Lagunitas Olde GnarlyWine

The Annual Release of our BarleyWine Style Ale is Dated and Built to Last. Flavors Evolve as Hop Bitterness Yields to Crazy Caramel and Rich Toffee Flavors.

3.8

1080 reviews

Petaluma, United States

Community reviews

3.2 From notes. 2-man share at Mr. ebone1988’s abode on January 20. 22 oz bottle shared by Eric. The pour is a dark amber red, lots of brightness to this one. There is a thinner almost grey colored head that fades away to nothing with a couple spots of lace. The aroma is not good. There is a heavy hop to this, a ton of booze, and a light bitterness on the finish of pine resin. There is a light tropical fruit, and hardly any damn caramel malt. Fuck. The flavor is much of the same. The boozy hop and pine resin resonate throughout with a light sweetness and hint of toffee on the back end. The mouth feel is medium, very softly carbonated, with a syrupy booze on the back end. This is not good at all, but I will say, I suppose there are worse ways to spend $4.50. Plus, enough will get you drunk, I guess. 6 3 6 4 13

3.8 Pours a coppery reddish brown color. Smells malty with some brown sugar and a slight amount of piney hops. Taste has more of a hoppy flavor than the aroma suggests. Good malty backbone with oaky floral notes. Good beer

3.5 Bottle shared with koleminer20. Aroma is hoppy, troptical fruit, caramel, pine, booze, toffee. Appearance is amber red, light tan head, clear. Taste is hoppy, caramel, booze, hot, toffee, tropical fruit, eh. Mouthfeel is medium body, syrupy, boozy hoppy caramel aftertaste. Overall, this is ok, but great for the price point.

3.7 Bottle for second half of Pats game over Titans. Haven’t had Barley wine in awhile. Deep amber. Nose is dark fruit and booze. Tastes herbal, raisin, fig, booze, toffee, pine. Little heat. Decent grab my Publix had something decent for once.

3.6 4.99 for a bottle at Wegman's - is this the best price point in the US short of Olde English? And it is decent. Dark, reddish, pretty clear, bubbles on top, ring of foam around the edge. Wood, toffee, and some mild boozy element that comes off in a good way, similar to bourbon. I like the bitterness in the palate along with gobs of malt, makes it bearable, kind of the American Strong style. This is drinkable and could buy again.

4.3 Translucent, clean amber color with a creamy, pillowy head of eggnog colored foam. Big caramel flavor and aroma cut by resinous hops leaving the pallet sweetened and dry. On the backend of the taste there is a syrupy and wild berry thing going on. The alcohol burns a bit at the end.

3.0 From Jul 2008 This pours a clear amber with a 1 fin..err..1/2"...errr...well, it *was* there but now the foam is just a small ring around the glass with pretty much no lacing. Nice colour, terrible foam retention. The smell is light for a BWSA. I get small notes of caramel malt and hops. The taste is at least good. Caramel malt dominates but there's some hop bitterness in the background that helps with the balance some. And...the alcohol is pretty noticeable as a slight burn in the throat and some warming after the swallow. The more I sip, the sweeter this becomes and even for me, and I love good malty BWSAs, it becomes just a tad too sweet. Cuts down on the drinkablity for me; that and the alcohol. Good thickish mouthfeel though. Overall, I think it's an ok example of the style but I don't think I'd bother to get any more. It's just not up *my* alley.

3.8 bottle - Deep amber pour, small head, malty, caramel, boozy aroma. Flavor is sweet with caramel and toffee, a bit of dark fruit, alcohol, and some fading resinous hops bitterness. Full body. Very good.

3.4 Bottle. It poured a dark brown color with an off-white head. The aroma was of caramel, toffee, citrus and figs. The taste was similar to the aroma with more caramel, toffee, mild citrus, figs with a nice balanced bitter finish.

2.9 How: Bottle. Where: Systembolaget. Appearance: Hazy amber colour with a tan head. Aroma: Liquroice, alcohol, fruit. Body: Full body, low to medium carbonation. Flavour: Liquorice, alcohol, malt, some fruit. Comment: Too heavy on the liquorice.

3.7 Bottle probably 6-9 or more months old. Sitting enjoying the single night of winter in Florida with a fire burning. Fairly classic American styled barleywine: light toffee and caramel sweetness, with some warming booze and light bitterness for balance. Pleasant and enjoyable.

3.9 Bottle 65 @ Friendly Greek, Lancaster, PA, USA. A: Reddish amber T: Malt, caramel, raisins, alcohol, slightly hoppy.

4.1 Reddish brown colour with beige head on top leaving lacing behind. Aroma has caramel malts, toffee, sweetness with pines and grapefruit too. Forest notes when combined with sweetness. Taste has lots of caramel and toffee with malt flavour, then comes pine and grapefruit hops with some grassy notes. Fullish body and medium carbonation. Sweeter barley wine.

4.3 3,000th Rating! 2004 vintage! That’s right, I’m drinking an entire bomber of 12 year-old-Gnarly Wine, which was to celebrate having over 600 likes on my Facebook page. Right up front, there’s little complexity to this beer. No marvelous new or unusual blends of hop and malt. But I’m happy that this Barley Wine has been in my "beer cellar" for 12 years, through two moves, flooding, and summer temperatures, and this is still splendid. A tan fizzy head over a deep garnet body. The smell is an easy note of sherry with some toasty malts in the background. I get the same thing in the taste. With a cellared beer, I’m afraid of phenol from aged malts, but there’s none of this here. Just some strong caramel malts in a still fizzy beer. Should be overly sweet, but there is still some hop bitterness to keep that in check. It has aged splendidly, and I recall this was pretty reasonably priced at the time. Another one to build a nice vertical for.

