Nogne O Batch #100 Barleywine but her faces me

MIFB beer year bros are back together for a tasting! I'm back in LA for the weekend and long last able to sample one of my favorite breweries, all the way from Norway, Nogne O. I bought this bottle in December and David has held onto it. After spending a year together drinking beer this is only the third time we've sampled barley, hops, yeast and water since September. We just got back from wine tasting in Santa Barbara where I was the sober driver and still managed to leave the town with food poisoning. That's what I get for not drinking - let this be a lesson to you all.

We're at Nick's apartment where he is working on creating a side business with a series of novelty t-shirts. His first creation is a beautiful pinup with a butter stick for a face, an old play on the "but her face!" Clever stuff Nicholas. Bruce Lee approves of the sketch, but what about the barleywine?

With 10% alcohol and 80 IBU, this promises to be a big, aggressive barleywine. The paramount Barleywines for me has to be the Stone Old Guardian series or the AleSmith Old Numbskull and based on my previous Nogne tastings, I'm hoping for the #100 to join the ranks. Apparently the #100 was a small batch made for the brewery, their friends and visiting brewers, but its popularity encouraged Nogne to begin large production on it.

There's a lot of sediment and the beer pours a thick head, which probably means this beer could be aged for quite a while. The booze rises up with the rest of the aroma including dark fruit and cocoa, smelling like a dank and unrefined belgian quadruple. As the aroma teased, this beer isn't ready for the world yet. The alcohol burns quite a bit and the mouthfeel is rather lackluster. I expect barleywines to really punch you in the face with flavor, but this is underwhelming despite the molasses, cocoa and roasted grain flavors emanating from the glass. This one looked oh so good....but her taste!
TRANSFORMERS rating

Survivors of the Santa Barbara Wine Tour

Uinta Brewing 17th Anniversary Barleywine is surprisingly subtle

At 10pm on a Friday night, we're being real cool cats and playing Battlefield 2, probably against a bunch of pimple faced kids taking a break from World of Warcraft. But before I head to Bar Pico, we're celebrating our supreme awesomeness with a celebratory 17 Anniversary Barley Wine from Salt Lake based Uinta. I was 11 when their brewery opened.

When I say 'playing,' that's not what I meant. We're raging on them, spanking them like a bad child. Just dominating them...That makes us cooler, right?

There is a very light, but sweet caramel aroma from this 10.4% beast. The taste is the same but also with a nutty flavor. For a barleywine, the alcohol is hidden well. The flavor profile isn't raw and needing to be aged or rich and complex, but is rather very subtle and drinkable. It's very becoming of a barleywine, I must say. For the beginning of my Friday night, this is a pleasant start. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Brooklyn Brewery Monster Barleywine needs to be rediscovered in a year

Gotta love any NYC street art that promotes Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Nation.

After another monster of a night, which included making Chile Con Queso at 5am (obviously I'm surrounded by Texans), I'm ready to spend my last hour in NYC with a beast of an ale, Brooklyn Brewery's Monster Ale Barleywine. I've been saving this fella all weekend under Warren's desk so it won't be drunk by some hooligan (i.e. Walker at 5am) and now it's mine, all of it! To be fair, I bought Warren and his roommates one of the best beers in the world to try at the same time, a Rochefort 10.

Love these two cities...And a monster sized picture for a monster ale.

*I love me some barleywine and this fits the bill so far. It's well carbonated and a sweet mix of caramel and chocolate that has a bite to it. However, the sweetness is pretty raw and the alcohol is noticeable. It's a solid barleywine but needs to age. However, I bought this in a 4-pack and there are not many brews of this style that are produced large quantity. TRANSFORMERS rating. 

Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws Barleywine is a canine I want to adopt

Enjoying a big beer my last evening before I head to NYC. There's a rich caramel aroma as I pour this pooch out on the deck at day's end. Barleywines, my friends, are my kinda dogs. Will this brew be a yellow lab or a hairless chihuahua?

