Baggywrinkle Barleywine - Cisco Brewers Inc.

jondeelee

Massachusetts

3.64/5  rDev +4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Baggywrinkle opens to a malty nose, yeasty rising whole wheat dough, floury baguette, toast crust, and biscuit mixing with brown sugar, vanilla, caramel, and a mix of light and dark fruit esters – orange, berry, and cherry, but also plum, date, and light raisin – to form a spiceless fruitcake aroma, but with shades of tawny port and toffee. Light grapefruit and pine overtones from the hops help provide contrast. As a whole, the nose is quite nice, the light and dark sugars and fruits mixing well with the yeasty rising breads, the result bouncing between sugary and dark, yeasty and bready. In the end, the sugars are what are most noticeable, thanks to the high 12% ABV, but it’s important to note here that the alcohol doesn’t come through overly so in the nose as in a martini or cocktail, but instead blends well with everything else. The aroma’s main weakness is a surprising lack of strength for a high ABV beer, the nose almost needing to be in the glass to detect it.

On the tongue, the beer proves to be much more bitter than the nose let on, with grapefruit and pine from the hops mixing with strange, Caribbean-like pineapple, coconut, and mango-papaya fruits, as well as strong dashes of pepper. The alcohol is also much more noticeable here, lacing the tongue like a strong fruit cocktail and filling the nasal cavities with vapors. The strangeness of the fruits are somewhat tempered by brown sugar, vanilla, toasted nut, toast crust, and biscuit, as well as some fig and raisin fruit esters, but the result is somewhat messy, as if the beer can’t quite make up its mind what it wants to be. In subsequent sips much of the initial nuance of the beer is gone, including the strange fruits, but what is left is a peppery, figgy, cola-like taste laced with soft-tissue-burning moonshine, fading into a long-lingering aftertaste of toasted nuts, burnt brown sugar, and lots and lots of alcohol. Mouthfeel is medium, and carbonation is medium to medium-high, the beer slightly foaming in the mouth.

Overall, while the aromas were very nice, and continue to be nice throughout the experience, the flavors are overly muddled, and the alcohol – at least on the tongue – sharp and undisguised. The beer needs a better balance between flavor and alcohol, and quite a few more bread and fruit notes to improve the flavors.

Serving type: bottle

05-16-2013 16:15:19 | More by jondeelee

haazer

Pennsylvania

2.53/5  rDev -27.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.25

A- Dark orange, apple juice like color. Nice ring of off white bubbles.

S- Smells a bit muddled. Some orange, coriander, a bit of pine. Smells a little bit like burnt malt though with a touch of booze.

T- Flavor is pretty jumbled together as well. Coriander, toast bread, then a rush of burnt malt. Almost like this was boiled too long. The booze is not well masked either.

M- Full bodied, chewy mouthfeel. Mid level carbonation.

O- Overall not what I expected after reading the description on the draft list. In the lower rung of barley wines for me. The burnt malt and booze flavor throw me off.

Serving type: on-tap

02-20-2013 20:04:04 | More by haazer

woosterbill

Connecticut

4.38/5  rDev +25.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

On cask at the Cask Republic, dry hopped with Citra. Served, rather insanely, in a pint glass.

A: Milky orange-amber body under a lovely two fingers of classic cask froth that shows pretty good retention and leaves some nice lace. Inviting.

S: Juicy hops, caramel, and some background booze. The Citra really shines with intense mango, grapefruit, and lemon notes dominating. Terrific.

T: Almost tart citrus right up front, followed by super-sweet brown sugar and caramel malt, and closed out with even tarter fruitiness and some spicy alcohol. Bitter, hoppy aftertaste. Wow.

M: Soft, substantial, faintly carbonated cask body. A little sticky.

O: I've never been a huge fan of the base beer, but with a boatload of Citra it's really delightful. The fruitiness and bitterness provide both complement and contrast to the core malt sweetness, giving an otherwise boring beer some real complexity. Great use of dry hopping.

Cheers!

Serving type: cask

12-07-2012 18:33:07 | More by woosterbill

rhoadsrage

Illinois

4.33/5  rDev +23.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

(Served in a tulip glass)

A- Dense deep caramel body with a bubbly thick light tan head that last for a good bit. there is a gentle carbonation trailing up the sides of the glass.

S- The aroma of cream and caramel have some nice butter toffee notes as it warms.

T- the classic caramel malt with a touch of sweetness and a nice dry woody hop hint in the finish. There is a note of pine resin in the hops but it always stays pretty soft compared to the malt flavors.

M- The medium-full mouthfeel is followed by no alcohol heat until it is really warm.

O- The nice classic rich English barleywine is slightly dry and very drinkable. The nice American hops notes and a new twist to this well build beer.

