For those of you just getting into the craft beer scene, barleywine might be a new one for you. It was fairly new to us as well. Barleywines tend to be malty and high in alchohol. American versions of this style tend to use more hops than their English counterparts. They can be as strong as wine, but as they are made with grain and use no grapes, they are classified as a beer. As it is not a wine, the US government makes breweries add the word “ale” into the title of the beer, so you will often see “barleywine style ale” when buying this beer.

Rick
When we prepare to write these styles highlights, we try to taste a variety of examples of the style. This time was no different. However, this time I didn’t find one that I would feel safe recommending. I tried Southern Tier’s Backburner and Boulder Beer’s Killer Penguin. I understand that any quality brewer will not let a flavor profile out the door that they are not confident in. I also understand that there are going to be beers that I just do not like. So to that, Barleywine is just not my pint of beer. They both had a similar taste with subtle differences in flavor. Because of this commonality, I can feel comfortable in saying if you enjoy a good barleywine you might enjoy both of these.

Dan
The first barleywine that I ever tried was Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot. I really enjoyed it, and was eager to try more. I’ve had several since, and it seems as though this style of beer has a great amount of variation from brewer to brewer. For this post I decided to write about Weyerbacher’s Blithering Idiot. I have to say this beer was interesting to me because I couldn’t quite make up my mind about it. There were sips I enjoyed, and others I didn’t. It poured a deep, dark copper and was cloudy. It was more malty and less hoppy than other beers that I’ve had of this style. There was an interesting sweet, fruity sort of taste that reminded me of plums. In the mouth, the beer was almost syrupy. The one thing that I didn’t like was that there was a real kick of alcohol in the finish that threw the balance off. The beer came in a four pack, so as I have been hearing a lot about aging beers and am interested in trying that out, I put the other three away for now and will let you know about them later.

Heather
The Winter season lends itself well to the barleywine style, with its hearty ABV and flavor. For me, these beers are something to sip on after dinner while hanging out with friends or at home on the couch under a warm blanket. I’ve tried a few in the past, but this time decided to focus on Great Divide Brewing Company’s Old Ruffian. I noticed the bottle read “hefty” and “hoppy” on the front, and I already started imagining the taste. The smell was malty (slightly roasted to me) and hoppy. The two aromas worked well together. The sweetness of the sip sat quite thick in the mouth with toffee-sweet notes that were quickly overshadowed by the intense hops that followed. All that hoppiness left me with a bitter, almost dry finish. The beer was tasty and kept my lips sticky with the sweetness of it, but happy with the large amount of hops. Oh, and with a 10% ABV, take my “sipping” preference to heart. That alcohol had some good camouflage.

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