I don't remember when I purchased this at Kilter but one of their peeps told me how good it was so me being a fan of beers that are in glass bottles, especially ones that are either cork & caged or waxed tops.. aaand being a fan of Barleywines, I had to splurge on a bottle no matter what.My Bloody Valentine is a dark "Barleywine" aged 13 months in a Cherry Brandy barrel and aged 10 additional months in a Rum barrel. Barrel X026>X023, Bottled 02/23 and 10% ABV
Appearance: Deep, very dark, near black. The head is moderate with a light-beige hue to it. Slight amount of lacing on the glass that diminishes, leaving behind a wine-legs like trail of Barleywine.
Aroma: At first I wasn't knowing what I was getting into. The beer was giving off a moderately roasted/bitter presence to it with a good amount of sweetness to it - notably brown sugar. Letting the beer breath for a few minutes, it gets more complex - it's still quite a bit sweet but not as roasty as the beginning. The sweetness now is a rich cherry profile with notes of oak, chocolate, caramelly syrup and a bit of Brandy & Rum. I'm very intrigued..
Taste: The first taste from this beer I got a roasted coffee-like taste to it but as I said, once it warms up it gets more complex. It's very sweet, almost dessert-y with a rich, sweet cherry flavour to it. I get a bit of alcohol burn from it, moderate amount of oak and a light amount of dark rum at the end.
Overall Thoughts: Another "If it were up to me.." posts, this would be something that Liquor Marts would specially bring in just in time for Christmas - this would make an awesome stocking stuffer or gift. It's quite sweet, desserty, but also roasted and oaky. I've sampled a lot of Barleywines in 15 years and this is one of the more "hmm.. this is interesting" ones. This isn't just a "we brewed a Double IPA, forgot about it, whoops, so now it's a Barleywine" kind of beers.. which isn't a bad thing either.
No comments:
Post a Comment