Old Bad Cat Barleywine 2008
Wolf Brewing Company

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Wolf Brewing Company
 
British Columbia, Canada
Style:
English Barleywine
ABV:
11.5%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
4.21 | pDev: 3.09%
Reviews:
5
Ratings:
5
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jul 18, 2011
Added:
Apr 11, 2009
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  0
Aged in bourbon barrels.
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Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of eat
Reviewed by eat from Canada (QC)

4.12/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Nice barleywine opened courtesy of ritzkiss, thanks! Bright, translucent amber body with a thin cover of bright-white head.

Big nose, smells like a huge malt bomb: caramel, butter toffee, brown sugar, sugary liqueur, overripe fruit, etc. Boozy and sweet like a sugary dessert.

This is sugary as hell. Some bitter earthy hops manage to peek out but the focus here is on malty sweetness. A touch of sour bourbon and a little lactic. Alcohol is a little hot. Still, it's pretty allright.

Decently-viscous medium body with low carbonation.

One of the better Canadian barley wine's I've had. This is my first from Fat Cat and it definitely left a good impression, hope to find more of their stuff.
Jul 18, 2011
Photo of canucklehead
Reviewed by canucklehead from Canada (BC)

4.32/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Finally got around to cracking this one after two years in the cellar. Was very impressed with the flavours and the drinkability of this barleywine. Still a lot of hops on the nose but the beer has complexity in its finish that the barrel aging probably produced. I liked the long dark fruit notes mixed with some vanilla on the finish. One of BC's best barley wines and combined with the IPA on tap I have a renewed opinion of this brewery
Jun 07, 2010
Photo of Phyl21ca
Reviewed by Phyl21ca from Canada (QC)

4/5  rDev -5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Bottle: Poured a deep clear copper color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and good lacing. Aroma of vanilla a bourbon with deep rich sweet malt. Taste is quite dominated by loads of sweet caramel malt with dry raisins and loads of vanilla from th bourbon. Body is slightly fuller then average with great carbonation and no apparent alcohol which is surprising considering the bourbon is so present. Well done thought the barrel aging takes too much spaces and it is sometime hard to taste the base beer.
Dec 06, 2009
Photo of bobsy
Reviewed by bobsy from Canada (ON)

4.25/5  rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Bomber shared with ritzkiss. Awfully nice of them to put a huge barleywine in the biggest possible bottle. Typical barlewine appearance with a lustrous orange and a wispy off-white head recalling cloud patterns hugging the ocean. The aroma is a rich sweet, malty bomb, but with apparent hoppiness. Lots of toffee, caramel, bourbon and spice. Here's where the flavour branches off from the typical english style, and puts a bit of a BC twist on things - upfront its very hoppy (at least for a BW). After the initial bite there is layer after layer of malt - toffee, biscuit, caramel, brown sugar and a sweet hint of bourbon. The mouthfeel is complimentary and damn near perfect. Heavy and chewy, but with enough carbonation to alleviate any stickiness. Pretty awesome.

Its tough to say whether this is a barleywine in the English or American style, but when its this good, who really cares?

Thanks again Eric!
Jul 07, 2009
Photo of ritzkiss
Reviewed by ritzkiss from Canada (ON)

4.34/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
220z bottle from Nov. 2008 bottling so it's already got 5 months on it. Not sure how much it differs from past years but it is a different ABV on the bottle and it seems to be the trend to add new years separately. Barleywine cask conditioned in Oak Bourbon Barrels.

Pours a dark, rusty orange with minimal head that doesn't stick around long. Some carbonation bubbles coming up from the bottom. Some murkiness from the bottom of the bottle.

Smell is molasses, oak, licorice, spices, bourbon, caramel malts - actually reminds me of Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron from the nose.

Oh man, this is a delicious brew. Lots of bourbon notes with some hot alcohol accompaniment (but not overpowering), licorice and molasses, hints of bready malts, just the faintest woody notes, a slight hint of bittering hops in the finish along with a touch of sugary sweetness. Viscous, chewy mouthfeel with light/medium carbonation for a barleywine. This still reminds me of a slightly lighter version of DFH with a little more pronunciation of the bourbon notes.

This is a serious midnight sipper. Delicious now and I've laid a couple bottles down so I can tell you in a year or two just how delicious it will be then. Pretty limited distro on this brew but, if by chance, you see it on a shelf, I would pick it up; I think this one could hold a candle to some of the brews down South.
Apr 11, 2009
Old Bad Cat Barleywine 2008 from Wolf Brewing Company
Beer rating: 4.21 out of 5 with 5 ratings