[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Nøgne Ø
Style: Barley Wine
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: A- (Community)
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.9 (98th percentile)
Serving: Imperial Pint-sized Bottle

*Gasp!* That’s right, folks. I’ve finally gotten around to posting a new beer review! I apologize about the few month gap in there, but things got pretty hectic and I just didn’t have much drive to review beer. Sure I had some great beers in that time, but I just wasn’t moved for some reason. Well that time has passed and I hope to post somewhat regularly again.

Today’s brew is Nøgne Ø’s #100 Barley Wine. This comes from the same Norwegian brewery that has continued to impress me time after time. In celebration of their 100th batch, Nøgne Ø decided to pull out all stops and brew a barley wine. Here’s what they have to say:

Our 100th batch, brewed for the enjoyment of the brewers, but popular demand forced us to release it commercially. This malty, yet light bodied ale has a massive hop bitterness. Most enjoyable in a comfortable chair in front of a roaring fire.

I may not have a roaring fire going on, but I do have a rather bright computer monitor. Let’s hope this is an acceptable substitute.

Appearance: Very dark caramel color with a couple fingers worth of tan head. Pours rather creamy compared to other barley wines. Not a whole lot of light gets through either.

Smell: Typical sweet aroma as with most English-style barley wines. Hughes of caramel, apple, and maybe roasted hazelnuts? I can’t quite put my finger on that last one.

Taste: Wow, definitely unique for a barley wine. Some of the typical English barley wine tastes are there, but the mouthfeel and overall experience is much closer to a cream stout. Definitely hues of roasted nuts, caramel, and even a little chocolate. By far the most innovative effort I’ve tried when it comes to barley wines.

Overall this is a very unique and incredibly delicious barley wine. Nøgne Ø continues to impress me with yet another world-class ale. Pick this up if you’re a fan of both barley wines and darker ales such as stouts or brown ales. Pass on this if you’re not on ales with heavier alcohol or prefer American-style barley wines as there is absolutely no citrus in this one. I’d also recommend finding a roaring fire. A computer monitor just isn’t the same.

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Brewery: Oskar Blues
Style: Red/IPA
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: A- (Community)
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.86 (97th percentile)
Serving: 12oz aluminum can

For those of you who read my Dale’s Pale Ale review, you may remember my policy on beer in cans. If you are brewing craft beer and decide to put it in a can, I will drink it like beer in a can. Last time I drank Dale’s Pale Ale straight from the can, however, this time I decided to use the proper glassware. Behold a first in [BW] Beer Blog history; using a red Solo cup as proper craft beer glassware. Think of the ping pong ball as a garnish.

Gordon is a hybrid version of strong ale, somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA. We make it with six different malts and three types of hops, then dry-hop it with a mutha lode of Amarillo hops. It is 8.7% alcohol by volume, and has 85 International Bittering Units. Originally our winter seasonal beer, it has become a cult favorite of extreme-beer lovers, so we now brew occasional batches of Gordon throughout the year.

Well folks, let’s see what an 8.7% strong/red/IPA tastes like out of a Solo cup.

Appearance - Completely irrelevant

Smell - Very sweet with apple-esque hues similar to what you’d smell from an English style barley wine. Unlike a barley wine, that smell is also accompanied by a healthy amount of hops. The alcohol is very apparent by just the smell. This is going to be interesting.

Taste - My nose pegged this perfectly. Tastes like a really mellow English style barley wine with a hop kick. Just enough sweetness and just enough hops to where this isn’t completely unbalanced. In terms of drinkability, I can’t see myself having more than one. I’m all about making a session out of stronger ales or hoppier ales, but the combination of both makes it much more difficult to consume. I’ve never had a brew like this before though, so I can definitely see how this can have a following.

Do I feel bad for reviewing a $4+ can of beer from a Solo cup? Not really, but I will admit that I’m sure this stuff is amazing coming from a tap. I understand how Oskar Blues brews in cans just to be unique and that I really should take reviewing their brews more seriously, but if they get to be unique with their brewing then I get to be unique with my reviewing. Gordon is a good craft beer, but not great. Give it a shot if you want to try something unique, but I wouldn’t say it’s a “must have.”

