Barleywine Taste

[blagosaurous]

I have tried 3 different Barleywines and maybe they aren't all like this but they all have a big dose of Sour Cherry or maybe Plum or Raisin.

I have to admit, I am not a fan of that taste at all. Is this a particular Hop or what is this taste? I want to avoid accidentally making a beer that tastes like this.

Two of the Barleywines I had were Avery Brewing - one was The Reverend. I don't recall the other ones name.

 

[dcp27]

you definitely shouldnt be tasting sour cherry in a barleywine, but the dark fruit can come from malts, sugar, and the yeast. dark crystal malts and dark candi sugar tend to give those flavors, but just having a ton of malt and some age can bring it out as well. some belgian yeasts (some english too) can develop that quality too.

btw, the Reverend isn't a barleywine, its a belgian quad.

 

[motobrewer]

I have tried 3 different Barleywines and maybe they aren't all like this but they all have a big dose of Sour Cherry or maybe Plum or Raisin.

I have to admit, I am not a fan of that taste at all. Is this a particular Hop or what is this taste? I want to avoid accidentally making a beer that tastes like this.

Two of the Barleywines I had were Avery Brewing - one was The Reverend. I don't recall the other ones name.

Reverend isn't a barleywine. probably the beginning of the problem.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think brewers at all levels have a tendency to overdue specialty malts in barleywines. The huge payload of base malt will already get you a mega malt profile so additional color/flavor additions need to be done sparingly to keep it from tasting like molasses. I'm a fan of base malt only Barley Wines myself.

 

[daksin]

Reverend isn't a barleywine. probably the beginning of the problem.

Came here to mention this. It's a belgian quad, so you would expect some dried fruit flavors, and some caramel-y-ness

 

[david_42]

Large amounts of Special B (~C150L) can give you plum and raisin notes.

 

[TopherM]

Remember that in a Barleywine, you are asking your malts to cover 10-20% alcohol. If you aren't a fan of high alcohol beers, you aren't going to like Barleywine!! It's a BIGGGG beer...

 

[bighorn_brew]

I decided to do a barley wine early in my brew career back in '02, had a whole bunch of spare ingredients, lots of specialty grains, different odds ends of hops, etc etc....after a month in bottle (big EZ cap bottles ?quarts?), very odd flavors like you mentioned and winey, ugh.....whoa, very disappointed....very briefly thought about dumping, but decided to keep in the cellar for a while....after six months still very odd flavored almost mediciney.
After a year a magical thing happened to it, smoothed right out, lots of the harsh notes gone, malty: yes, winey: yes, tasty: yes, strong: yes (dangerously deceptively so). Like TopherM noted it is a big beer and will be in some ways more a "wine" or "barley liquour" than a regular beer or even strong ale.
So, maybe you might want to try brewing something like a strong ale, rather than a barley wine if your not a fan of that style....