Serving type: bottle

11-26-2012 22:09:55 | More by rhoadsrage

SLeffler27

New York

3.6/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours ruddy copper with a thin white head and no real lacing.

Aromas include caramel and raisin, some pine, but rather mild given the style.

Flavor is malt-centric as expected, with some toffee, fig and raisin, as well as pumpernickel.

A medium body and well carbonated, though the alcohol is a bit sharp.

Overall, enjoyable as an anniversary marker of a trip to Nantucket with friends.

Serving type: bottle

11-25-2012 21:35:03 | More by SLeffler27

ChadQuest

Illinois

2.35/5  rDev -32.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Body is slightly light on color for the style and an amber hue. decent head.

Hmm, i just noticed my bottle says 9% alcohol and the info on BA says 12%. I WANT THAT 3%.

The aroma and flavor profile is fairly matched so ill list the overall nose/palate. Really mellow and melded but i have no idea the age, low alcohol heat even perhaps for 9%, melded Big C hops in the pine and resin type, light caramel but not really sweet more a dry caramel, honestly tastes more like a 1-2 year old american barleywine then an english barleywine.

Mouthfeel is dry for calling this an english BW.

BW Tick. I'd pass.

Serving type: bottle

09-24-2012 01:17:25 | More by ChadQuest

Gobzilla

California

4.05/5  rDev +15.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

A: poured a murky dark brown in color with pale yellow highlights and a thin head that left slight wisps of lacing sticking to the glass.

S: brown sugar caramel, and dark fruit showed it self first in the aroma with booze, maple but hints of vinous character.

T: the booze was more intense on the palate alongside brown sugar, caramel, dark fruit notes, mild tobacco flavor and maple syrup accents.

M: the brew was medium in body with a low amount of carbonation which had a sweet, slight fruity, mild musty, boozy, sticky finish.

O: I honestly thought it was a solid barleywine and was glad to try a beer from cisco.

Serving type: bottle

07-24-2012 02:07:34 | More by Gobzilla

BostonHops

Massachusetts

3.5/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

pours a dull golden orange tone while yielding short-lived finger or so of head. nose is malty/sweet with notes of fruit, toffee and/or brown sugar, and a touch of a hoppy presence. on the whole, fairly tame for what you typically expect from a beer like this.

flavor follows the nose with big malty/sweet dynamic interspersed with muted notes of fruit, toffee, and booze. medium-full bodied with average carbonation.

some enjoyable elements here but in the final analysis it's pretty much a run of the mill barleywine: not bad, not great.

Serving type: bottle

06-23-2012 02:49:18 | More by BostonHops

perrymarcus

Massachusetts

3.48/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

22oz bottle served in a snifter.

pours a cloudy dull golden / amber tone while yielding a 3/4" beige head. decent retention and lacing.

nose is a bit subdued; not a whole lot going on but i do get notes of sweet malt, some light fruity characters, and a hint of hops.

flavor likewise is decent if somewhat unexceptional. as expected for an english barleywine it's malt forward and a bit on the sweet side (nowhere near cloying) with the fruity notes pulling through and a some hops evident. very little alcohol presence (bottle lists 9% ABV, clearly they looked to dial that way back from prior batches). on the upper end of medium-bodied with average carbonation.

overall, a moderately enjoyable EBW but ultimately somewhat middling when stacked up against all the stiff competition out there. that said, it's not a bad beer by any means.

Serving type: bottle

01-10-2012 04:54:11 | More by perrymarcus

deltatauhobbit

Maine

3.45/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

No bottle date but the label is different than the one shown (not sure if it's older or newer).

Pours a golden color with a slight tinge of orange, small white head that fades quick enough, no lacing on the glass whatsoever.

Smell is huge in sweet malt aroma, no real hop character to speak of though, can pick up a light scent of alcohol heat.

Taste is definitely in the sweet malt arena yet not sickly sweet, almost has a candied sugar aspect, can definitely feel a bit of a burn going down the throat but not so much that it's a turn-off and works on a cold winter night, carbonation is spot on with a decent creaminess, still it's fairly straight forward considering how many directions Barleywine can go in.

Serving type: bottle

12-24-2011 01:57:30 | More by deltatauhobbit

oberon

North Carolina

3.85/5  rDev +10%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Probably the lightest pour from a barleywine I have come across as it poured a dull burnt orange infused copper with a tight formed lacey white head into my imperial nonic.Fruity esters mixed with piney/soapy hops wich from reading others reviews surprised me a little.The palate to me is more American barleywine than English with a bigger pine and citric hop profile up against a sweet fruit,caramel malt base.Yeah it gets a little sweet after awhile but I like the hops that show thru,not bad.

Serving type: bottle

10-03-2011 22:03:48 | More by oberon

AlexFields

Tennessee

3.03/5  rDev -13.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a dark toffee/almond/tea color, pretty unique appearance. Nice head too.