Hair of the Dog's other ales are named after people in either the brewing world or the owner's personal life - Ruth, Adam, Fred - you know, the type of four letter words one doesn't need to spell out in front of kids, like Love or Twat. So why not a name like something like Nick or Tedd for their Barleywine? Because at 11.5% alcohol and 70 IBU's, Fido here has claws.

There is a sweet, rich caramel flavor profile and a bold, unique hop flavor. The hops used are Simcoe, which typically departs a very bold and earthy flavor, and the Amarillo, which departs a very citrus flavor. They also used wild flower honey, which only helps the flavor imparted by the Amarillo hops. Right now the brew is tasty, but in another 6 months the hops will smooth out to make a more balanced barleywine. Still, I love in your face Barleywines and I'm looking forward to my next time with Doggie Claws. THE ROCK rating.

Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine celebrates our 300th beer!

Even though barleywines are one of my favorite styles of brew-ha-ha's, I wasn't aware tonight was our landmark 300th beer at the time of opening the Old Victory. If I had realized, I would've gone with the Lost Abbey Judgment Day or a Quadruple we have stored up. Maybe the Westvleteren Blonde. We'll properly celebrate tomorrow or Friday. Until then, apparently it's the right time to barleywine. 

Old Victory Barleywine is surprisingly bitter, but not from hops, who are the usual suspects. David notes that it tastes malty without being sweet. Eureka, that's why it's bitter. Barleywines usually have a big caramel flavor that join forces with dark fruit and even unusual flavors like tobacco. Here, there is simply a big malt taste that expertly camouflages the whopping 11% alcohol and no residual sweetness.

I have the feeling that the brewers set out to make specifically this style of barleywine, one that hides the alcohol and isn't sweet. But to me this is the anti-barleywine. I enjoy barlreywines like Stone's Old Guardian or even The Bruery's Old Richland, to a lesser extant, that knock you in the teeth. I like barleywines the way I like my women; big, bold and complex with lots of daddy issues. If that sounds like you, call me, wink. This is a very subtle barleywine and although it's a well made beer, the style it's made doesn't appeal to me. ARMAGEDDON rating

Deschutes Mirror Mirror Barleywine is deliciously re-released back into the wild

Deschutes night at the Surly Goat and they brought their truck! Party

I'm here not just because I love their Mirror Pond, Hop Henge, Red Chair and Black Butte or because they've been the only brewery to officially comment on the blog, but because Deschutes pouring something special tonight.

As legend/the interweb has it, that the brewers found a 'lost' keg in their warehouse of a previously extinct barleywine. If one believes the lore, this brew is so delicious that rainbows will stream forth from the keg. Color me excited.

I smell strong dark chocolate and dark fruit notes that form an intoxicating combination. Barleywine smells appeal to me but this even more bold and rich than I can expect...The aroma is strong with this one. 

Mirror Mirror is 11% alcohol and it shows up to play, but there is a welcoming richness to the body. Having just tried a series of rochefort trappist beers, this reminds of that sweet, rich belgian flavor. I love, the richer edibles in life - the dark chocolate mousse cake, cookies made with half a stick of butter, cupcakes from Sprinkles - and this flavor profile fits my bill.

The alcohol sticks out like fart in an small movie theater, but the attendees don't care because of the rich, smooth nudity onscreen (it's a bad slasher flick, okay?). Basically this is delicious and a real treat to enjoy. It's gonna be hard to just have one of these. This 'lost' brew just found itself a BAD BOYS rating.

Lagunitas Gnarlywine should age better than Jack Nicholson

Had Mantastic day with Nick G and Nic -shooting pistols and shotguns at the range in the morning, then In-And-Out followed by watching the bloody SUPER starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page in the afternoon, then beers at Cabo Cantina. I capped off the man-day by bottling my latest homebrew (whose title I've changed), Heisenberg's Honey Wheat.


Kinda ran into a problem though. I've made three homebrews in the last three months and I'm incredibly low on unused bottles. Either David and I needed to drink 10 bottles or it was time to dive into previous bottles we've drunk and saved and see if I can sufficiently clean them out in time to bottle. Much to David's disappointment, I was able to save enough Stone brews (which we drank in October!) to bottle the batch, although we still drank Belgian Home Brews - ya know - just in case we needed more bottles. I decided to spray paint the Stone label to avoid confusion. The result was a bottle as bloody as the film SUPER.

