Drake's Barley Wine Brandy Barrel
Simply put this barley wine is the strongest beer we have ever brewed. At 14.70% alc/vol with a starting gravity of 26 plato Drakes barley wine has been big since birth. Crisp malts give this beer a burnt red color and deep rich sweetness. Placed in a brandy oak barrel since Dec. 2003 it has been aging and waiting for you to enjoy as you would any fine after dinner beverage. This is a very limited release and won't be repeated.
4
179 reviews
San Leandro, United States
Community reviews
#100. Bottle into snifter. Reddish brown with no head. Aroma is moderate oxidation, tart fruit, caramel, old wood, cashews(?). Flavor is sweet and a little tangy with sherry, raisins, prunes, brandy. Oh so smooth with the barest hint of alcohol. Medium full and soft and a bit dry in the finish. Past its prime and fading, but still very tasty.
A: The pour is a flat, muddy dark brown color with no head at all, which isn’t surprising.
S: While this is most certainly oxidized, the beer is not any worse off for it. A wonderful chocolate aroma that goes nicely with the brandy, oak, and vanilla notes. A nice sweet caramel and toffee aroma is present as well.
T: The flavor is not quite as good as the nose, but still good. A fair amount of chocolate and vanilla with a more noticeable brandy presence, which is surprising given the age of this beer. The base barleywine still comes through with the caramel sweetness.
M: The body is smooth and full bodied, and has a nice texture to it despite the lack of carbonation.
D: The beer was maybe a touch heavy on the brandy, but still absolutely delicious. It’s too bad I probably won’t get another chance to try this one.
Bottle: Headless muddy/murky maroon brown. Enormous aroma- complex and enormous depth- huge chewy tobacco, peat, sweet cigar leaf, date paste, chocolaty notes, toffee- great aromatics! Warm slick body. The flavor is big and toffeeish with notes of raisin, date, sweet tobacco, toasted dry oak, lots of layers of malt depth but very drinkable in it’s richness. Held up extremely well over 7 years. A gentle giant with lots of subtlety. A great Winter warmer.
Sample at Woodshop 5.0. Been wanting to try this brew for a long, long time. Very reminiscent of Sam Adams triple Bock. Deep caramel brown with some sediment and a tan ring and very low carbonation. Big toffee, caramel, soy sauce, oxidation. Very long on the finish.
Bottle: Deep brown, quite murky, deep caramel hues, soapy beige head, very little lacing. Certainly looks aged. Woody nose, very minor Brandy like presense. Very soft band-aid and butterscotch, in addition to
some dark pitted fruit. Might be a little bit over the hill. Sweet and tangy on the tongue, some wood character, almost nil on the Brandy front. If this is 14.7% I would have never have guessed it. Has a sweet
prune/raisiny backside. This is fairly tasty, smooth on the finish. Moderate sweetness from start to finish. Lingering figs and dates. Good, hides ABV well, but not as complex as I would have thought.
Probably was fantastic a year or two ago. Still tasty tho. Thanks to Styles for this rarity!
2100 rating with a bottle thanks to Ratman197! Pours with a hazy deep brown body and a ring of tan froth. Aroma of brandy, wood, chocolate, grapes, currants, toffee, yeast, madeira. Very complex. Taste is sweet with light oxidation at the mid point, explosive fruit and dark fruit, cherry, brandy barrel finish. All the complex fruity and burnt toffee flavors I associate with a good brandy. Rich and deep with raisin and sherry notes. Slight tang at the finish. Syrupy mouthfeel with light carbonation. Alcohol is well hidden till about 15 minutes after you have had it. Very nice.
bottle from ratman197. This was my favorite of the 4 that I was lucky enough to try. Pours a cloudy dark brown color and no real head. Aroma is full of fruity and old wood notes, brandy, and some red wine notes. Flavor is really nice. The oxidation plays well into the sweet/tart taste. Booze, tart cherries, caramel, toffee, wood, and some chalky red wine notes. damn this is a nice little sipper.
Bottle 18cl. @ home.
[ Trade by Papsoe ]. Clear medium to dark brown color with virtually none head. Aroma is heavy malty, roasted, caramel, dark berry, raisin, prune, cask wood - whsiky, alcohol. Flavor is heavy sweet and moderate to light heavy bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily - syrupy, carbonation is flat, finish feel is moderate alcoholic. [20081117]
6oz nip bottle. Lots of oxidization on the nose. Really not than unpleasant, though. Dark fruits. Wet oak. Lots of barrel presence. Vanilla extract. Thick, chewy malt. Sweeter candies... toffee and caramel (obviously). Reduced port wine. Raisny-amarone like wine aromas. Alcohol is present but doesn’t show it’s strength. Pours a gorgeous, still, oily dark brown. Completely opaque. No head and no carbonation. Looks beautiful. Flavor has as much oxidization as the nose. Rather delicious though. Just the smallest hint of cardboard. Loads of dark, concentrated fruit. Lots of wood tannin. I can’t say brandy, per se... but a definite barrel presence is there. Nutty sherry, dark fruits, alcohol, caramel, toffee... it’s all there for a barley wine. Getting on in age though. Slick on the tongue. Minimal carbonation with a tasty, toasty and caramel malt finish. Very nice. Showing its age, but quite delicious. Thanks a ton Eugene for the rare treat!
