Founders Backstage Series # 5: 15th Anniversary Bolt Cutter Barley Wine
Made to Celebrate Founders 15th Anniversary, Bolt Cutter Barley Wine is an American barley wine that pours deep copper color and is strong, sweet and malt-forward, with a spicy complexity. Typical of the style, it is very cellarable. The final product is a blend using beer that was aged in Bourbon barrels, some from aged maple syrup Bourbon barrels and some from standard fermentation. After blending, the beer was allowed to mature in bottles and kegs for a few months before releasing.
3.8
377 reviews
Grand Rapids, United States
Community reviews
Very good blonde barley wine.
A masterfully made barleywine - for such a high abv value its a very easy drinker indeed, and the cellared bottle I enjoyed had loads of bourbon flavor and a decent amount of sweet smokiness. Cant specifically taste any maple underneath all the other great stuff, though who could really expect to? Yummy late night dessert treat!
Tap. Hazy red brown pour with a small white head. Red berries, oak, hop, spice, maple syrup. Full body. Oaky and syrupy but with fruits. Nice
Bottle, bourbon and sweet fruits, amazing bourbon taste mixes great with the citrus and fruits, really nice
Bottle split at the sleepy-rapping tasting at Ronny & Alex’s pad, CBC fine tuner, 30/04/15.
Lightly hazed orange amber with a moderate off white covering.
Nose is rich malt, spice, toffee, dates, figs, light booze fumes.
Taste comprises rich fruit rinds, spice, malt backbone, caramel, figs, fruit cake.
Full bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close with lightly warming booze.
Decent barley wine, drinks way below the big 15% billing!
Dark amber with a tiny off white head. Fruity and malty tones. Fruit, malt, spices and hops. Full body with a nice balanced finish.
30th April 2015
Bigger tasting at Ronny’s flat, Copenhagen. Hazy amber beer, small pale cream colour head. Palate is light and semi dry with modest fine carbonation. Spicy caramel malts. Brandyish alcohol. Dried fruits. Semi dry finish and a spicy linger. Still quite warm after a couple of years. Decent though.
Very good beer. Lots of hops for the age. Had a serious night at the end. But still good.
First drank: DLD 2015
Vintage: 2012
Bottle@Ronny and Alex pre cbc tasting #2 - copper coloured pour small off white head. Aroma and taste is sweet malty, dark dried fruit laden, brown sugar, caramel, toffee, lovely boozy bear hug of a beer. Nice!
---Sent via Beer Buddy for iPhone
Sample at Linköping Beer Expo. Almost clear amber liquid with small white head. Aroma of raw sugar, bourbon, toffee, wood, maple syrup and light booze. Taste is light to medium sweet and light to medium bitter with notes of bourbon, wood and raw sugar. Medium to full bodied with low to medium carbonation. Really nice albeit maybe unnecessarily strong.
Köpt på Linköping beer expo. Väldigt stor och tung pjäs. Arom som en kraftig barley wine. Mycket av både humle och malt i smaken. Ganska söt och lite oljig eftersmak.
Köpt på Linköping Beer Expo. Grumlig. Väldigt tung både i smak och arom. Lite kolsyra.
[2/28/15] Bottle sample at De Garde Brewing in Tillamook. Release and bottle share event. Amber. Boozy, malt, wood stale hops. Sweet, woody and fruity.
Shared bottle. Pours clear copper with creamy off-white head. Aroma is brown sugar, bready malts, light alcohol spice, toast, and some faint dark fruit notes. Flavor is boozy malt character, medium hop bitterness, light toast, and some barrel character. Medium/full body and medium carbonation.
Clean sharp copper pour with one finger of khaki tan head. Dense and rich aroma with burnt sugar, toasted grain, piney hops, resin, alcohol. Strong in the mouth, touch of mint upfront with burnt sugar and alcohol. Medium full bodied and warming finish.
I really enjoyed this beer. It was brewed back in 2012, so 3 years old. Not sure what it was like 3 years ago, but today it was fantastic. Sweet bread yeast aroma. Big malt taste with a log of fig raisin flavor. Excellent.
Pours thick unclear copper amber with a smaller sandy white head. Aroma brings sharp but pretty clean sweet malts, not resiny or biting at all. Do it mellowed a bit and nicely over a few years, almost herbal honey. The flavor brings sweet and smooth boozy honey spring fresh notes that go pretty smooth with just a bit of heat warming and nice.
Bottle - nothing very good about this one. Faint hop bitterness. Sudsy pour with a somewhat funky nose. Little sweetness with a mild booze finish. One dimensional.
Aroma: Caramel, Bready Malts, Raisins
Appearance: Amber Hue, Passes Mild Light, Mild Head Ring, Some Lacing
Taste: Boozy, Caramel, Sweet Bread, Raisins
Mouthfeel: Decent Carbonation, Medium Bodied, Semi Sweet, Mildly Boozy
75cl bottle via trade, thanks to Tim! Shared at Chriso’s Christmas tasting, London. It pours a rich golden color with a medium white head. Aroma is, sweet, rich and fruity, with notes of caramel and ripe apricots. Taste is again sweet, fruity and boozy. Really intense on the sweet boozy side. Overall, tasty but a real sipper
Pours a deep burnt umber color with a hint of mahogany on the edges and a finger of eggshell foam. Nose is burnt sugar, leather and booze. Palate is just disjointed. Weird medicinal aspirin notes backed by sweet caramel, boozy bourbon and some rancid butterscotch. Wasn’t feeling this bottle at all.
750ml bottle pours semi clear rusty red brown with small head. Nose is weird peanut, marshmallow, old vegetal greens, sweet pancake syrup, bread. Taste is unpleasant with all the elements of the nose and a sticky rounded sweetness. Finish is rotten fruit and greens, sweet, stale bread, artificial caramel. Total mess.
Bottle shared at chriso’s winter tasting 7/12/2014. Reddy amber coloured pour with a lasting thin white head. Aroma is sticky toffee, caramel malts, big alcohol nose, Flavour is sticky toffee, caramel, burnt sugars, spicy liquorice and some Carmel. Palate is sweet and sticky, smooth but some hot alcohol. Long lingering burnt toffee. I like it..
Bottle to goblet
Caramel, toffee, butterscotch, apple brandy, and oak. Amber, no head. Butterscotch, booze, awesomesauce, soy, pepper.
Bottle. Copper pour with light white head. Aroma is brown sugar, oak, maple, vanilla and spirits. Taste is caramel, butterscotch, and oak. Very good, but only in small amounts.
On draft at ChurchKey in D.C. Vintage 2012. Pours a clear copper with an ecru head. Aroma of caramel. Flavors of oak and vanilla. Boozy finish.
Bottle. Surly Darkness Eve 2014. I am unable to find written tasting notes on this.
Thanks to mother brother for bringing this. Pours amber with a beige head. Aroma of big caramel malts, ripe plums, sweet resin, syrup and some punchy hops in the background. Taste of resin, hops, big caramel, syrup and a bit of alcohol burn. A big american Barley Wine!
Sweet vanilla, malt, and grape aromas. Light bone colored head and thick orange brown body. Malty, sweet vanilla and some berry flavors. Smooth on the palate.
Pours a really clean amber with about a 3/4 inch tan head that hangs on for a minute with a smodge of lacing. Has a very traditional barley wine smell. Some spicy floral with a malty smell and definitely Oak. For a 15% its very smooth. You really dont feel rhe high abv as much on the tongue as you do just the warmth going down. Its barely malt and vanilla up front with that spice on the back. Ive had it on the shelf for 2 years and id have no doubt it could stand up to another 2 or 3. Top flight barley wwine