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Brewery: Marin Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B+
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.65 (92nd percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

From Marin - Our richest ale has a deep copper color, is full flavored and very hoppy in the finish. We use East Kent Goldings and Styrian Goldings to hop the balance of flavor just right. Ideal for sipping after dinner.

While some breweries just ramble off about their brews being great just to sell more, Marin backs up every word they print with a whole slew of medals from various beer festivals. As a huge fan of barley wines and organic ales, this one seems right up my alley.

Appearance - My very first reaction was in response to how dark this is. Pours an incredibly dark amber with a healthy head on it for a barley wine.

Smell - English style for sure with strong hues of apples and berries.

Taste - Wow! This is definitely delicious. The very first sip hits your palate with all of the regular tastes of an English style barley wine, but then surprised the hell out of me with toffee/caramel hues as the taste dissipated off my tongue. What I also enjoy about the taste is it doesn’t overwhelm you with alcohol to get the point across.

Overall this is an incredible barley wine, but more importantly this makes an even bigger statement for organic brewers. I definitely look forward to sampling more brews from Marin.

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Brewery: Butte Creek Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 83
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.1 (52nd Percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

Organic brewing is definitely something that has caught my eye as of late. With such excellent organic breweries as Bison and Roots, I have found the gap in quality between organic and non-organic beers to be diminishing every day. Those who regularly read my blog also know that I’m a huge fan of barley wine. Another organic barley wine? Bring it on!

Appearance: Transparent amber in color with a thicker than average head for a barley wine.

Smell: Sweet, rather generic taste for a barley wine. Definitely closer to an American style than English. Very subtle citrus hues, making it much more well-balanced than a lot of other barley wines.

Taste: Nothing too special, but definitely does justice as an American style barley wine. I am especially impressed with the quality of this as an organic brew. If you are looking for an American style barley wine and want to go organic, pick this one up. However, compared to Bison’s English style barley wine, it’s not quite as inspired.

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I’m kicking myself for not taking notes when I tried these, but recently I had the pleasure of trying both Stone Russian Imperial Stout (Spring 2007) and Stone Old Guardian barley wine (Early 2007). Here’s what I can recall from memory.

Russian Imperial Stout
You know how most people who spend their days pounding Bud Light think Guiness pours like motor oil? Well this stuff makes Guiness look like Gatorade. VERY thick and jet black. I love a pint of delicious stout, but whatever made me think pouring a pint of this was a good idea was quite the opposite. I’ve had imperial stouts before, but the alcohol in this one hits you immediately. This is probably the first brew where I’ve tasted the alcohol before the beer itself. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing though as it warms you right up before the rather delicious taste hits you. I recommend pouring this into a glass and take your time. Definitely try this one if you get a chance.

Old Guardian
Anybody who reads this blog regularly knows I love barley wine. How does Old Guardian hold up? This may be my favorite American-style to date. It pours a dark ruby color with a head that dissipates almost immediately. Like many barley wines, this one relies on citrus-esque hues. However, the big difference is Stone doesn’t mess around with hops, so they tossed a bunch in this brew too. On paper that may not sound too delicious, but it really is. Maybe it’s because on the west coast I’m used to having pretty much every brew hopped to high hell, but I enjoyed it. If you’re a fan of barley wine you owe it to yourself to try this one as well.

Next time I have the opportunity to try these I promise both full reviews and pictures.

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Brewery: Bison Brewing
Style: English Barley Wine
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 85
RateBeer.com Rating:3.05/5 (48th percentile)

After getting a severe craving for barley wine and wanting to try something new, I decided to pick up a bottle that had been looking back at me for a long time. Enter Bison Brewing’s 2005 Barley Wine.

I had never tried anything from Bison Brewing before, but apparently all of their brews are organic. That makes two new experiences for me because I had never had an organic beer either. What did I find? Something that filled a very large void in my heart.