Courtesy of Fonefan. It’s dark red mahogany and the aroma has notes of oak, roasted malt, dark fruits like raisin and figs, caramel, alcohol, and the mouthfeel is full. The flavour has sweetness and notes of raisin, roasted malt, oak, caramel, plum, sherry and the balance is very nice in this full-bodied and impressive beer – nice indeed!
Bottle shared with Hogtown Harry and Blankboy, courtesy of Harry. Great aroma - brown sugar, molasses, alcohol. Dark brown, no head. Nice taste - dark fruit, toffee, aclohol - like a smoothed out fruitier Thomas Hardy’s. Good stuff
old lil nip I believe this came from Tever. Poured into a snifter. Pours dark dark brownish-red with a ring of a tan head. Nose is nice with a touch of brandy, but everything else seems to have faded a bit with time. A touch of caramel toffee etc.. No touch of alc in the onse here. Taste is sweet and malty with a light bit of brandy and dark deep fruits. This is incredibly smooth it has aged very well, I can’t tell that this beer is nearly 15% abv. Overall this is a tasty beer, and one I doubt I’ll ever have again.
’05 6oz Bottle. Poured a dark brown in color with amber hues when held to light. Bottle poured with no head. Aroma of raisins, dark fruits, wet grain and sweet with some toffee and caramel. Taste is generally sweet with dark fruits, toffee and brown sugar. Flavors of raisins, light oak, and grains also present. For 14.7% I thought this was very drinkable.
Bottle (6oz) shared with HogTownHarry & tupalev -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pours a murky oily ruby-brown with practically no head. Nice aroma of dark fruit, toffee, hops, molasses, brown sugar, alcohol and more -- lots going on here and it’s all nicely blended together. Flavour’s quite fruity and sweet along with caramel, wood and a bit of brandy. For 14.7% the alcohol is quite well hidden. Good body. No carbonation but it suits it. Fantastic stuff, I enjoyed it very much.
Pours the color of rasins with no head. Nose is dried fruit, brandy, cherries and brown sugar. Taste is the same, with very nice melded influences. Not as hot as I thought it would be and coating on the palate.
Bottle (6oz). Shared with blankboy and tupalev, via trade with irishboy. Cloudy, flat-looking muddy red-brown pour - looks great! Damn that smells good - raisin, brazil nut oil, brandy, lush grain, slightly sour dry oak resin - terrific: sophisticated, smooth, balanced. The taste follows - seems a little simpler, and a touch more tartness, but wood resin, sultanas & nutty roast malt - after a bit more fruit emerges - tart cherry for sure. Thick body, medium-acidic and somewhat still mouthfeel, almost creamy-slick ...... amazing stuff - like a well-aged fruity Thomas Hardy’s. Thanks, Richard!
Bottle shared by iowaherkeye. Thanks Joey. Big boozy nose with dark fruit and molasses notes. Poured a murky brown color. Full bodied, sweet, and fruity with plenty of warm alcohol and low carbonation. Fruity and boozy with distinct brandy and dark fruit flavors. Just oooozing with booooze.
An old body from my cellar. No head with this beer, a dark and murky body. Aroma is sweet, raisins with caramel and some light honey. A great tawny taste, soaked fruits with a nice chocolate liquor accent. Smooth ending with a very nice small alcohol burn in the end. GREAT!
6oz Bottle courtesy of Numenor. Murky brown body with no head. Huge molassas aroma with brown sugar, raisins, rum soaked fruit, caramel, and a bit of alcohol. Huge caramel and molassas flavor, more raisins and rum soaked fruit. Full body with very low carbonation and a thick not quite syrupy mouthfeel.
Stud tasting 1.0 held at general_gaos. Thanks for putting up with us colin! Pours murky brown with a few off white bubbles. Aroma is raisin, fig, oak, brandy, sherry. flavor was more raisin, dates, cherry, sherry. Finishes boozy, mild sweetness.
6oz olive bottle. Poured translucent, copper-accented dark brown with no head or other sign of carbonation. The aroma was rich and seductive, exhibiting rich vinous and plummy notes, brandy, cane sugar, and warm herbal accents.. charred oak gives a subtle and entirely complimentary impression.. just the slightest prickly impression on the nose hairs (the alcohol was expertly masked). The flavor was right on par with the nose.. rich vinous and brandy notes, aged toffee, and faint dry baker’s chocolate form the base with layers of herbal notes, oak, and vanilla above.. finished with dry sherry and a bit of oak tartness. heavier-bodied with zero carbonation on the palate.. if anything a touch too sweet, but the components were spot on and the huge alcohol was successfully hidden.. dry, lengthy, memorable finish. This was something special!
