Baladin Xyauyù Etichetta Rame (Copper Label)
A beer brewed and matured to 13.5% ABV going to 14.5% in next productions.
Malts: Pilsner Durst, aromatic Dingemans, caramunich 140 Dingemans. Hops: Hallertau Hernsbrucker, Spalt Select and East Kent Golding.
Brewing process: the wort is hyperconcentrated then boiled for two hous and half. Primary fermentation for 25 in steel vessels. Then after a sterile filtration (to eliminate primary yeast strains) the beer is transfered in a steel vessel with transparent membrane and a "oxygen hat". Afeter several tasting from 6 to 24 months later (it depends on the oxidation velocity, very inconsistant!) the brewer decides when it’s time to bottle in 50cl. champagne shape bottles with good quality cork. The production is very limited. Three productions brewed during two years will be available from October 2006.
Editor’s note: the label says also "Riserva Teo Musso" and the vintage (year).
Malts: Pilsner Durst, aromatic Dingemans, caramunich 140 Dingemans. Hops: Hallertau Hernsbrucker, Spalt Select and East Kent Golding.
Brewing process: the wort is hyperconcentrated then boiled for two hous and half. Primary fermentation for 25 in steel vessels. Then after a sterile filtration (to eliminate primary yeast strains) the beer is transfered in a steel vessel with transparent membrane and a "oxygen hat". Afeter several tasting from 6 to 24 months later (it depends on the oxidation velocity, very inconsistant!) the brewer decides when it’s time to bottle in 50cl. champagne shape bottles with good quality cork. The production is very limited. Three productions brewed during two years will be available from October 2006.
Editor’s note: the label says also "Riserva Teo Musso" and the vintage (year).
3.9
190 reviews
Piozzo, Italy
Community reviews
delicious paired with the "strudel aperti" with strawberry and yogurt @ vetri. lively, coffee, slick, leaves, sticky, rocky, spruce, frothy, butterscotch, chocolate
Poured with no carbonation, which is the way it was intended. Pours out a rich amber. Smell is sweet, I get no alcohol, just a pleasant sweetness of honey. Tastes of honey and fruit, very rich, perfect desert beer. Loved the xFume, but I think this one is more drinkable due to the lack of peat. Amazing.
16.9 oz bottle, 2006. Clear brown with a trace of foam. Nose is caramel, alcohol and wood. Medium body with soft carb. Taste is honey and dates, mostly sweet. Hints of pear, apple and raisin. Quite fruity and meadlike but lacking depth.
Pour is a deep caramel garnet, unfortunately marred by a host of tiny black flecks floating in the liquid -- fortunately they are undetectable in the mouth. The smell is rich fruit, caramel, honey and a hint of harsh fusels -- the taste is stewed plums, cherry, leather, wine, raisins, and tobacco. Alcohol is extremely well hidden behind an mouth-coating sweetness. Texture is thick and port-like... in fact, everything is very port-like. Not a bad thing, and really remarkable for a product made without grapes. I love the showcasing of the qualities of slow oxidization.
Huge thanks to bucketboy for opening this bottle at Barrel Aged Sexual Chocolate. Served in a Deschutes tulip, courtesy of Lunch, who was sleeping in his car at that point.
2005 vintage.
Pours a moderate copper-bronze color with a very thin head of bubbles that quickly receded. The nose brings forward a really nice balance between caramel and dark fruits along with some sherry in the background. The flavor melds everything together really well, and the oxidation process has really done wonders to this beer. Beautiful sherry-like flavor along with some caramelization and just a touch of alcohol. Light to medium body and very smooth. Low carbonation. Really a delight all around. Thanks again, Joe.
Serving type: bottle
A beer i have wanted for quite a few years .. . Pours a thick black brown, no carbonation and only fleas of foam .. . sherry, maple syrup, and prunes dominate, with tar and more dark fruit on the finish .. . a fantastic beer! .. . its funny how Italy produced such a wonderful beer like this but produced such a piece of utter shit in the form of mario balotelli...
Bottled (2nd CS/ES Beer Gathering, thanks SV!). Slightly hazy reddish amber colour with a small off-white head. Aroma is alcohol, some madeira wine like notes along with wooden and vanillaish notes. Flavour is sweet malts, vanilla, mild spicyness, madeiralike, spicy and also has quite much alcohol filling it up. Yet very balanced.
