J.W. Lees Vintage Harvest Ale

Beer: J.W. Lees Vintage Harvest Ale
Brewery Location: Manchester, UK
Beer Style: Barleywine
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 11.5%


J.W. Lees is one of the oldest breweries around with distribution to America. 1828 is when the company started brewing beer. This beer is released every year in December and is perfect for vintage cellaring. If you see it at the stores (Kahn's and Party Pak have plenty) you will see each label always shows the year of vintage. Certain years are more prized than others just like fine wine vintages. If you are ever lucky enough to be in the cellar at the Heorot it has bottles from 1987 and 1988, and I am sure pretty much every other year, but those stand out in my mind. This bottle is the 1997 vintage.

It pours a dark brown body with ruby highlights at the edges. No head from an unaggressive pour that left minimal spotty lacing on my glass. The nose is really surprising. It has big scents of sweetened dark fruit, maple sugar, and a port-wine alcohol scent dominating the nose. I love having my nose in this beer. The flavor profile is amazingly complex with dark fruits (plums, figs, and raisins) brown sugar, and rich malt. The flavors meld to perfection on this 11 year old beer. The mouthfeel is sticky and still velvety on my palate. I can barely notice the alcohol on this, but the warmth from the alcohol is felt about halfway down the beer. I could get in trouble with the drink ability on this beer. The alcohol is not present on the mouthfeel, but the warmth feels really nice on this cold and snowy night.

Overall, this beer is a big winner in my book. After 11 years this beer is really something special. The flavor profile and mouthfeel were my two big winners for this beer. This is the type of beer that would hopefully turn a few wine lovers onto aged beer and really showcase what some age can do to a beer. Well done J.W. Lees.

Cheers!
Matt

Oaken Barrel

Beer: Brook's 2002 Special Reserve Barleywine
Brewery Location: Greenwood, IN
Beer Style: Barleywine
Serving Style: On-Tap
ABV: ???

UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that I should have done more research on this beer before I stated that "It is named after one of the old brew masters." I just took the information that was on my menu at the restaurant, and didn't ask more information about it. This beer is named after the co-founder/co-owner/first brew master of Oaken Barrel: Brook Belli. I had no idea of the situation surrounding my comment and I offer my apologies to anyone that I may have offended. It was certainly not in my intentions, and I was only in the search of great beer. Again, my apologizes to anyone that I may have offended.

I've been slowing up on posting this month. I've been very busy, but I've had some great beer this month that I will get posted.

I was at Oaken Barrel this weekend and saw this beer as part of their special reserve series. There is a disclaimer when you order this beer though that you can only have one during your visit the brewery. I do love barleywines, so I figured I would give this a go.

This beer pours a deep amber-copper color approaching almost brown. A very thin swirl of head and no lacing. The malt hits you in the face and lasts the entire beer. It is more than assertive on the nose. There are secondary scents of sweet caramel and toffee with more than a hint of alcohol. I didn't get very much hop character out of the nose at all. The taste brings a few more things together. The malt is rather bitter but the sweet finish has flavors of caramel and toffee. The flavors meld together very well for how strong the nose was on this beer. The mouthfeel is big and chewy with the alcohol warmth very noticeable on the mouth. I wouldn't drink this very often, but if I was in the mood for a strong barleywine this would be it. If I had to guess though on the ABV I would say it's 9% or more.

Overall I really enjoyed this beer. I think you would need to enjoy big beers to like this one though. The alcohol content is high, but it doesn't get to "boozy" at all. I don't know how long they will have this on tap over there, but if you do find yourself at Oaken Barrel I would give it a try.

Cheers!
Matt

Spank Me Baby! Barley Wine

Beer: Tyranena's Spank Me Baby!
Brewery Location: Lake Mills, WI
Beer Style: Barley Wine
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 9%


This was another pickup that my friend Courtney brought back from Wisconsin. I've heard many good things about Tyranena, but this was my first experience with them.

This was actually part of their Brewer's Gone Wild series. I am not sure what exactly that amounts to, but it is classified differently according to their website, and it appears it is on a limited run available only from time to time and not seasonally. According to the website they are brewing a different beer that is "big, bold, and ballsy." As far as I know as well this brand is only available in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The beer poured a deep ruddy color almost a rusted amber hue. It's very dark and clouded in the middle of the beer. Left some slick lacing on the walls of my glass. There was a slight off-white head that dissipated very quickly. A deep malted scent hits the nose before you can really get a good smell of it. Toffee and dark fruits dominate the rest of the nose on this beer. I can also pick up a bit of almost raw sugar cane scent that reminds me of rum, but a little more mellow. The taste is fairly complex. The first taste is rather sweet with a heavy malted backbone that is present at every sip of the beer. As the beer warms it real character begins to come out. Toffee and caramel come to the front of the palate with heavy flavors of dark fruits, mostly plums and raisins, with a bit of warming alcohol to finish off. The mouthfeel is rather quite nice with a velvety coating with a creamy consistency.

This is a very nice offering for my first experience with Tyranena. I like Barley Wine style ales and this is a good representation for the style. Well worth the try if you can get your hands on it. The consistency on this beer was my favorite part of the beer.

Cheers!
Matt

Great Divide: Old Ruffian

Beer: Great Divide Old Ruffian
Brewery Location: Denver, CO
Beer Style: American Barley Wine
Serving Style: Bomber
ABV: 10.2%



Holy palate-smacking deliciousness! I haven't had this beer in so long it's a crime for me to have forgotten how amazing a beer that Great Divide has come up with. As most of you know I am a big hop head, and if you are a hop head then barleywines are something you should give a try. Barleywines in my experience take on something that DIPA's just can't. A DIPA can tend to be a hop bomb that isn't well balanced, not well made, and full of brewers mistakes, but the hop bomb will cover up those mistakes. A barleywine on the other hand is something so much more. Smooth, bitter, complex, balanced, lively, and just has so much more character most of the time vs. a DIPA. I still like DIPA's more though when they are done right.

When sampling this beer get your palate ready. There is just so much going on with this beer at every single drink. The smell hits you before you can get it close to your face, the sweet intense front flavors followed by a huge bold finish and an amazing aftertaste that leaves you wanting more.

It pours a beautiful deep mahogany. When held up to the light colors of rust and crimson show themselves. A non-aggressive pour reveals a huge tan head that lasted throughout the entire beer with very big rings of lace all over the glass.

The nose on this beer is an achievement. Floral hops, oily hops, and then some more hops hits your nose with a deep aroma of toasted malt and caramel. The nose on this beer is by far the best of any beer I have yet reviewed.

The taste on this beer is exactly what I want from a beer. Huge flavors of bready malt hit your palate followed by an amazing caramel and candied fruit sweetness just before a hop wallop takes command of your taste buds. No part of your mouth is left without tastes of pine, grapefruit, malty backbone, and warming alcohol. In terms of balance on the big beers that I love so much there isn't much better than this. Each drink becomes better than the last drink. The beer provides the perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness, but challenges the palate every single step of the way. Even at 10.2% the drinkability is so high on this beer. I finished my bomber and wanted another one. No flavor is so dominant that you won't want to come back for more. The warming alcohol was subtle and will be very nice during the winter as the temperature keeps falling.

Overall this beer is simply amazing. I don't normally gush over a beer, but this beer is really something. It's a very reasonable price for a barleywine and delivers the flavor better than the more expensive barleywines. I really can't say enough about how amazing this beer is all around for the senses. I will say again though be ready for the beer when you try it. I still can't give out a 5 out of 5. I just can't do it, but this is pretty damn close to it.

4.9 out of 5.
Cheers!
Matt