Drink Barleywines right away?

Are Barleywines aged already? I just bought an AleSmith Old Numbskull barleywine. Should I wait to drink it?

Julohan said:

Are Barleywines aged already? I just bought an AleSmith Old Numbskull barleywine. Should I wait to drink it?

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Tough call. It is good to go, but it will do soooo well with age. I like theirs with about 3 years on it.

Commercial barleywines are conditioned enough to drink when sold, but will get much better. Buy a sixer. Drink one, drink another every three months. Take notes.

david_42 said:

Commercial barleywines are conditioned enough to drink when sold, but will get much better. Buy a sixer. Drink one, drink another every three months. Take notes.

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Alesmith barleywine only comes in a 750ml bottle. I wish they packaged smaller, but that's how it goes.

carnevoodoo said:

Alesmith barleywine only comes in a 750ml bottle. I wish they packaged smaller, but that's how it goes.

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Indeed. Old Numbskull is somewhat readily available so I would drink now or whenever you get around to it, and if you see potential for aging, grab another bottle...or 12.

It doesn't have a bottled date. Is there a way of finding out how old it is now?

I think for most of the recent (within the past few years) regular Alesmith stuff, you can't really tell. If it was older than that, there are some slight changes in the bottles to help identify. That's all I can tell you. If you email them, they'd probably help you out if they can. Brewers like to know people are taking wholehearted interest in their product.

Sidenote: Go find their Wee Heavy, I think it's incredible (my top10) with about 2 years on it.