I have found that you can make a very nice Barleywine using extract only. It's similar in profile to my local micro's offering; and it doesn't need that much aging to be good. It's strong, but not overpoweringly alcoholic. It's basically Walt's from the Brewmasters Bible with a little more hops:
11 lbs. light DME
1 lb. Wheat DME
2 oz Willamette or Cascade 60 min
4 oz Galena, or Nugget 60 min
2 oz Chinook 60 min
2 oz Cascade Flameout
2 oz Cascade dry hop
2 packages Wyeast 1098 or starter.
Since I only had a 4 gallon pot, I usually split the wort into two pots and boiled one with all the hops, and boiled the extra DME and threw them together in the fermenter.
Be prepared for lots of blowoff, it will really go.
I found it good to drink at 3 weeks in the bottle, but it just gets better.
Even though I've gone all grain, I'll still throw this quickie in every fall.