English Barleywine (2022 Version) - Tasting Notes

These are tasting notes from my ninth attempt at an English Barleywine.  I brewed this on Memorial Day 2022 based on a historical recipe from the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Blog.  This beer underwent a a 9 month secondary fermentation with WLP 640 - Brett Anomalus which was isolated from English beers and thought to be a contributor to the original beer this recipe was based on (Tennant's Gold Label).  My 2021 batch used this recipe as well but without the Brett so it will be interesting to see how the two compare.

It has been in the bottle for about a month and a half now and tasting great.  Time to do an official testing.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• A fruity character is most prominent - it is a sort of musty and maybe somewhat tropical fruit flavor - very interesting.  This is the Brett based on the smell of the culture at pitching.  In the background I get a bit of caramel and bready malt.  Maybe a bit of booze in there as well.  Also so oak character.
• Appearance:
• Pours with 1 finger of head that quickly disappears down to nothing.  It is a dark copper color and is pretty clear.
• Flavor:
• Up front there is a fruit-like flavor this fades into a bready caramel flavor.  There is a bit of herbal hop flavor in there as well as an oaky and wine like character (some of it is sort of reminiscent of coconut even).  The finish has a medium-light bitterness that offers some balance to the slightly sweet malty flavors - these linger quite some time after the sip.  A bit of booze flavor in there as well but it's hidden behind the other flavors
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and slightly sticky on the palate.  A little bit of astringency on the palate and a slight alcohol warming effect
• Overall:
• This is a rich, boldly flavored, and complex beer.  The fruit character is different than any I've gotten from a traditional English yeast.  The yeast and malt flavors get along very nicely in this beer.  It is a strong beer but it's easy to drink due to the balance provided by the hop bitterness that remains almost a year after brewing