pleasant way to imbibe nearly 3 standard drinks to the bottle. Looking forward to cellaring a couple and charting the improvement (or otherwise) also. If they last that long. 8.5