Mad River John Barleycorn
Brewed in small 10-barrel batches
with Certified Organic barley malt,
this crimson hued ale has a sweet caramel nose with a zesty spicy, citrus taste. It has a slight hop finish and leaves a warm, tingling sensation on the tongue.A great winter warmer!
Malts Used: Organic Barley
Boiling Hops: Columbus, Brewer’s Gold
Finishing Hops: Columbus, Brewer’s Gold, Perle
with Certified Organic barley malt,
this crimson hued ale has a sweet caramel nose with a zesty spicy, citrus taste. It has a slight hop finish and leaves a warm, tingling sensation on the tongue.A great winter warmer!
Malts Used: Organic Barley
Boiling Hops: Columbus, Brewer’s Gold
Finishing Hops: Columbus, Brewer’s Gold, Perle
3.5
614 reviews
Blue Lake, United States
Community reviews
2008. Burgundy pour. Very much passed its peak... if it ever had one. Nose is butter and corn, burnt caramel and toffee malts. Roasted nuts and toasted malts. Some sulfur coming out at the back. Dry finish. Full bodied and a bit skunky.
Bottle. Vintage 2014. Color: Ruby, almost no head. Taste: Sweet malts, alcohol, sticky toffee, grainy. Hints of red fruit. More hoppy and some spicy and citrus notes at the finish. Medium body and carbonation.
Umber color with a diminished taupe head. Sweet aromas of over ripe fruit, dark toffee and hints of citric zest. Sweet start with a mild resin middle. Simple, snifter and fire brew. 1/14
Butelka. Barwa ciemno miedziana, bursztynowa, klarowna. Brak piany. Aromat średnio intensywny. Duże nut estrowych ( jeżyny, wiśnie), pojawiaj się nuty karmelu, przypieczonego tostu. W smaku dominacja owoców. Spora goryczka, średnio zalegająca w postaci owoców. Alkohol dobrze ukryty, pojawia się dopiero pod koniec lekko drażniąc przełyk. Nasycenie średnie. Podsumowując BW, który nie porywa a w cenie o wiele niżej można raczyć się czymś zdecydowanie zacniejszym tj. Boommen&Granaten.
(Bottle)
Aroma:esters,sweet caramel,honey,cherry.
Appearance:amber,small yellowish head.
Taste:medium sweet,flavour of caramel,honey and esters,sweet finish.
Palate:medium body,low carbonation,boozy.
Overall:Decent one.
Bottle
Aroma-dark fruits, alcohol,
Appearance-amber, hazy, tan foam,
Taste-medium sweetness, medium bitterness, medium sourness,
Palate-full body, sticky, average carbonation, long finish,
Overall-very good
Ciemnobrązowe piwo pachnie słodkimi przejrzałymi owocami (wiśnie, jeżyny, maliny), karmelem i nutami chlebowymi. Słodowość jest duża, piwo gęste i pojawia się delikatny alkohol. Słodkie smak znajduje lekką goryczkową kontrę, jednak część jej pochodzi od alkoholu. No taki to styl. Jest ok.
Bottle. Pours a dark auburn brown with a small, yellowish-brown head. Aroma is plenty of caramel, some red fruit, ripe, dried fruit. Taste is plenty of caramel, ripe fruits, dried fruit, dry. Some hopping, wooden and floral.
Zapach, biszkoptowy, karmel i czekoladki z adwokatem potem wiśnia. Barwa ciemno rubinowa, piana oblepia szkło. Smak dobrze zbilansowany, rozgrzewa przełyk, goryczka średnia w kierunku wysokiej, może lekko zbyt wysoka, pod koniec nieprzyjemna, pieczony chleb, słodowość w tle, owoce suszone. Wersja 2015, 10%.
Bottle. Malty, grainy with caramel, toffee and some dried fruits notes. Medium sweet with solid citrusy bitter finish. Full bodied with oily texture and with warming, pleasant alcohol in the end. Pleasant beer.
Wersja z 2014 roku (10% alk).
