I've brewed 5 beers so far. They all have English Malt, Hops, and Yeast in common and fit into the English Barleywine style fairly well. Even as similar as they are it has been interesting to drink them side by side over the years and pick out a lot of subtle differences.
It's been really pleasant to watch these beers age. For the most part I'd say they've improved. I limit myself to one old beer a year for these tasting in order to keep this Vertical tasting going as long as possible. I'm excited to see how the last year and a half have treated the beers.
Vertical Tasting:
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| Left to Right: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 |
- 2014 Version
- Overview:
- Brewed with Maris Otter and 3 lbs of assorted light crystal malts. I was hoping for a light colored beer - got a bit darker than I'd hoped.
- Fermented with S04 and Nottingham
- The beer fermented all the way down to 1.016 from 1.101 which is 11-12% ABV
- I aged half the beer on oak that had been soaked in Brandy. I'd been tasting both of these each year but they're fairly similar so this year I'll just do one - the plain portion.
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Fruity - figs and raisin. Caramel malt. Very rich aroma.
- Appearance: Dark red and very clear. Poured with a thin layer of foam that quickly faded to nothing
- Flavor: Sweet malt with rich fruit ester. Maybe a slight bit of bitterness in the finish. Some alcohol comes through. Aged beer flavor - a musty and earthy character
- Mouthfeel: Medium-full bodied. Slightly sweet. A bit of warming alcohol
- Overall: Complex and interesting beer with some bold flavors
- 2015 Version:
- Overview:
- Brewed with Maris Otter, Vienna Malt and down to 2 lbs of Crystal. Still was trying for a more pale beer but ended up darker.
- Used Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast
- Beer fermented from 1.096 to 1.006 for 12-13% ABV
- Aged with 1 oz of pre-boiled oak cubes
- Tasting notes:
- Aroma: Fruity yeast ester - peach maybe or apricot. Also pick up mandarin orange
- Appearance: Copper colored and cloudy. Poured with a lot of head (the bottle actually foamed over on me prior to pouring and made a bit of a mess). The foam settled down to a thin ring within a minute or two. Lots of sediment made it's way to the glass
- Flavor: Caramel malt with some fruity yeast ester. Alcohol comes through on the finish. I don't get any hop bitterness
- Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied with a slight sweetness. Has a pretty firm astringency that prickles the tongue
- Overall: Some nice flavors but they are fairly mild. Reasonably complex. The astringency adds an interesting dimension. Not an easy drinker but not a chore either.
- 2016 Version:
- Overview:
- Brewed with Maris Otter, 3 lbs of Rye Malt, and 1.5 lbs Double Roasted Crystal 120 L
- Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II
- Beer went from 1.093 to 1.012 which is 10-11% ABV
- It ended up forming a pellicle during aging although I never really picked up any flavors I'd attribute to wild yeast or bacteria
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Rich caramel. Some graham cracker. Slight bit of overripe fruit. Some alcohol comes through
- Appearance: Dark Red/Light Brown. Poured with a 2 finger head that slowly faded down to a thin ring.
- Flavor: Really nice malt flavor. Sweet bread and caramel. Slight fruity flavor. A bit of alchol but well hidden. Slight bitterness remains.
- Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and fairly sweet. Smooth drinking
- Overall: Lovely malt flavors. Not all that complex (as far as EBW go) but still very pleasant. Hides the 10+ ABV remarkably well.
- 2017 Version:
- Overview:
- Brewed with 2 Row and Golden Promise as base malt and 5 lbs of white wheat malt. Only used 4 oz of Crystal. This finally achieved my goal of a pale barleywine.
- Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II again
- I'd wanted to get a fairly sweet barleywine on my previous version but had kept on getting more attenuation than desired. This time I finally got one to stop at 1.034 (from 1.098). So this is an 8-9% ABV beer.
- The beer was aged with 15 oz of Rum soaked golden raisin along with 0.5 oz of oak
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Fruity - apply maybe. Smells a bit like a white wine
- Appearance: Dark gold and very clear. Poured with a 2 finger head that pretty quickly dissipated down tot a thin ring
- Flavor: Bready malt with some fruit flavor. Has a bit of a wine-like flavor as well. Maybe a slight bitterness. Finish is malty sweet
- Mouthfeel: Medium-full bodied and pretty sweet. Smooth drinking
- Overall: Complex and nice flavors. The white wine character of the beer is significantly different than the others (must be due to the usage of the grapes). This is the easiest drinking of the group.
- 2018 Version:
- Overview:
- Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
- Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 3.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
- Used Nottingham yeast and, per instruction, allowed it to ferment in the 70s. It was an agressive fermentation which produced a very strong and estery aroma. The beer didn't turn out to be overly estery fortunately.
- Fermented out to 1.030 from 1.105 for an ABV of 10-11%
- This was the most aggressively hopped beer so far (7.5 oz of low alpha acid English hop in the boil) with an IBU target of 84. Was very bitter just after fermentation but this had settled to a nice balance after 6 months of aging.
- Aged the beer on 2 oz of boiled and toasted oak
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Caramel and fruit ester - raising and apple maybe. Also pick up a berry like fruitiness (strawberry?). Maybe get a bit of herbal hop aroma. Really lovely aroma
- Appearance: Very dark red or light brown. Poured with a 2 finger head that lasted several minutes and then faded to a thin ring. Very clear
- Flavor: Rich bready flavor along with caramel malt which blends nicely with the fruity yeast ester character. Light bitterness in the finish which balances out the sweetness. Some alcohol comes through
- Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and pretty sweet. Smooth drinking
- Overall: Complex and rich malt and yeast flavors. Still has a bit of hop character left which makes for a bit different balance than the others
2019 Rankings:
- 2014 version
- 2016 version
- 2018 version
- 2017 version
- 2015 version
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