’05 bottle from droopy49. dark dirty orange, with minimal head. Aroma is very hot, almost like sniffing horseraddish. flavor has decent caramel/toffee character, as it warms some strange fruit esters show up, almost vegetal/meaty. Don’t know what to think of this beer or at least this bottle.
Big thanks to Cap’t Cougar for this mighty small bottle. This was going to be #900, but it hopped out of the fridge, bounced off the tile floor, and started leaking out of the cap, so I figured no better time like the present to open it. I let it sit out for 10-12 minutes, so it has warmed up some. Served in a snifter. The aroma is huge malt, caramel, toffee, cookie dough, light wood, dark fruits, dark sugar and some floral hops. All in all, a nice smelling barleywine. Color is dark red, nearly brown with a smallish, short lasting off-white head. No floaties. Initial taste is sweet malt, dark fruits, dark brown sugar, and light alcohol followed by tannic wood, toffee, dark caramel, and some sweet, mildly oxidized malt in the finish. The alcohol level is not apparent, but the beer is only about 54°. Mouthfeel is thick. Good stuff, though I would be hard pressed to compare it to the very best barleywines, though I do enjoy what the Brandy barrel offers.
A huge thanks to Sliffy for this treat! Pours a muddled dark hue with zero head and hardly any carbonation present. Wonderful aromas of the barrel with faint whisps of the hops that were once present a few years ago. Very slight oxidation here, but lends a nice light sherry tone to the tasting. Sliffy and I must have cellared this perfectly as I’m not getting any of the other flaws that others are detecting. Lucky me I guess? Wonderfully mellowed, but potent flavours of candied cherries, plum and a bit of spicey nutmeg. Pefectly balanced by the oak with a light vanilla character. The brandy and overall alcohol have no doubt mellowed considerably over time to blend beautifully with the tapistry of flavours present. A great experience for me and, I’m guessing, one of the lucky ones to have had this bottle hold up so wonderfully for so long.
Sampled at cquiroga’s 3rd Annual Woodshop Tasting on 3/1/08 alongside many, many other fantastic beers. Listed on the tasting list as 2005 vintage. Deep amber color that pours still. Appetizing aroma of sweet nutmeg, oak wood and cinnamon. Mellowed brandy notes, raisin and caramel comprise the flavor. Soft mouth-feel with a warming alcohol finish. Great stuff.
Lots of thanks to Marcus for this little gem. 6oz. bottle. Poured into a hock glass. There’s a very strong aroma. Oak. Dark caramel. Prunes. Almost medicinal. Dark ruby toned color with no head. Full bodied with virtually no carbonation. Flavor is wood, dark fruit, tannin, brandy. Sort of coats the tongue. Heat is not an issue. Finish is dry, but not really bitter. Just a little chalky. Definitely vinous.
I’ve wanted to try this retired gem for a long time; drewbeerme hooked me up with a bottle. Thanks!!!
Pours a dark murky brown with basically no head. Nose of raisins, sherry, oxidized hops; chocolate caramel and honey and plum jam; in some ways it recalls (but doesn’t really match) certain aspects of the nose on the ’04 Kuhnhenn’s Raspberry Eisbock. Flavor is gently sour like many older English barleywines, mouth-drying oak, sweet caramel, sherry, recalling but exceeding the Drakes Jolly Rodger BA Scotch Ale I had about a year ago. Smooth mouthfeel with little carbonation is perfectly well suited to the general character of the beer. No hint of the 15% alcohol; I would have called it 10% and wondered how they hid the burn so well!
Deeply enjoyable. A very nice beer!
Pours out dark brown with a tiny lacing head. Aroma is huge and of oak, brandy and sweet fruit/malts. Taste is complex with a syrupy mouthfeel, oak, strong alcohol, sweet fruits and slight vinous notes. Not bad, but should have drank this sooner.
nip bottle....thanks to drewbeerme for sharing this past its prime beer.....appearance is similar to the bourbon barrel version of this barleywine. a dark caramel brown pour with no head.....aromas of richt caramel and a general sugar sweetness..... flavors of sweet caramel and finished with sour vegetal notes that really didn’t add to the enjoyment but rather took away from it.....this is a little past its prime.
6 oz. bottle from 2004: Monsterous nose - notes of cherries, chocolate, fudge, cocoa nibs, alcohol. Chocolate and cherry fudgecake really. The body starts off real winey and acidic, some caramel malt helps to balance, but the grapes win in the end. Winey and alcoholic - acidic finish, slightly sour.