3.9 Bue après près d’un an. Apparence : Orange foncée, reflets rougeâtres, effervescence moyenne et lente, limpide, col beige foncé moyennement large, belle retenue, belle dentelle. Nez : Caramel alcoolisé, légers agrumes en première vague qui s’effacent peu à peu, aspects résineux, fruits séchés en arrière-plan qui prennent de l’importance alors que les agrumes s’atténuent. Goût : Caramel, sucrée, très sucrée même (sans être trop sucrée), fruits séchés (dattes surtout, figues présentes), amertume résineuse contrôlée, finale un peu alcoolisée. Sensation : Corps moyen, effervescence faible, ronde, chaleur d’alcool moyenne. Finale moyennement longue dominée par le côté caramélisé soutenue par une faible amertume et pointe d’alcool accompagnée de sa chaleur. Bref : Avec un an de vieillissement, on a un BarleyWine dont les accents sont réellement sur le malt caramélisé et sucré et les fruits séchés, le tout soutenu par une amertume intéressante, mais certainement diminuée depuis qu’elle a été embouteillée. Seuls les arômes résineux trahissent son style américain. Très intense, le sucre ressort sans pour autant être dérangeant. Ce n’est par contre par la bière la plus complexe. Ce n’est pas non plus la bière présentant la texture en bouche la plus intéressante, surtout pour un BarleyWine de 10,6%. L’effervescence est adéquate, mais le corps lui, un peu mince. Ceci étant dit, c’est une bière qui se boit très bien et qui ne laisse pas paraître son haut taux alcoolisé.

3.8 Nice smooth and malty, a little American hoppy malt versus English for me to absolutely love.

3.8 Amber pour. Heavy malt aromas, bread, caramel and alcohol. Spicy, sweet flavor of caramel and some hops. A long, slight bitter finish with a bit too much alcohol.

3.9 A clear Amber beer with a small white head. Aroma is malty with lota of caramel. Taste is is malty with some hopiness to balance. Notes of caramel, toffee and burnt sugar. Some warming alcohol in the end.

3.8 Tan body with a light head. Caramel flavour and aroma with strong sweet aroma.

3.7 Tap. Clear, amber, frothy, white foam, medium sweetness, medium bitterness, full body, sticky, soft carbonation, & long finish.

4.0 Pours a deep amber color, with a two finger off white head that had some staying power. Aromas of hops, sweet malts, and some more hops. Flavor isn’t as sweet as I was led to believe. You can taste the alcohol from the get go, what follows is a nice mellow caramel/brown sugar (I Guess) sweetness that finishes with a nice bitter hop.

4.2 Flaska från SB. Något år gammal. Smak och doft av karamell, smörkola, brunt socker, sirap, torkad frukt som plommon, russin samt övermogen frukt med smak av mango och papaya och honung. Kraftfull, rund och len, stor sötma, välbalanserad och smakrik, fin beska. Gott!

4.2 Flaska från SB. Ca 1 år gammal. Stor söt fruktig doft och smak. Toffee och karamell möter övermogen papaya, mango, persika och nektar. Kanske väl söt och lite mer humle hade väl inte skadat. Men den söta fruktigheten är riktigt fin. Mycket gott.

3.8 With Z, pours an amber red color with a small beige head. Nose is sweet and fruity. Taste is sweet and fruity as well, with dark fruit, cherries and raisins. Ends on the same sweet tasting notes with a rich caramel finish . Quaff Score 7 / 10

3.6 Bomber. Pours a clear red copper with a beige head and aroma of fruits and hops. Taste is sweet, with fruits, hops, and toffee into the slightly bitter finish

3.8 2015 version, aged just over 1 year. Aroma is toffee, slightly burnt caramel, butterscotch, brown sugar, dark fruit and booze. Very sweet but excellent. See through light amber color with a bright white cap of foam. The taste is sweet up front with a hop bite that follows directly afterward. The bitterness still shows through after a year, this thing must have been a hop bomb fresh. The aftertaste is oaky with a slight booze burn. The palate is great. It is unique because it has sharp carbonation but still coats the mouth. If you’re aging a bottle of this, wait longer than a year. It still had plenty of rough edges when I drunk it.

4.1 How: bottle Appearance: clear amber, small off-white head. Aroma: caramel, apples, plums, wood, cherries, brown sugar, alcohol. Palate: full body, smooth carbonation.

4.2 Bomber poured to a tulip. Clear copper with a decent off white head and nice lacing. Aroma is big and boozy. Toffee, caramel, malty, slight citrus, and pine resin. Flavor follows. Toffee and caramel in a big way. Grapefruit and pine are there, as well as some thick, doughy flavor. It’s a bit boozy and on the thicker side. Awesome beer.

3.7 Bottle. Amber with small head. Rich boozy barleywine. Toffee and caramel. Light fruitiness. Nice balance. Not as hoppy as I expected from Lagunitas, but there’s good flavor here.

3.9 GABBF, medium amber, cream colored head. Aroma fruit and malt. Taste tropical fruit candy! This is sweet, but tasty! Palate is rich, carb subdued.