Meraviglia assoluta, aspetto splendido, al naso alcolico, frutta matura, Teo è riuscito a tirar fuori da una birra sensazioni altrimenti riservate al vino. Corpo pieno, meravigliosa.
Tap at Open Baladin. Still, clear almost cognac looking orange-brown. Aroma is sweet and more sweet grapes with some very big maltiness, but only a slight hint of booze. Sweetness comes through in the taste first, some cordial-like flavors of cherry and prune. Very port-like. Syrupy body, bit of a chore to drink.
4th January 2009
A 2004 bottle at 13.0% abv. Cloudy brown beer, no head and utterly devoid of carbonation. But it works here. Remarkably sweet barleywine. Sweet caramel and toffee with an undercurrent of Porty red fruits. Soft sweet finish. The abv only manifesting as a warming afterglow. Unique beer!
Bottle. Pours murky brown. Nose and taste of toffee, sweet caramel, tea, dark fruits and nuts. A bit watery at times.
Held up to the light, a soft haze of suspended dregs gazed back at me in a sea of ruby Porto. Very little apparent carbonation, no head, no ringlet, and no lace, all of which I wasn’t really expecting given the unique nature of this beer. Her nose is one of the richest I have observed in a beer other than Utopias and a few rare others. Caramelized sugars are everywhere the nose can smell; brown sugar, molasses, and maple. Cherries, grapes, and plums soak in old port barrels, the wood stained in ruby and amber. Red licorice, canned black cherries, gomme syrup, brownies, and dates weight heavily upon my senses. I have my suspicions this is a beer to be shared amongst a few and not just one. Sticky and instantly lip-coating, plums take center stage and never wholly leave; red, purple, black, and varieties I am unaware of spill their juices upon my tongue for all my tastebuds to revel in. She bares the weight of her palate in the center and finishes short and fast. I am grateful for the short finish; her richness would quickly overwhelm otherwise. Powdered sugar sprinkles atop black cherries, peaches, and kiwi while chocolate truffles melt in the mouth, not the hand. The combination of sugar sweetness, chocolate, and cherries culminate in cherry cordials ready for eating with her port notes a subtle accent content to rest in the background while warmth slowly fills my chest. As I slowly sip through my bottle, plums and prunes continue their juicy escapades across sticky lips as I find little else of change to note.
An amazing beer in every way; from the way she was brewed, aged, conditioned, bottled, and ultimately tasted, the Xyauyu Copper 2005 from Baladin Birrifico was a tasting revelation. If you ever stumble across any of the Xyauyu bottlings, be sure to take one home and when you are ready to pop that cork, find a few friends, share, and enjoy. On the beer alone, there will be more than enough to talk about.
500mL courtesy of Travlr. Poured a completely flat clear amber that is syrupy like brandy and leaves very good legs like a good cordial. Aroma is quite good: grappa, sherry, brandy, caramel, red grapes. Taste is very syrupy sweet to almost cloying. No spicy alcohol. Mostly clover/orange blossom honey, maple syrup, red grapes, grape seeds. It’s certainly not bad, but it is just so overtly sweet and produces no head and no carbonation so the palate is a little overwhemed by sweetness. It would do well as sherry or mead or maybe eisbocked into ice cream sundae syrup. In fact, I would probably score this much higher if I were told, "hey try this mead!" instead of "hey, try this very expensive barleywine similar to Utopias."
Bottle shared with tarheels86 and his better half. Dark copper color, no carbonation, completely flat. Aroma of caramel and strong alcohol. Thick and syrupy, extremely sweet, like flan on steroids.
(500ml "copper" bottle, 2004 vintage) Pours a clear amber body with a spare off-white head. Aroma of apple, butterscotch, honey, florals, and brandy. Flavor of apple, caramel, raisins, toffee, alcohol, port, and butterscotch.
How do you pronounce the name? 2005 bottle, thanks to KnN for sharing. Very sherry-like aroma, with no carbonation. Flavor is sherry, white grapes, orange, caramel, very sweet and sticky. Absolutely delicious sipper.
Bottle @ Open Baladin, Rome. Pours unclear golden with no head. Nose is rich and vinous. Port and dark fruit. Extremely vinous and delicious. Dark fruit, port and oak. Low carbonation. Tannins. Some warmth. Complex and better than the silver for sure.
2005 Bottle. Pours deep red, no head at all. Aroma is amazing, sherry, port, vinous, but malty. The malt is so subtle but very appreciated. Flavor is full, rich, round, earthy, sherry notes. This was an amazing beer.
