Olde School Barleywine - Dogfish Head Brewery

cratez

Ontario (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

12oz bottle from Wolverine Market in Port Huron, MI. Pours a hazed copper hue with amber edges, a thin ring of cream coloured head, and no lace. Smell is caramel, toffee, perfume, white wine, dark dried fruit, cinnamon, toast, cotton candy, light doughiness, mild phenols, green apple, and oak wood. For some reason DFH beers always exhibit flavours and aromas that I don't pick up in other brews. Taste is caramelized apples, slight sourness, green grapes, sparkling wine, malty sweetness, spicy and woody hops, strong alcoholic burn (somewhat harsh), lingering heat in the throat. Mouthfeel is silky upfront, syrupy middle, fuller than medium bodied, spicy and acidic hop bite, a little juicy, warming liquor in the finish. Definite sipper.

Overall impression: although the vinous character of Olde School is a unique take on a barley wine, I'm not sure it's intentional. Some of the aromas seem a bit 'off' for the style, the mild sourness is unpleasant to me, and the evident alcohol detracts from the beer's drinkability. On the U.S. b-wine spectrum, I prefer bolder, hoppier, and smoother examples like Old Ruffian, #100, and Old Crustacean.

Serving type: bottle

01-11-2011 20:38:54 | More by cratez

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4/5  rDev +1.3%

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3.5/5  rDev -11.4%

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