Smells hoppy in a dark fruit/grass kind of way. A nutty, tangy maltiness as well.

Taste follows the nose. Nuts, dark fruits, grassy hops.

Pretty average example of a hoppy barleywine. It's not a hop bomb but it's also not as sweet and candy-like as I want my barleywines to be.

6.1/10

Serving type: bottle

07-23-2011 13:47:56 | More by AlexFields

mikesgroove

South Carolina

2.85/5  rDev -18.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

The pour was decent, nothing earth shattering here, with a ruddy copper color, light reddish tint to it, but again nothing really standing out much for me. Light crown of white was on top initially but that also faded quite quickly leaving the top essentially bare. Aroma was a bit hot, lots of caramel and bready malts, hints of what may have at one time been a piney hop bite had faded into a mellow, and messy malt monster. Again the flavor misses the mark for me, too hot and not enough balance for me to be honest. Almost a medicinal quality to the taste as it warms, light candied sugar tries to save it but really does not come across well. Light carbonation, almost old ale like, but again, not very interesting.

Overall not bad per se, but nothing to write home about either. I just think it tried to be too strong and that really drown out any hope it had for a mellow and balance feel. A bit of a mess.

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2011 01:47:15 | More by mikesgroove

Lldeegan

Louisiana

3.95/5  rDev +12.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pours a hazy copper, with a soapy khaki head.
Some brown sugar, molasses in the nose with dark fruit and an earthy hop aroma.
On the palate, sweet malt, toffee, and then fruity sweet that fades to a bitter and warming finish.
A sticky mouthfeel and a good harmony of malt sweet and piney and earthy hops. This beer was really easy to drink and really tasty.

Serving type: bottle

01-27-2011 00:12:33 | More by Lldeegan

DrJay

Massachusetts

3/5  rDev -14.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Cloudy tawny brown, muddy looking, with some fine bubbles coating the beer's surface and some soapy ones forming a collar. A bit of spotty lacing, fair head retention for the little that's there. Sweet aroma, bread and caramel, fruity and spicy, light alcohol. There's some leafy hop flavour, but not a lot of bitterness to balance out the caramel and toffee sweetness. Lots of bread and fruit notes, light alcohol, slightly spicy in the finish. Full bodied, lowish carbonation, fair texture but a little dry even with the sweetness. Overall, this one was pretty average. Not quite cloying and the fruity/spicy combo didn't play especially well together.

Serving type: bottle

12-04-2010 01:51:04 | More by DrJay

Thorpe429

Illinois

2.78/5  rDev -20.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Thanks to Drew for giving us this bottle. Served in a Bruery tulip.

Color is a slightly-cloudy orange-copper color with a half-finger off-white head that fades almost immediately and has just a few bubbles around the edges. The nose has a bit of caramel and some slightly-sweet malt along with a bit of cherry. It's a bit plain and I have to struggle a bit to really get into this one.

The flavor is a lot of sweet malt, bordering on becoming a bit cloying. There are some cherry notes as well as toffee, stone fruits, and a bit of fig. There is a bit of strawberry, especially strawberry seeds. Some light alcohol is there as well. The body is medium with low carbonation. It seems a bit thin. I don't find this to be terribly offensive, but it's a pretty average brew and certainly doesn't stand out in a crowded field.

Serving type: bottle

11-28-2010 03:40:57 | More by Thorpe429

donkeyrunner

Massachusetts

3.55/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Light amber with attendant white cap. Lil' bit of lace left by better retention. Looks like ginger beer.

Aromatics are highly floral: clover honey, ginger, golden raisin, treacle. Nice. Taste follows the floral scheme with sweet white grapes, floral honey, ginger-esque hop spice and a gingerale fade.

Has a summery feel to it, like a big malt forward pale ale. THe website doesn't mention ginger but specifies the hop bill as Northern Brewer and Chinook. Didn't see that coming.

Serving type: bottle

11-23-2010 12:51:42 | More by donkeyrunner

NCSUdo

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

22 oz bottle

A: Brown body under a small/barely there white head. No lace, no retention.

S: Sweet, dark fruit, vinous, hop character isn't very big.

T: Sweet again, very sweet, vinous, slight woody character, hop character is a little large with a hint of citrus throughout and decent bitterness, warming. Alcohol is very noticeable.

M/D: Full bodied, carbonation is low. Drinkability is OK, girth of the beer is definitely felt.

I'm a bit on the fence for this beer. I like sweet beers, but this one is a little unbalanced towards the sweet side, yet there is a fair amount of bitterness in the taste to let you know that the hops are there.

Serving type: bottle

11-07-2010 00:52:38 | More by NCSUdo

RedBeerchetta

Massachusetts

4.8/5  rDev +37.1%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Hazy and rusty. Not a lot of head but what there is lingers.

