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Warrior's 999

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And here is our review of mine. I wasn't sure whether to post it or not, but figured it might be interesting to those who are curious.

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God, mine looked like a third grader wrote them. Sorry for all the scratch marks. My descriptions changed as I figured out what aromas/tastes were that I was picking up and as they warmed to room temp. Also, I kept getting grape juice in a couple. Not sure where that was coming from.

To Warrior and Doog - I think your reviews from me definitely would have been better if we did yours first. Tex Law's BW was super hoppy and I think it really made the others taste a bit sweet. Also, my personal preference for American BW has lots of floral piny hops. I think both of yours just lacked the hoppiness of an American style and the malt complexity and richness of an English style. I'm not sure what the recipes looked like, but I think they could have really benefited from collecting extra wort and doing a nice long boil for complexity, if you were going for something on the sweeter side. I really enjoyed the chance to try out all these home brews. :mug:
 
Thank YOU for brewing such an awesome beer! If you couldn't tell, we really enjoyed it!

That was a seriously great beer. I would really like to see how it would age. If you don't mind sharing, I am really curious to know what your hop schedule was for that.
 
Here's my third review, had to straighten out the labeling on this one...
Unfortunately, I'm rating this one on my own...thankfully it's only a 12oz bottle :mug:
Conpewter's Barleywine

Aroma
Burnt sugar, plum, slight breadiness. Sweet and complex, smells fantastic!

11/12

Appearance
No head, tiny fringe of lace on very rim of pour. Beautiful ruby/dark wood color. Faintest hint of haze

2/3

Flavor
Really lives up to the aroma. Sweet, dark, complex. Brown sugar, peppery notes. Well balanced, reminds me of a good bourbon. Clean finish, alcohol strong but not overpowering. Perhaps a bit too much dark caramel for style.

17/20

Mouthfeel
Nice attenuation, carbonation appropriate for style. Great texture, just enough viscosity to hang around but not syrup-y. No astringency noted.

5/5

Overall Impression
Great drinking, nice alcohol warmth. May need another year before it really comes into it's own. Nice attenuation, clean ferment.

9/10



For a 45/50! Maybe I'm just in a great mood tonight, but I couldn't really find too much wrong with this beer! I'm going to try to lay the second one down for another year and taste it then. Thanks Conpewter!
 
To Warrior and Doog - I think your reviews from me definitely would have been better if we did yours first. Tex Law's BW was super hoppy and I think it really made the others taste a bit sweet. Also, my personal preference for American BW has lots of floral piny hops. I think both of yours just lacked the hoppiness of an American style and the malt complexity and richness of an English style. I'm not sure what the recipes looked like, but I think they could have really benefited from collecting extra wort and doing a nice long boil for complexity, if you were going for something on the sweeter side. I really enjoyed the chance to try out all these home brews. :mug:

The thing that stood out the most in second review sheet is "overcarbed." I was very surprised to see that. My main complaint with my 999 batch has been the total LACK of carbonation. I drank one of mine on Wednesday and found that it drank much more like a wine than a beer (which echoes the grape flavors in the review). I thought that if it had the right level of carbonation, the hop and malt nose might come through a little better.

I wonder if I should shake the crap out of my remaining bottles and store them in a 85 degree truck for a few days, to simulate a UPS man's abuse. Maybe that will give me the carbonation I desire. :)

Thanks for the formal and well laid out reviews! :mug:
 
I too have been very impressed with the reviews that have been posted for this swap. Everyone is doing a fine job so far and I can't wait to see what everyone has to say about mine!
 
Liquidicem's 999

Aroma 9/12
Sweet malt and dark fruits up front. Citrusy hops backing it up. Occasional hint of chocolate. Nicely complex, if a bit subdued.
Appearance 2/3
Dark brown and brilliantly clear. Poured flat, with no head and only a fine rim of tiny bubbles on the edge of the glass.
Flavour 16/20
Good malty sweetness is well balanced by a nice clean hop bitterness. Dark fruits in the aroma come through as plum and raisin. Nicely warming, but not hot.
Mouthfeel 4/5
Has a bit of carbonation bite. Very strange as it poured nearly still. otherwise smooth and slightly chewy.
Overall 7/10
A nice barleywine, with good complexity. The aroma, while nicely complex, was a bit light. Carbonation was the real oddball here. Biting on the tongue, but producing nearly no bubbles in the glass, colour me confused. I would order another at a bar.