Aromat: dość bogaty i złożony. Dominują nuty słodowe - chleb, tosty, karmel, może trochę toffi. Nieco nut chmielowych i sporo estrów - suszonych owoców. Alkohol nieźle ukryty, odrobina akcentów winnych.
Wygląd: barwa miedzian do czerwonej, wyraźnie zamglona. Piana beżowa, drobno pęcherzykowa, dość obfita i względnie trwała.
Smak: intensywnie słodowy i słodki z karmelem, chlebem, ciastkami, orzechami, nutami opiekanymi, choć szybko pojawiają się także owoce suszone i sherry, które niestety zaczynają dominować. Alkohol obecny, ale nie poraża. Goryczka wyraźna, jak dla mnie nieco zbyt mocna, lekko cierpka i długa. Krągła do tęgiej pełnia, umiarkowane wysycenie i słodowo - owocowy finisz z nutą alkoholową rozgrzewająca przełyk.
Przyzwoite, ale zbyt estrowe i goryczkowe. Wolę raczej bardziej słodowe wersje lub te amerykańskie z intensywniejszym chmielem.
Piana całkiem spoko jak na bw. W aromacie sporo słodkich owoców, lekko miodowe. W smaku słodkie, owocowe. Alkohol dobrze ukryty. Goryczka nawet spoko balansuje słodycz, ale tylko przez chwilę, posmak jest zdecydowanie ulepkowy. Jest okej.
Bottle from Deconinck, Vichte - BE. Color: clear dark amber beer with no carbonation and small brown head. Smell: caramel and full grain nose. Alcohol and toffee notes. You smell the complexity… Taste: full body with full grain and high malty structure. Toffee and brown sugar taste. Very sweet domination. Nice bouquet. Very tasty. Aftertaste: toffee and hoppy with astringent alcohol.
Klare hell orange braune Farbe, geringe leicht beige schaumkrone. Geruch nach reifen Früchten, Obst, süßes malz. Geschmack kräftig malzig, reifes Obst, Karamell, Vanille, alkoholisch.
I have the 2014 vintage...
Yeah, I’m not a beer snob, so let’s not pretend. It’s a two year old beer, which usually wouldn’t be a good thing. But let’s find out...
Original Rating 5/22/2016: 10, 5, 8, 5, 19.
2014 vintage. Poured a dark copper to brown colour with a cream head that left minimal lacing. Aroma is dark fruit: cherries, plums, and raisins with caramel and toffee malts. Minimal hint of alcohol. Flavor is nutty, caramel malts with an encompassing burnt toast flavor and herbal backnotes. Full bodied with a chewy mouthfeel, this brew has an astringent and bitter finish. Starts off inviting, but becomes quite the boozy palate wrecker.
2013 vintage, 11.4% ABV.
At cellar temperature and into a snifter this one goes. Soft ’pffft’ as the cap releases; a rousing pour yields a tidy and tight off white crown atop a russet cola brown body that shimmers in the shallows. Richly sweet, burnt sugar and caramelised dark stonefruit on the nose with a hint of lavender, camphor, cough syrup, stewed rhubarb and earthy ochre. Wow, the first sip certainly shifted all that was my palate. Scorched, burnt, tannic and astringent come to mind but I gots ta focus on da flava y’all! Yeah, no I can’t!!! Burnt to almost acidic and scraping is the finish. Astringent and gaping like sucking on grapeskins. The flavour toffeeish but I think someone wasn’t watching the pan and it ignited. Rubbery, phenolic and like burnt pastic; it is lasting without mercy. Alcohol? I wish, need something to soften the blow and this is three years cellared. Bit harsh to even respect the term wine let alone ale. Gammy, sickly sweet, viscous and residual to punish. Like sucking on a toffee that gets stuck on the roof of your mouth. Positives? Another ten years in the cellar. Negatives? Perhaps balance and definition. Disappointed! (12fl.Oz, The Int’l Beer Shop, Leederville)
Bottle from Beltramo’s in Menlo Park, CA. Aroma is caramel, malts, a bity booze, some herbal liqueur. Taste is a little dirty malts, earthy, herbal...a little bitter and weak on the finish. Nice herbal, earthiness with some herbal digestif qualities but a bit too boozy and not especially balanced.
dark amber to reddish brown colour, large, dense yellowish-beige head; aroma of herbs, caramel, biscuits,orange zest, some floral and overripe tropical fruity notes; bittersweet taste with intensive herbal notes, overripe fruits, syrup and biscuits; not bad!
