Review: Torque Barleywine (Barrel Aged Series)

For the third year in a row, I missed out on Torque Brewing's birthday party.. but COVID is a good excuse to avoid crowds in the first place. I was in Winnipeg a week later and had the chance to sample some of their anniversary brews, as well as pick up a couple bottles of their Barrel-aged Barley Wine (and finally buy a bottle of their barrel aged version of Fake News). A Whisky barrel aged Barleywine? Hmm.. should be interesting.

Torque's Barleywine is rated at 10.7% ABV, so not light in any sense, which should be expected for a Barleywine.

Appearance: Rich caramel-amber body with a light bit of a murkiness to it, good amount of carbonation in the body, while the head is very thick and has a yellowish-beige hue to it, very fluffy. The head diminishes quite quickly to leave behind a layered lacing on the glass and a very light amount of film on top of the beer itself.

Aroma: My nose wasn't too sure what this was at first, though I knew to expect a Barleywine. It has a lot of Whisky barrel used to give it a lot of oak and vanilla. Quite a sweet Barleywine with a lot of caramel, a bit of a booziness, and a bit of raisins at the end. For some reason my nose gets a bit of dill in this beer, it pops out whenever I don't get the other notes.

Taste: This is certainly a boozy Barleywine, but it's not a surprise. It's boozy with notes of Whisky, vanilla, caramel and oak. Lots of woodiness in this beer, it almost tastes like someone poured a shot of Whisky in the beer. It's quite sweet and caramelly and has a bit of a bubble gum presence to it. Aftertaste has a bit of a toasted malt with a hint of nuttiness to it, slight bitterness.

Overall Thoughts: Interesting to see how this will age in a couple years. This is quite an oaky, boozy, vanilla-y forward Barleywine, so it's no surprise it's 10.7% ABV, it pops up quickly. Decently sweet, hint of raisin.. boozy.