King Henry - Goose Island Beer Co.

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BA SCORE
100
world-class
-
946 Ratings

THE BROS
100
world-class
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rAvg: 4.69
pDev: 10.23%
Reviews: 276
Hads: 670

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Goose Island Beer Co.

Illinois, United States

Style | ABV
English Barleywine | 13.40% ABV

Availability: Rotating. bottle (272), on-tap (4).

Notes:
This beer is retired; no longer brewed.

Brewer's notes:
Aged in Pappy Van Winkle 23 bourbon barrels, previously used to age Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout. King Henry is a burgundy hued English-style barleywine with aromas of vanilla, oak, and dark fruit. Caramel and toffee flavors blend together with bold notes of bourbon delivered in a smooth body followed by a malty finish. No matter the occasion, King Henry promises a regal drinking experience.

Reviews

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Reviews by mikeyv35:

mikeyv35

New York

4.33/5 rDev -7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Date: 12/28/2011
Type: 22oz. Bomber
Vintage: 2011
Glass: St. Bernardus Chalice

Pours a deep mahoghany brown/cola in color, w/ a thin head that produces little to no lacing. Aromas of brown sugar, molasses, vanilla, oak, and booze(bourbon). The taste was sweet up front w/ brown sugar/molasses hitting the palate, and finishes w/ vanilla, oak, and smooth bourbon. Medium bodied and adequately carbonated, pretty lush. This is definately a sipper as a fine English Barleywine should be.

Overall, great beer from GI! This one left me slightly disappointed on the taste, all the usual suspects were there, but was looking for a flavor in the middle that would really set it apart from the rest of the pack. Unfortunately, that flavor in the middle was not there, but the rest were fantastic. Just pretty much what I expected to taste in the end.

Would never pass this up and am interested to see how it ages, which I think will be pretty well. Top 5 BA BW I have had, but not the best either. For me, still falls a bit short to Wooden Hell and also BA Hi-Fi Rye, but pretty good company. Will see how it stacks up against Abacus, BA Naked Evil, and Bligh's very shortly.

Serving type: bottle

01-24-2012 04:20:05 | More by mikeyv35

More User Reviews:

weonfire

Kentucky

4.31/5 rDev -8.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.25

Bottle date: 10/08/11

A - Dark Brown/Mahogany, tiny amount of head around rim, tiny amount of carbonation rising, zero head.

S - Sweet bourbon, vanilla, toffee, chocolate, carmel, brown sugar, touch of biscuit, aged fruits: prune, figs,

T - Bourbon, vanilla, toffee, chocolate. Finish: dry biscuit, bitter vanilla and booze (4/10)

M - Heavy, extremely thick, very full body, super cream, frothy, syrup, chest gets warm from booze

O - This is the heaviest, fullest, closest to syrup beer I've ever consumed. So much that it wasn't even drinkable until just about room temperature. Yes, the nose is excellent. The taste doesn't have the bourbon one would expect but is very pleasant, vanilla is very dry and bitter with a rather hot finish. No matter- the overwhelming characteristic is the over exceeding thickness, syrup. I cannot get past that.

Serving type: bottle

05-21-2013 23:03:18 | More by weonfire