Mendocino Talon Barley Wine
Talon has a rich amber color and a full robust body. Talon has been aged for over a year and has a traditional warming malt flavor with a delightful hop finish.
3.5
417 reviews
Ukiah, United States
Community reviews
22 oz bomber from Canal’s Hainesport. Poured a good looking deep reddish/brown with an average sized beige tightly packed frothy head. Aroma is solid with notes of caramel, toffee, raisin, nuts, dates, bread, and a touch of alcohol. Palate was pretty damn good with a medium body and a slight hint of syrupyness that was very appropriate for the style, carbonation was light and the aftertaste was heavy and lingering. Flavors of caramel, toffee, slight citrus, nuts, toast and a hint of alcohol soaked cardboard. Overall a good beer and then when you throw the price in this becomes a great beer.
Quite nice. A more subltle barley wine. Poured a medium sized, light tan, foamy, frothy head that settle out after a bit and some lace. Color is a very nice, clear garnet with red highlights. Aroma is dry and bitter malt with hop. Flavor is similar to nose but has some sweetness behind the up front bitterness. Body is full yet soft. Carbonation seems to work well. Finish is pretty long and like flavor plus a strong alcohol factor. This could sneak up on you.
Amber color. Caramel malts on the nose. Alcohol very prevalent with bitter hoppiness. Good barley wine
22oz bottle. Pours a clear, deep amber-ruby colored body with a thin, beige, creamy head that dissipates slowly and leaves a good amount of lacing. Aroma is sweet, somewhat candied malts with a good amount of caramels and berry fruits. Decently hopped with some orange pines and florals. Flavor is similar. Sweet oranges and candied malts. Lots of caramel and toffee with some berries and a touch of herbal spice. Finishes with plenty of sweet malts and a moderate piney bitterness that dries and leaves a rich, fruity, lengthy aftertaste. Full, very smooth, somewhat sticky body with a very light carbonation. Overall, a nice barley wine. Lots of malts, but not overly sweet and a solid, sweeter orange pine and floral hopping.
Bomber from Warehouse Liquors in Spring Hill, FL. I am pretty sure this one is a year old. Pours opaque dark caramel color with a tan head. Nose is caramel and toffee with dates, some figs, and some raisins. Hints of sugar and a tiny booziness come out later. Flavor is a ton of toffee with bits of date, fig, raisin, and earthiness abound. Very English and very enjoyable without so much as a hint of its 10%. I could drink this whole bomber.
Bottle at a tasting.
Appearance : Dark brown, small head.
Aroma : Sweet and roasty. Resinous hops. A bit of oxidation maybe. Notes of green apples also.
Taste : Sweet brown sugar, notes of apples. Some oxidation. Fruity with hops. Some malt also. Rather hoppy on the finish.
Overall : Nothing really interesting. Not bad but just nothing really worth drinking it again.
raisin, nuts, chewy, reddish color. This was aged about 3 years, very smooth. Probably should have saved till winter but I broke it out. Bitter finish with something like molasses perhaps.
2oz bottle purchased by a friend in Vermont.
Appearance: Pours a copper garnet with a slightly off white 2 finger crown. Some retention and lacing.
Smell: Dark fruits, bitter hops, a dash of booze
Taste: Muddled but has the potential to get better. Definitely let it warm up a bit before you drink.
Mouthfeel: full bodied
Drinkability: 10.5% and full bodied...
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 05-29-2009
Pours a dark slightly murky brown. Nose is toffee, brown sugar and molasses. Taste is muted molasses, cane sugar, alcohol, smoked wood chips and cola.
Bottle. Moderate malt and hop notes of roasted, flowers and cooked orange, light leather for the yeast, with hints of sherry, date, cherry, brown sugar and toffee. Head is small, starts frothy but turns wispy, off-white with some spotty lacing and is mostly diminishing. Color is murky tan-ish red. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet and lightly acidic, then the long finish is moderately bittersweet and lightly acidic. Palate is medium to full, creamy almost syrupy, with a soft carbonation and a slightly sticky finish. Finally, a top notch beer from Mendocino. Could’ve used a little more acidicity to balance the sweetness, but all in all this is a very nice Barley Wine.
Bomber of unknown vintage. Pours a hazy amber color with reddish highlights and a less than one finger white bubbly head. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of caramel, toffee, maple syrup, chocolate, light floral esters, some hints of toffee and floral hops. Flavor is sweet and malty with similar notes of caramel, toffee, molasses, brown sugar with just a touch of floral hoppiness and floral esters. Medium body with a boozy and malty finish. Nice ale.
