Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale 2005 - Stone Brewing Co.

IceAce

California

3.7/5  rDev -12.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Chestnut brown with just a wisp of foam around the circumference of my English Style pint glass. Very little nose to be found, with traces of oak and malt just peeking through.

Entry provides a tingle of carbonation around the base of the tongue and an instantaneous high-profile warming of alcohol to the throat. Taste is as complex as it is unique, with multi-faceted malt variations providing layers of licorice, candy sugar, and the dominating presence of oak fading with a brandy-like finish.

The '05 edition is still a wee bit green, but should age well as long as the malts are not overtaken by the woody oak.

Serving type: on-tap

02-09-2005 17:05:49 | More by IceAce

ADR

Pennsylvania

4.15/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

On tap, Anam Cara, Brookine, MA...

Nice aroma, caramel, a touch of acoholic fire, and bleeding into honey. Peachy color with a small head and lots of squiggly laces on the glass. Mouthfeel approaches full and the carbonation settles in at medium, well-done but a little higher than expected. The flavor has a ton to say, starts out like peach preserves but quickly slides past overt malty sweetness towards the fruity pectin of schnapps and into bourbon notes -- more alcoholic in impression than even its numbers suggest. Very full at the close. Hot with alcohol, not so much with apparent hops, which I looked for to assert more than they did. I like a malty Barleywine, but I kind of expected more impressive bittering here.

Serving type: on-tap

02-01-2005 13:57:39 | More by ADR

francisweizen

Australia

4.5/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Yee-haw, the new version of a favorite on tap at the Stone 6.6.6 event at Anam Cara this past Friday. Dark glowing orange copper with a nice head of off-white foam. Good sheets of lace from this one as well. Aromas are all booze, alcoholic malts, lovely sticky citric, and floral hops in a great unison. Taste is awesome. Super hoppy, hoppier than any other vintage in fact. So smooth and ready to drink right now. Mouthfeel is creamy and so warming. Thick, syrupy, and enveloping. Drinkability is damn good as well. 11.2%!? Crazy talk! This stuff is nuts.

Serving type: on-tap

01-31-2005 14:35:36 | More by francisweizen