38/50

Terje
 
Thanks for the review. Any suggestions as to how to get "more" maltier and complex? Any tips are appreciated.:mug:

The first and easiest thing you can do to increase maltiness is to use some "maltier" base malts. I would look first to a good British pale malt/Marris Otter. You also can consider Munich, Vienna, and "special" pale malt. I am certain you used some of those in your beer, so it probably just is a matter of using more. I especially like bumping up the British pale.

For complexity, you will get that from some of the other base malts. I also think a bit of medium crystal would add something nice, as might a bit of biscuit malt. Really, though, the traditional way to get complexity for a barleywine is through a long, long boil.

If you added straight sugar to your beer, I would just leave that out. Sugar is a cheap and easy way to bump up the OG, but the extra alcohol that comes from it can numb the palate.

Of course, it won't be easy to improve on your beer, man. That was a good one!


TL
 
Aroma: vanilla, hazelnut, toffee, maple. No hops.

Appearance: slightly cloudy, dark amber with little head. Low carbonation.

Flavor: caramel, sweet, candy-like. Brown sugar, molasses, toffee. Alcohol warmth is slight. Dark toast in the aftertaste (literally, like dark toast!).

Overall: very pleasant but sweet from start to finish. The hops are not coming through for me. Clean fermentation, great body/mouthfeel, just lacking in hops.
 
Overall: very pleasant but sweet from start to finish. The hops are not coming through for me. Clean fermentation, great body/mouthfeel, just lacking in hops.

Thanks for the review. Your opinion of the beer matches my own.

Unfortunately I didn't really enjoy your barleywine I tried the other day. Something was off. I suspect it may have just been a bad bottle based on the other reviews so I am going to chill down the second bottle I got from you and give it another go before finishing the review.

And I still have to get the MNBugeaters.

Craig
 
Apologies.

A very important person in my life re-arranged my beer fridges. My proximity filing system is fcked. I need to figure out whose is whose. Pics of your caps forthcoming.
 
Couevas 999

A: Clear amber, slight head but does stick around for a while

A: Caramel, fig, plum, low to no fuesel alcohols, amazing! Minimal hops to the nose.

T: Hides the alcohol very well, wonderful caramel sweetness balanced against a good hop bitterness.

M: Carbonation is good, goes down dangerously smooth. Not too thick or thin, nice legs.

O: This is just a wonderful BW! I love the balance, normally I love sweeter barleywines so it is good to find one that I enjoy that is balanced. Very very glad I have another 22oz bottle of this. Hides the ABV very very well
 
King Brian I

A: Great clarity, pours with little head, dissipates quickly, doesn't have legs, cream colored head while it lasted

A: good maltyness with dark fruits, some sourness , alcohol as well, no hops

T. good sherry like notes, some astringency, good alcohol warmth, some bitterness detected

M. Much thinner than I'd expected of a BW, drier

O good though not as much malt/sweet as I'd like from a BW

I'm going to try the other bottle sometime and re-review, seeing the other reviews from this BW make me think I may have gotten an off bottle.
 
amiaji 999

A: pours with a slight tan head, dissipates quickly. Somewhat cloudy - chill haze? Could be yeast

A: Dark fruits, raisins, some alcohol, malty fruity

T: good balane, bittners comes through, good malty backbone, sweet but bitter on the aftertaste, nice!

M. carbed to style, not too thick or thin, very drinkable. Hides alcohol fairly well

O: Very good, exactly what I'd like in a BW
 
Warrior's 999

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Don't worry I have thick skin. I brewed this leaning more towards an english version than an american as the recipe called for. Coming out very flat definately changes the flavor but IMHO you hit it fairly hard. Yes it was out of the american style of Barleywine but to put it in the 20's? I do need to get back to force carbing as that would solve the bottle conditioning I was trying to do. Anyways great idea and swaps, now to get my brewery ready for the 10-10-10.
 
While I am a big fan of barleywines, I found these beers including my own to be underwhelming. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. If I brew this again I'm going to have to add a **** ton of hops to come up with something remotely close to fitting the needs of my palate. Nothing personal here.:eek:
Don't get me wrong, these beers are well made, the taste of this recipe just not bag.
 
While I am a big fan of barleywines, I found these beers including my own to be underwhelming. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. If I brew this again I'm going to have to add a **** ton of hops to come up with something remotely close to fitting the needs of my palate. Nothing personal here.:eek:
Don't get me wrong, these beers are well made, the taste of this recipe just not bag.

Yup same feeling here, after tasting Bigfoot, I was terribly disappointed in mine.
More, more, more hops!
 