I dig the barleywines and I'm excited to try this. It has a VERY rich malt of caramel and toffee. It's fun to drink, but I think it's way too sweet still and needs time to age. Love the big malt though, and this characteristic reminds me of Stone's Double Bastard. I'm very tempted to buy this and age it another year in the closet. It could be a Transformers, but currently it's simply ARMAGEDDON.

Stone Old Guardian Belgo is richer than chocolate cake at Taste of Texas

2011 is the first year for the Stone Brewery "Odd Beers for Odd Years” program. Consider it Stone's attempt to implement a 'gifted and talented' program. My brother Warren was in that program in elementary school and brewery Greg Koch probably was too because Stone makes incredible beer. For this Belgo Barleywine, he directed 30 barrels of the barleywine batch to the fermenter with the yeast used in the Cali-Belgique IPA. Basically they spiked the Barleywine with some Belgian yeast. Sounds crazy but could be awesome - how does this 'odd' flavor party turn out?

My mouth just imploded. This beer goes up to 11.

It's incredibly rich. I love the Old Guardian series and there's a bottle of the 2008 Barleywine under my bed for an extended aging, but this Belgo is woweee zowee. So incredibly rich! I like it, but my shirt flew off after drinking only half the glass. It happens.

For sake of creativity and in the name of interesting delights, this is a really special beer but it's not a beer I can drink every day. I like drinking this now, but it's definitely meant for a big craft brew fan. Only for the lionhearted. TRANSFORMERS rating.

...It would sure be interesting to see how the Belgian yeast and sweet caramel notes withstand time, maybe I should buy one just in case...

2011 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine, home brewing and the awesomely long post

Today is a big day, full of sunshine and life and BEER. BEER BEER BEER. I'm going to drink lots of beer while I brew one beer and bottle another. Guess what's on tap at Casa de Davis/Brooks? Goose Island Demolition Belgian Style beer for lunch. Desert will be a Bruery Loakal Red. Stone Barleywine is the beer of the day and then after we bottle and taste my Belgian Red, a flight of Home Brew Beers - King Moonracer's Revenge and the Belgian IPA (which I codenamed the 'Double Dutch Rudder'). Got a lot on my plate. Beerspeed me:

Home brewing equipment. Nice yeast pouch

Heisenberg's American Wheat: Werner Heisenberg is a renowned German physicist famous for winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 for the creation of quantum mechanics and also the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. But for everyone else who hasn't starred on JEOPARDY, this name might be more familiar from the AMC original show BREAKING BAD. 3 time Emmy Winning actor Bryan Cranston (he's the Meryl Streep of TV) uses 'Heisenberg' as his drug dealing alter ego in the show.

The American Wheat Ale style is a very American take on a traditional German style dating back hundreds of years. An American style based on a German style deserves an equally imported name. Thus I give you, Heisenberg's American Wheat, a light and crisp wheat ale for the upcoming summer months.

Almost every American Wheat Ale recipe I researched was incredibly basic and simply used the Wheat Extract without any other fermentables or steeped grains. That sounded perfectly boring so I whipped up my own grain bill and picked out some Santa Monica farmer's market honey to spruce the recipe up.

Malt Extract:    Alexander's Wheat Extract   6 lbs
                       

Sugar:              Sage Wildflower Honey 1 lb

Grain Bill:         Caramel/Crystal Malt 10 L 6 oz
                        Caravienne Malt 4 oz                       

                        Cara-Pills 3 oz            

Hop Schedule:  Amarillo (11.0%) .35oz at 60 mins
                       Amarillo (11.0%) .35oz at 30 mins
                       Cascade (5.9%)  .75oz at 20 mins
                       Cascade (5.9%)  .67oz at 5 mins

Yeast:            Wyeast 2565 Kolsch
                    

Potential Alcohol 5.1%
33.4 IBU's 

Starting Gravity 1.051

Color is 5 SRM (Yellow to Gold).