Yeasty, bready, yummy cookie dough smell.

Delicious barleywine! Caramel, cherry, and not too much hops. That's where many barleywines go wrong for me - too much hops. These beers are intense enough. You don't want the hops to be what lingers on the tongue, you want to taste the grains, the yeast and the sweetness.

Serving type: bottle

10-22-2010 01:13:48 | More by RedBeerchetta

bruachan

Rhode Island

3.45/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

bottle says 9%, btw. this may explain the comments below...

fruity aromas--pear. a little buttery

dried cherries, certainly. dry and bitter. perhaps even oaky. tastes like blackcurranty and woody british hops. between the hop flavor and fruity yeast element there's not much malt presence

...an i think that's an issue in a BW, right? fermented too warm and too thin. way fruity and not enough caramel and roast

Serving type: bottle

08-09-2010 04:16:28 | More by bruachan

lordofthewiens

Maine

4/5  rDev +14.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This brewery has been appearing with more frequency here in southern Maine/seacoast New Hampshire, and I'm very happy about that. This was a fairly nice barleywine, kind of middle of the road. In a snifter it was a red/brown color with a thin tan head. It had a caramel malt aroma with a little hint of fruit. Taste was mostly hops, a little sweet caramel. The alcohol was not noticeable at all. It had a subdued, unaggressive mouthfeel. Very drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

04-14-2010 21:25:05 | More by lordofthewiens

levifunk

Wisconsin

2.53/5  rDev -27.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Got this as an extra in a trade (thanks jedwards). Opened it up to share with some friends.

A - Hazy golden color with no head. Looks a lot like apple cider.

S - smells fruity...like grape juice or wine.

T - this is where it went down for me. It was very sharpe, sour, and hoppy. It smelled a lot better than it tasted.

M - Higher carbonation than I would like.

O - Its not something I'd get again or spend too much money on (no idea how much it cost). Also, I did note that the beer settles in the bottle. Later pours were much thicker/heavier.

Serving type: bottle

03-29-2010 02:17:59 | More by levifunk

Freshie

Massachusetts

3/5  rDev -14.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

With a style like Barleywine, it is hard to make an average brew. Unfortunately, Cisco has seemed to have done the trick.

While it is heavy on the hop bite and up front sugar, there is little malt back bone, and the mouthfeel is light on the palate. This makes the alcohol burn heavier as you drink.

Still, it doesn't taste bad, but lacking in critical areas, making it heavy in others.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2010 03:17:30 | More by Freshie

bminor7

New York

3.9/5  rDev +11.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

750 from Westmere.

A - dark turbid brown. veryyy sudsy.

S - sweet malts. weak hops maybe due to the age of this bottle.

T - light sourness, malts. hops not apparent.

M - a bit thin for a barleywine...but again this is only 8.8% ABV.

D - fair. at its freshest, may be better.

Serving type: bottle

01-17-2010 03:57:38 | More by bminor7

beerthulhu

New Jersey

2.53/5  rDev -27.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

A: Poured a muddy, watery brown with burnt orange highlights with a quickly dissipating sandstone head that failed to leave much of a lacing. Visible effervesce was hard to determine but a fairly strong sense could be detected beneath the murky waters.

S: The nose was boozy, to say the least with a sour whiskey mash aroma best describing things here. Jack daniels, evan williams is well sensed here. Very limited complexity wise with the boozy nature dominating.

T: The flavor opened up with brief glimpses of sweetness of grain juice runoff (wort) starting things off before a boozy sense of whiskey sour mash moves in. Over fermented fruit (apples) brings a dry, mushy fruitiness of prison hooch punch to the mix. Much like the aroma, the flavor comes off one-dimensional lacking complexity and was hindered by a hooch fueled alcohol experience that was near unbearable at times. I like my beers big, and my barleywines with some complexity and smoothness, this was just mess with sour, mushy, rotten fruit that came off with a prison hooch mentality whos only focus is to brag about its abv and to get you drunk with no regards to any taste value.

M: light bodied, with a light oily texture, coming off rather unexciting and boring.

D: There is just no way in hell i can drink a bomber of this by myself. As the label suggest its best shared with a friend (perhaps with one whose friendship you dont value much). This went down with a fight, a pure boozefest that was heavy handed alcohol wise with little regard to balance or flavor. Maybe this would be better served by some aging, or perhaps better served as a heating fuel. pass on this one. endnote: overall an average rating to me is one that i could either live with, or without, this beer certainly provoked several areas of personal dislike and aspects that lacked in some of the more finer barleywine examples. needless to say , save your money on this one unless you are the curious type who wants to personally see how bad an example can be.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2009 23:03:59 | More by beerthulhu