As I brought my glass towards my nose to get a good smell, I smelled something I hadn’t smelled in quite some time; this stuff smells almost identical to Mirror Mirror. According to the ingredients they’re not an ingredient, but it smells like it has an apple hue.

The taste was also very similar to Mirror Mirror. Unlike Old Crustacean or Old Boardhead, Bison Brewing’s Barley Wine relies on hues of apple and berries other than citrus. I don’t know what else to really say other than if you like Mirror Mirror and other English style barley wines then you’ll love this one. I’m also not sure as to its availability because Beer Advocate says its a winter release, but the beer store down the street still has plenty. Perhaps nobody bought any? My advice is to pick yourself up a bottle while you still can.

Note: The picture shown above is taken from Beer Advocate. I’d take my own, but the label on my bottle has a big rip in the middle.

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I’m going to be totally honest. I really, really wanted some Deschutes Mirror Mirror barley wine. However, we already drank our (only) 3 bottles and University Market here in Corvallis is completely out. For good. No more. Sad day. What was one to do?

Well we went for what we figured would be the next best thing; Rogue’s Old Crustacean barley wine. I love barley wine and I love most of Rogue’s offerings, so it was a sure bet. I’m not going to do a standard review, but more of a comparison to Mirror Mirror because that’s what was going on in my mind the whole time.

Unlike Mirror Mirror, Old Crustacean seems to rely a lot more on citrus flavors. Grapefruit is what hit me right away and seemed to be a continuing theme. Mirror Mirror is much more subtle with its flavors while still being very flavorful, almost so you can’t pick out any one outstanding flavor. Old Crustacean seemed to rely on a few select flavors, which isn’t a bad thing at all because I thought it was very delicious.

Old Crustacean is also darker than Mirror Mirror with a bigger head.

However, the biggest difference between the two is to me, Mirror Mirror is much more drinkable. Apparently Old Crustacean was originally just available in 7oz bottles, which is the PERFECT serving size for this particular brew. I got used to drinking Mirror Mirror no problem in pint glasses because it’s so good, but half way through a pint of Old Crustacean and I was kinda hurting. This is mostly due to the alcohol content in Old Crustacean being much more evident. I highly suggest not doing what Nick and I did and that’s split the ceramic bottle into two pint glasses. There’s four servings in that bottle, trust me.

All in all it’s obvious that I enjoyed Mirror Mirror better, but Old Crustacean is still very delicious and I am definitely going to buy more in the near future. I suggest you do the same and let us know what you think. By stealing Nick’s barrel scale and using Mirror Mirror as a perfect seven, I’d give this a 5.5/7.

-Rick

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Style: American Barley Wine
Availability: Rotating release
Beer Advocate rating: 88
Rate Beer rating: 3.59/5 (88th percentile)

I’m going to be totally honest and state that this is the first barley wine I’ve ever tried. With that said let me say that I absolutely loved this brew. I poured from a 22oz bottle of 2005 into a pint glass.

Appearance - Dark red, almost brown tint with a very thin head that dissipated almost immediately. Kind of surprised me how easily it poured.

Smell - I seriously couldn’t get enough of this smell. It almost smelled like a cider in some aspect. I can’t put my finger on it, but raising the glass to my mouth made me excited for each forthcoming sip due to smell alone.

Taste - This stuff is flat out delicious. Sweeter than most beer, but incredibly inviting. The weirdest part about this brew that surprised me is each sip leaves an aftertaste that reminds you of how delicious that last sip was.

Mouthfeel - Nothing too spectacular in the field of mouthfeel. Not quite syrupy, but not watery by any means.

Drinkability - This is actually a lot more drinkable than I expected. To be totally honest the first couple sips left me wondering if I was enjoying what I was drinking due to my lack of experience with barley wine, but after a few sips I honestly couldn’t get enough. My 22oz bottle is gone and I wish I had a couple more.

Warning: the alcohol content is very apparent. I recommend you sip this.

-Rick

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