Notes: I didn't like the attributes of an American Wheat Ale Strain (I don't want my beer to be 'tart'), so I used Kolsch, a German Yeast, and threw in American Hops. Kolsch is an interesting yeast strain because it produces quick-conditioning pseudo-lager beers and ferments well cold, but it can also ferment at warmer temperatures (like my room) at 68-70 degrees. But I really chose the yeast strain because the beer will hopefully exhibit some fruity character of an ale with a clean lager like profile. The Amarillo and Cascade hops will also bring a slight citrus and fruit flavor. That's exactly the kind of beer I want to have whilst in my hammock this summer.

Hey ladies, check out my wort cooler...Is a line I should use more often

This will be the 4th barleywine from Stone we've had - check out the other three Vertical Flight of Stone Old Guardian Barleywine - and it's hot off the press. It's really sweet still and could definitely benefit from aging. David pointed out that it's so sweet it actually tastes a little like bubble gum. Still, it's delicious and has a great hop balance. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Each Stone beer has a story or letter on the back 'label.' This barleywine has a letter from the man, the myth, and the legend, Greg Koch, the head brewer of Stone. He was sitting in a Belgian Bar discussing beer with someone very knowledgeable about the state of beer in the world. This Belgian fellow basically said that the American beer scene is number one in the world, followed by Belgium and lastly Germany, which has really fallen far from the taste tree. It reminded me of an interesting article Nick G sent me about the state of German beer which you should check out "Germany's beer culture is in decline"

It got me thinking about how fortunate I am to be exposed to so much ingenuity, to be on the forefront and experiencing a virtual revolution and explosion of the craft beer world. Plus, I live in California, near the San Diego breweries (Stone will be the first American Craft Beer to open a brewery abroad later this year, in Belgium) plus breweries like Eagle Rock, Bruery, Bootleggers, Russian River and more. Germany's beers are governed by the purity laws, and that has really suffocated their beer industry. A large number of their brewers are gravitating towards the freedom and opportunities afforded by the craft beer movement. It kinda reminds me of the 1950's and 1960's (not that I was alive), but the idea that the best and brightest turned to government organizations, such as NASA. They worked for something they believed in. The U.S. is experiencing a renaissance, and I think this was a fortunate yeart to try 365 different beers.

That being said, drinking beer all day also reminded me that I need to watch my intake least I turn into one of those Kobe Heifers. David has a 1 beer a day rule and it's time I implement it. Beerspeed me.

Alaskan Barleywine Pilot Series is grandpa's old cough medicine

I have a case of the black lung, so I'm adding a nip of doctor prescribed Cheratussin to my alcohol intake, in addition to this 10.7% Bronze Medal Winner 2010 Beer Cup in the Barley Wine category from Alaskan.

By themselves, they are not strong enough, but all three of these combined will hopefully get me drunk laughing

I'm tasting dark caramel malts with brown sugar and chocolate and a dry finish. Like the codeine in the Robitussin, the alcohol is hidden well. It's a different, darker barleywine for those long Alaskan Winter Nights...? I dunno, this is only based on my recent viewing of the horror film 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Did I mention I love Cheratussin? TRANSFORMERS rating.

The Bruery Provisions Series is Old Richland is the last of its kind

Karl, David and I are joined by Infamous Jamie as we head down for our third trip to The Bruery and Bootleggers. The new twist to the adventure is that we first hit up The Bruery Provisions store in Orange, which has a host of beers and cheese to sample.

We arrived to discover that two of the three Provisions brews, Gunga Galunga and Premiere, have gone the way of the pager and are now only available in people's cellars and local pawn shops. However, their third Provisions beer, the Old Richalnd, is available to taste. Whinnnna!

My taster included the Humulus Session, 7 Grain Saison, Saison De Lente, the exquisite Three French Hens and the Old Richland, beer o'day.

The Old Richland is a barelywine by style but DIPA by association. The Bruery's created a 9% barleywine then dry hopped it with Centennial, Simcoe and Sterling hops (these big boys - very acidic hops).