355ml bottle (thanks martjoobolut). Clear deep red color. Medium size, yellow head, stays. Sweet, nutty, hops, raisins, lemon peel in aroma. Bitter lemon peel, raisins, nut skins, sweet in taste. Dry mouthfeel. Raisins and oily walnuts in aftertaste. Bitter hops. Hops are kind of too strong and are killing some of the other things. Bit out of balance brew.
355ml bottle - thanks martjoobolut! 2014 version
Very rich sweet malty aroma. Extremely hoppy bitter aroma too. Full sweet body, pleasant caramel and dark toffee. Lovely resiny hoppy finish. Sweet and succulent. Alcohol isn’t hidden, but not obvious either. Would like another in 5 years time, this could mellow beautifully.
Bottle (abv 10%, 2014 vintage, from firma bier). Pours copper with beige head. Aroma is sweet, malty, fruits. Flavor is sweet and bitter, malt, caramel, fruits, bit stick. Finish is sweet and dry bitter. Overall: very nice.
Bottle shared by Mart. Red amber beer, off-white head. Nose is caramel and citric hops, fruity notes, sweetness. Flavor is hoppy, herbal notes, oranges, toffee and dark fruit. Hoppy finish, citrus, resin, pine. Lingering piney resin and oranges. Has a few rough edges.
355 ml bottle.
Pours clear dark red color with a small head. Quite piney and resinous aroma, some hop notes, sweet ripe fruits, caramel and some subtle licorice. Flavor is slightly sweet with caramel and malts, wooden dry tingly notes, licorice lingers long on the aftertaste, very mild alcohol warmth at the end. Good but feels slightly raw, even thin, could be smoother, probably doesn’t improve with age.
4424
Bottle. dark amber color. Plums and grassy herbal hops in both aroma and flavor. Malty sweetish, soft vinous notes. Woody finish. Nice.
12 oz. bottle from Total Wine, Raleigh (Triangle Town Center). 2014 bottle, 10% ABV. Muddy, brownish-orange pour with a frothy khaki head. Aroma of caramel and graham cracker, mostly, with orange peel and tangerine notes. Taste features more of the same with citrus hops upfront followed by an assertive sweet malt finish of toffee and caramel. Moderate alcohol warmth. A nicely done barleywine.
Mad River John Barleycorn Barleywine 10.8%
A good value high ABV brew is this one imported by Ezo Beer.
Pouring a deep brown with ruby accents. Sweet zesty citrus aroma coupled with sweet caramel.
Full bodied and malty sweet with a lightly roasty caramel that’s nicely balanced by a dose of citrusy hops.
A barleywine for those who enjoy hops makes it a solid winter warmer.
Bottle, '10 vintage. The pour is a deep cooper/amber. The aroma is light toffee and dark fruits. The taste is bold. The age seems to have done it well. Lots of toffee and dark fruits hold through the taste. Would like to taste this aged in bourbon.
A great barleywine. Pours a muddy red/black with a tan head. Smells awesome, caramel, cinnamon, vanilla and malt, cherry pie. Taste is creamy, with lots of vanilla, caramel and a nice warm booziness in the finish. Paired with Thai fish cakes, the beer is smoothed out with some nuttiness and booziness. Had in the bottle.
barley wine bottle share on 1/31. Malty, sweet aroma... fruity and floral. Malty, alcoholic and sweet up front. Nicely balanced, yet moderately bitter on the tail end with plenty of alcohol. Full-bodied with an oily mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Long, astringent, bitter-sweet, slightly dry finish.