King Brian I

A: Great clarity, pours with little head, dissipates quickly, doesn't have legs, cream colored head while it lasted

A: good maltyness with dark fruits, some sourness , alcohol as well, no hops

T. good sherry like notes, some astringency, good alcohol warmth, some bitterness detected

M. Much thinner than I'd expected of a BW, drier

O good though not as much malt/sweet as I'd like from a BW

I'm going to try the other bottle sometime and re-review, seeing the other reviews from this BW make me think I may have gotten an off bottle.

Hmm, did you not taste the smoke at all? Can you remember if it had a plain golden cap with "999" written on it?
 
Conpewter's Pale Ale and Oatmeal Stout as reviewed by mmb and SWMBO

PA
Aroma: moderate hop aroma with slight fruit note (apricot?) 11/12
Appearance: pours yellow/gold, slight white head that dissipates to light ring of foam 3/3
Flavor: trending towards hoppy, slight background malt, clean 14/30
Mouthfeel: light carb, thin body, slight astringency in aftertaste 4/5
Overall: decent PA, finished sample, maybe mash a little warmer for more body. 7/10

SWMBO Review: clean, good flavor, light but not wimpy, 7 or 8 out of 10

"one of those beers that makes me want to drink another"

Oatmeal Stout:

Aroma: coffee/roasty slightly sweet aroma 10/12
Appearance: no head, thick black pour 2/3
Flavor: coffee, slight chocolate, smooth, clean finish 17/20
Mouthfeel: flat and a bit thin, silky 3/5
Overall: Little light in body, good roast level 6/10

SWMBO: good, clean, needs carb, 7 of 10
 
If I'm looking at this thread correctly, we're still missing a LOT of reviews here...I know it hasn't been that long, but lets not drag this out for months again...it's time to start thinking about 111111 right?
 
If I'm looking at this thread correctly, we're still missing a LOT of reviews here...I know it hasn't been that long, but lets not drag this out for months again...it's time to start thinking about 111111 right?

Barleywines are not something I drink a lot of. So it's going to take me some time to get thru all mine.

Add that to a very strict diet I'm on and I can not drink one of these until Saturday after I have done a 3 hour + workout.
 
How many people only recieved 2/3? I'm trying to figure out the rate of reviews here. We're over a month past the tasting date and by my calculations we have 26/96 reviews with 5 brewers completing their reviews for the Barleywines. I know things come up and lots of us are busy, but that's pretty bad. We've all known for the better part of 6 months we were going to taste these, and I'm glad that I got to taste the beers that I did, because I loved them all.
 
I apologize for not getting around to tasting more of the beer sent my way. I've been away most weekends getting things ready for winter at my parent's house and cutting wood for them to burn this winter. Apparently, that was one of the many things Dad forgot as the tumor effected his brain.

I'll try to get a bottle a night reviewed during the week..
 
I want to apologize for only reviewing one of my 3. Life has been gnarly.

I work on the 787 for Boeing, so as you can imagine, a lot of OT.
I started grad school last month, MBA - Full Time after work.
I have a wife and a two year-old daughter.
I am moving to a new place right now.

Wow, seeing all that in one place seems like a lot!

I will try to get another review out tonight.....:eek:
 
TexLaw's 9-9-9 Barleywine

(image to come, once wife finds camera cable)

Aroma: Pleasant, rich maltiness, dark fruitiness, sweet, nice subtle hop aroma, like caramelly bread! 11/12

Appearance: Thick, brownish copper color, beautiful head with amazing lacing given the style, viscous but not too much so 3/3

Flavor: Beautifully balanced, perfect warm alcohol, slightly sweet but not cloying, awesome hop bitterness/flavor (stands up to malt very well), very very tasty 17/20

Mouthfeel: Rich, almost chewy, nice balance of coating with carbonation pleasant aftertaste, warms you right up 4/5

Overall: Best barelywine I have ever tasted (as of yet)! I wouldn't change a thing 9/10 :rockin:

Total 44/50
 
I'm glad you liked that beer so much, Couevas. If I can brag on it a bit, it just won a gold medal at Dixie Cup. :mug:


TL

I was hoping you would have entered it into a competition or two. I knew it was gold medal material when I tried it. I've got that other one safely stored away to age.
 
Well, it's not going into many competitions, that's for sure. I want to drink this stuff! I'll probably put it into MCAB. If there is any left in Spring (beyond a few bottles I want to keep for aging), it might (MIGHT) go into Bluebonnet or NHC. I'm not shipping it all over to a bunch of other folks to drink, anymore, though! :D


TL
 
There are 10 other people besides myself, as near as I can figure, who have received no reviews on their barleywine. I guess it's either really bad, or so good it shamed people into quitting brewing and taking up needlepoint as a hobby.
 
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