Old Richland

It smells super sweet. Upon tasting, the hops and malt play well together. It's a smooth but passive beer - nothing jumps out at me. Barleywine tends to put you on your ass, so if I waned a high quality 'drinking to get drunk' style of beer, this would be it. Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to find it. Check out Stone's Old Guardian instead. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Karl and Infamous Jamie sample the nectar

The fun comes after the beer of the day is drunk. I tried Karl's sample of the Belgian Mint style beer called Aurora Borealis and it smells like a hospital. It tastes just as weird. Infamous Jamie says it tastes like Colgate. There you go. David was the only person who finished their sample of it.

I'm bitching about the 7 Grain Saison so Jamie grabs my taster and throws it back. "It's not bad" she responds and thereby rejects my perspective, "it tastes like pee." HA. Exactly, nice try Infamous Jamie. 
David and Karl finish off their cheese plates and we jet off to The Bruery. Low and behold they have their 10 year Anniversary beer on tap, the Coton! What a coup. It's sweet and delicious with hints of cocoa. THe Coton is like a beer equivalent of port. It's delicious but so dank that you can actually drink too much. 

When I drink Coton I forget about the everything else

The rest is history, or lack there of. We bought two growlers of Michief and made serious moves with them. I tried pacing myself but patience isn't my strong suit, so how do you think that turned out? By the time Laura and Michelle showed up fresh from Temecula Wine Country, I'd forgotten all about Bootleggers. 'Wait, we're going to another brewery?! Well I'll be a monkey's uncle...' Belgian style beer has a funny way of fogging up one's memory. We refilled our growlers and had a beer at Bootleggers before they closed, followed by In-and-Out, which our group definitely caused a raucous in. Your welcome Placentia for the Saturday night antics and entertainment. From there, we returned home to more beer and hammock napping. Another successful brewery run but next time it's my time to drive, D'Oh!

Vertical Flight of Stone Old Guardian 2008-2010

I decided to combine the posts from Friday, Saturday and Sunday into one MONSTER post because we tasted a vertical flight of Stone Old Guardian Barleywine from 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Despite its name, Barleywine is very much a beer. It's actually one the strongest and most intense of the beer styles because of their complexity and high alcohol content (Old Guardian +11%). So why include wine in title? Because it is brewed to be aged like wine and stored for future consumption. Hence my interest in tasting them vertically, one year after the other!



2008

Tasted Friday November 12, 2010

Had AJ, Nic, Tiffany and Nic G over for some wine and pasta Friday night. We popped the Old Guardian 2008 and drank during the cheese appetizer. The '08 is bold and complex, with swirling with malt, fruit, buttery hints of caramel and the well rounded hops note Stone is known for. I REALLY enjoyed this beer. This is a complex but balanced beer that put you on your ass. I'm going to buy this again and age it many moons, bringing it out for some special occasion, like finishing a book. See you in 2014 you dank bastard. 

2009

Tasted Saturday November 13th, 2010

Another beautiful Saturday ends with a poorly lit picture. The 2009 Old Guardian didn't meet the standards of the '08. It was raw and unbalanced. Maybe a year does make a difference. I still enjoyed it, but the '09 is still in the Beta phase.

2010

Tasted Sunday November 14th, 2010

Like THE WALKING DEAD, the '10 startled me. It was super good, but it hasn't aged! How could this be? And it raises the question; is the '09 batch the problem or will it get better with time? Am I going crazy? If I use one more question mark I might....The '10 is fantastic, really. I can't wait to age this one.

RATING SCORECARD
Old Guardian 2008 - THE ROCK
Old Guardian 2009 - TRANSFORMERS
Old Guardian 2010 - BAD BOYS

SUMMARY: I don't know about other breweries' barleywine but Stone does it well. I would recommend any of these for consumption, but do realize that barleywine isn't for the weak-willed. Like the Arrogant Bastard, this is a sit down, shut up and sip it brew. Personally, I plan on going to Whole Foods this week and buy the '08 and '10 for a future date.