Why English Barleywine? To prove to myself that you don't need a lot of hops or lactic acid to make an interesting beer. Malt can be cool too. It's true.
I used rye in this beer to try to increase the malt complexity a bit over the more caramel malt focused previous versions. I think that part was a success - it has a very rich pleasing matiness.
I also decided not to oak this one during its aging period (almost 6 months) after the last batch got a bit too oaky.
This beer developed a funky looking pellicle so I was thinking it might develop some Brett characteristics and super attenuate. It turns out neither happened which is fine.
I've done a side by side tasting with the other three beers which I will post later. I plan on brewing up another one of these on Memorial Day 2017, with some tweaks, and continuing this experiment. I've decided to give each new beer a standalone tasting as a baseline.
Tasting Notes:
- Aroma:
- Fruity yeast ester dominates. Get a lot of caramel and grainy malt. A bit of herbal hop aroma as well. Smells like a strong beer in terms of alcohol.
- Appearance:
- Pours with four fingers of head after an aggressive pour. Head lingers a few min but then drops down to a thin layer. It is quite clear and amber in color.
- Flavor:
- Rich malt flavor up front. It is a complex maltiness which is hard to describe. It has sort of an earthy flavor that I'd like to ascribe to the rye (although it could be some Brett influence). There is a bit of hop bitterness on the finish that balances the sweetness of the beer nicely. Malt is the lingering flavor.
- Mouthfeel:
- Medium bodied. Slightly sweet and quite smooth. Warming from the high alcohol.
- Overall:
- A rich and malty beer. Has a nice level of complexity and is strong enough to feel it after one glass. I think this delivers the goods pretty nicely. The final gravity was a bit lower than target but I think the level of sweetness works well. I'm happy with how this one turned out.