Bottle shared by dbuckingham on BA at a tasting. Pours clear dark amber brown with a small light-colored head. I think this is 2004 vintage and it shows in the aroma. Quite a bit of sherry oxidation evident, along with sweet caramel malt. The oxidation works in its favor in some ways though. Flavor is pretty standard - caramel and toffee, maybe some brown sugar. Some oxidation, which makes itself evident as a sherry flavor. Not much hop presence. Very sweet. Medium-bodied and fairly smooth on the palate, more or less par for the style. Overall, this is decent, but only slightly above average for the style overall.
Sampled at Hell With the Lid Off. Light boozy aroma, mild neutral fruit and some butterscotch, vanilla. Light hop character, fragrant and nice. Dark amber brown with thin head. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Chocolate, vanilla, alcohol, woody and mild hops. Sweet, light alcohol. Nice balance to this one though a bit sugary on the finish.
Bottle. Pour was dark amber color. Heavy carbination, taste was very fresh. Dark fruit with lots of sweet malt flavors. Slightly boozy. I would think this gets better with age.
late 06 bottle tasted in 2010 dark amber color. malt forward aroma. still had good carbonation. barrel aged is not over powering
22oz, 3yrs old ’06, pours ruby with white head. Nose of caramel, and sherry. Flavors of raisin, cherry, caramel, and brown sugar. Med body, soft carbonation. Aged okay but I think it was better fresh.
22oz bottle from Andrew... Pours a copper reddish brown with a thin just white head... Aroma of soft caramel and dark fruit ... Flavors remain of the same with soft carb with caramel notes. Not too bad for an aged bwine.
22 oz bottle which cost me $4.50. I poured this into a snifter and and it formed a decent cream colored head with some lacing. The beer was ruby red in color. The smell was malty and sweet. The taste was pretty good with the malts and a honey flavor coming through. The taste reminded me of the candy "Bit O Honey". This was a pretty good barleywine in my opinion.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 04-06-2007 15:21:01
Bomber. Beautiful cloudy caramel coloring, no head to speak of. Strong aroma. Very hoppy flavor, edging toward IPA territory. Very potent with the 10.5% abv. Not for the weak of heart.
Mendocino Talon is a super clear, dense amber ale with a dense yellow head that leaves excellent lacing. It has a sweet, resiny, wooden aroma with notes of stone fruit and black pepper. It’s full bodied; smooth and syrupy with a sticky finish. It’s very well balanced... a little sweet like plum, a little bitter like pine. The peppery alcohol provides a long finish. This is a great example of a west coast barleywine.
Sample at the Barley Wine beer tasting at Blacklick Wine & Spirits on 01/14/10. This brew is a hazy reddish-brown color with a medium beige head that diminishes steadily. Stringy lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, brown sugar and hops. Rich body with flavors of sweet malt, caramel, fruit and hops. The finish is toasted malt up front with some hops and mild alcohol in the aftertaste. Pretty good overall.
Nice barleywine style ale. Pours dark brown with a short to med head. Flavor was lightly hoppy w a good malt presence and nice hints od milk chocolate and raisin.
22oz. bottle served in a snifter. Pours a dark amber with a thin off white head. Nice aroma, a good balance of malt and hops. Taste is a little flat. Definitely on the malty side. Some burnt sugar in the flavor. Body is a bit thin. Could use some more hop bitterness to balance out the malt. I found this beer to be lacking.
Pours off white head. Malts, caramel and barley. Alcohol lets you know its there with a little bit of a funk taste. Finishes sweet with some bitter.
22oz bottle. Cloudy light brown pour with a medium beige head. Caramel and sweet malt aroma with some boozy character and not much hop. Flavor is about the same, but has enough hop in the finish to keep it from being too sweet. Better than expected.
Pours light brown with a thin off white head. Aroma is rich malt, caramel, and some dark fruit. Flavor is lots of caramel malt, a hint of hop bitterness. Much like an Old Foghorn without the rich, sticky mouthfeel.
Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy orangish amber with a thin light brown head. Aroma consists of sweet barley notes and a quite strong presence of alcohol. Flavor is full of sweet barley with a slight undertone of alcohol. A bit light on the tongue.
Pours a beige, fading head that retains some legs and a murky brown, copper body. Smells of dried fruit, dough, and brown sugar. Flavor is about the same. Finish is dried fruit and a little bitter rind.
This bottle was from 07 or before, but there was no date so who knows. Pours amber brown with a smallish cream colored head. Aroma is caramel, toffee, and dark fruits. Flavor is big caramel malt, with hints of chocolate, and a nice warming and slightly bitter finish. Pretty good.
This beer pours a dark caramel brown with a nice one finger tan head that lasts a couple of minutes. It is sweet on the nose with malt, fruit, and alcohol. Flavor is pretty much the same but with a funky chemical bitterness. That subsided after the beer warmed and it smoothed out some. Still, this beer was a bit of a battle to finish. I was glad to see the bottom of the glass.