Barleywine Style Ale
22 oz. bottle, 2008 release, short blurb in the center of the label, sampled in a snifter glass. L: Cloudy appearance, light chocolate color with some orangey golden hues towards the bottom of the snifter glass. Inch high pale tan head of fluffy foam that quickly sank into a thin sudsy skim, not enough sticky lace to really comment on, mainly just a few splotchy mini-dots. S: The first smells I noticed was caramel toffee malts, candied oranges and white grapefruit pulp. Further whiffs bring out aromas of oily pine, leafy herbs with a touch of green wood, and sour citric estery alcohol. As it warms, a nice malt chocolaty scent wafts up to the nose. F&T: Light feeling moderate body with a mild citric acidity, softly crisp and creamy in the finish. In this young barleywine the hops are on top with a supple underlining maltiness. Plenty of hops tastes without much bitterness, the hops are oily slick and sap sticky as oppose to being overly bitter. Oranges, apricots, sappy pine, leafy herbs and dry stems, grapefruit pulp along with the oily peels of the fore mentioned grapefruit, this does have a pronounced San Diego hop taste. The malts are in a supporting role, providing a little sweetness to the sour citric hops. Malt flavors of toffee, caramelized sugar, weak coffee and cocoa, they try to contain the citric sourness, failing in the end. The alcohol is quite tamed, just a low grade citric fruity warmth in the back of the palate. This falls along the lines of your tradition southern California barleywine, tasty without being outstanding. To me, the most redeeming thing about this is that it has a lower price than the barleywines from AleSmith and Stone.