Barrel Aged Ol' Fog Burner
Foil-topped 500mL bottle, poured into snifter. Bottle has in-barrel and in-bottle dates (18 January, 2011 for this bottle). Pours a dark, translucent tawny brown with nice red highlights. Head is a finger high, tan and sticky, but does not last long. Swirls will briefly bring it back, but it does not remain. Vanilla nose. Lots and lots of nice, oaky, smooth whisky vanilla, with a hint of the underlying barleywine caramel sweetness. Tons of vanilla flavour here, giving way to a bit more of a whisky spirit flavour, caramel, and a bit of fruity esters combined with a very light hop bitterness to finish. Slightly sticky, good medium body with light carbonation. This beer goes down like any well-aged barleywine, very nice as a sipper on a cold evening, and it gets the additional benefit of some barrel aging. Really enjoyed this beer.