Bottle.
Slightly murky golden red amber. No head.
The aroma is cleaner than the Gold Label version. Lots of vinous fruits and caramel, some alcohol and dusty cellar character. Not overly oxidized.
The flavor is sweet with a rather prominent aged character. Notes of sweet vinous prunes, currants and cherries. Clearly not as oxidized and Madeira-like as the Gold version. But it has a nice pronounced cellar character. The finish is warming with notes of candy.
Medium body, flat and sticky,
Nice, but I’m having doubts about why the brewery is making three different versions of this beer. They are not that different from each other.
06 Bottle pour @ EBF. Brown pour with white head. Notes of maple, and caramel malts, along with intentional oxidation? Sweet, no real hop presence at this time, slight warming, could use a bit more carbonation.
bottle thanks to bu11zeye. poured deep amber with some nice legs. aroma was sherry, brown sugar, raisin, and honey. flavor was much the same with the addition of some pecan. body was sticky icky.
Bottle: Dark caramel, ruby and amber hues, soapy head that dies quickly leaving sparce lacing. Certainly appears to be aged! Smooth dark pitted fruit, honey, nuts, and maple syrup on the nose. This one smells really tasty. Slight alcohol is noticeable. Very warming up front, malty, sweet but not overly sticky. Dark pitted fruit, raisins, figs, dates, as well as carmelized sugar, burnt marshmallows, and just plain ole malty sweetness. Really impressed with this one. Very smooth, yet not too heavy. Backside is full of raisins, dates and figs with a slightly burnt caramel malt sweetness. This is a great sipper. Almost like a cognac of beers. Big thanks to fogdog for this one!
2009 bottle thanks to bu11zeye. poured a deep amber with no head. nose is honey, caramel, esters, and honey. sticky palate, honey, and vanilla for flavors, great stuff.
(500ml bottle 2009 vintage thanks to bu11zeye) still copper color with good legs. Nose of celery, brown sugar, with no alcohol presence at all. Taste of sherry, brown sugar, raisin, alcohol and toffee. Great flavorful body with a medium oily body.
Bottle, thanks to ericandersnavy for saving this for me. Pours a murky brown. Aroma is incredibly sweet, burnt grain, toasty, dark fruit, very malty with strong alcohol spice. Flavor is the same. Mouth feel is heavy bosy and smooth, very warming. Overall, damned good shit!
Bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Nose is mint, licorice, and peppermint certs, sherry, and brown sugar. Taste is similar with notes of boozy fruit juice and sticky caramel.
bottle, thanks to bu11zeye, medium amber with short lived foam, aromas of graham crackers, prune, honey, flavors of honey, toffee, fruit, ambrosia, very nice finish
Bottle from 2005 shared amongst everyone at work after 7 hours of doing inventory. Pours a clear ruby brown with a thin white head. Vanilla, sweet pear, malt. Sweet caramel, light port and faint cocoa notes, almost no hint that this is 13% or so. Almost oily looking, clings to the glass. Silky and smooth, long sweetness to this, but it doesn’t really hit cloying levels. Finishes smooth and sweet with a lingering fruit and almost maple quality.
500ml. 2005 vintage. 13%. Pours a dark amber with no apparent carbonation. Just a few bubbles here and there. Aroma is of big malts and sugar simply, a little honey and generic fruitiness. Alcohol is present in the aroma but not as much as is in the Argento opus. Simple but bold aroma. Wow, flavor and finish are quite smooth. Just a little bit of boozy warmth, but not heat. Flavor is big yet unassailing: Very fruity now with winegrapes, pear juice, sweet nectarine, loads of sugars, et cetera, and quite sweet. Reminicent of port in several aspects. The oxidation is just slight, less than expected considering the vintage and deliberate oxidation process of the maker. Perfect level of oxidation though right now in my opinion. Dead, oily mouthfeel. I just wish it was slightly more alive; even with minimal carbonation the feel would’ve been vastly better. In the end, a nice sipper, the flavor being the only highlight. Enjoyable, not mindblowing. Overall, very good.
Light hazelnutt brown with no head, just some legs. Nose has very noticable "cellar notes" of wet basement and mold-like funk alongside the expected caramell and sugar notes. Some cognac vibes with raisins and boozy fruit is also noticable. Flavor is about the same but with even more prominent cellar funk which does disturb the overall clean character of this very sweet beer. Ends on a warming note with a big lingering sweetness. Mouthfeel is flat, body is sticky.