Time for a tasting of my seventh version of an English Barleywine. This was brewed on Memorial Day 2020, allowed to ferment for a month, and then bulk aged in a glass carboy for the next 5 month. This beer was based on a recipe I found on the Shut Up About Barclay Perkin's Blog: 1940 Truman Stock #1. I made enough changes to it it's hardly fair to call it a clone but it was my inspiration for what it's worth.
I bottled the beer close to 2 months ago and have been drinking one a week or so. It is tasting very good. English Barleywine is a fairly narrow style but I've found the more I've brewed them the more I've found interesting about them. You can do a lot with the interplay between bold malt, expressive yeast, and English Hops.
Tasting Notes:
- Aroma:
- Graham Cracker and toffee prominent with dark fruit a bit further in the background. Get a bit of herbal hop character in the mix as well
- Appearance:
- Pours with a 1 finger head that fades down to a thin ring after several minutes. Leaves lacing on the glass. It is a dark reddish brown color and is pretty murky
- Flavor:
- Malt flavors up front: caramel, graham cracker, toffee and chocolate. Very rich. Herbal and grassy hop flavor comes next and is mixed with subtle fruity ester character. Finishes with medium bitterness that is countered by sweet malt. Balance is decidedly towards the malt. Alcohol is present in the flavor but it is subtle.
- Mouthfeel:
- Full bodied and sticky sweet. Smooth drinking but a sipper for sure. Warming alcohol presence
- Overall:
- Bold malt aroma and flavor with pleasant supporting hop and yeast character. It has a nice complexity in flavors as well. Sticky and sweet which encourages slow drinking - not a bad thing with a 9+% beer. The chocolate character is unexpected but very nice. I used a couple ounces of toasted Cabernet soaked oak in this batch I wonder if that could be a contributor.
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