New Glarus Thumbprint Series Barley Wine
A few times a year we cut Dan loose to brew whatever he chooses. Always handcrafted, the bottle you hold is brewed for the adventurous soul. This is a very limited edition and we make no promises to ever brew this style again.
Our 2012 Barley Wine bridges continents of style, a harmonious creation of Diploma Master Brewer Daniel Carey. He personally chose the hop fields that were harvested for this powerful beast of a brew. Styrian Golding, Willamette, Columbia, and Sterling with bold citrus and resin notes. All perfectly balanced with toasty graham cracker flavors of floor malted barley. Savor this very big beer at 45° F and it will reward you with an open embrace.
Our 2012 Barley Wine bridges continents of style, a harmonious creation of Diploma Master Brewer Daniel Carey. He personally chose the hop fields that were harvested for this powerful beast of a brew. Styrian Golding, Willamette, Columbia, and Sterling with bold citrus and resin notes. All perfectly balanced with toasty graham cracker flavors of floor malted barley. Savor this very big beer at 45° F and it will reward you with an open embrace.
3.7
191 reviews
New Glarus, United States
Community reviews
Pours a murky very orange color. Sweet light hop character , light hop aroma, citrus, more malt. Sweet, malty. Very sweet , malty, light hop character, light bitterness. Goooood.
I got a bottle of this from the recent Secret Santa. Thanks! Reddish-orange with a loose white bubbly head. A ring of roam lasts around the edges to produce some spotty lacing on the glass. Candied orange and cranberry in the aroma, with toffee malt, and whiffs of alcohol toward the tail end of the scent. The flavors are smooth, for the most part, consisting of orange peel and a lot of candied mixed fruit. There’s plenty of malt here but it’s not thick and syrupy, which is a good thing. This is 12%? It seems lighter than that but there’s still a gentle warmth to each sip. Sweetness and a toasty character are noted in the body with gentle citrus hop bitterness in the back end. It starts to dry out some in the finish but never really gets "dry". If I’m being honest, this is pretty mediocre. Sure it’s a solid drink but there’s nothing here to set it apart from your run-of-the-mill Barley Wine. The Iced Barley Wine he made a while back was much better.
2012 Bottle:
Crisp clear ruby and beautiful amber and copper tinted body with a thinnish, fast-dying off-white head that leaves large bubbles. Aroma of alcohol, whiskey, grain, oak, hops, citrus and even a bit of hops! Full-bodied; Deep pit fruit sweetness up front with a large brandy and alcohol burn afterwards, all showing some dry oak, vanilla and piney hop finish at the end. Aftertaste shows a nice complexity with the alcohol, cognac and oak flavours dominating. Then some pit fruits hit with raisins and figs the strongest, all with a pungent oak and piney hop finish. Overall, a very strong and deep beer that is still quite rough around the edges, with some good flavours and a nice complexity - just a bit too harsh, still. Great to try, but I wish I would have aged this for another 4 or 5 years, then enjoyed it. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Discount Liqour in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 05-September-2012 for US$2.99 sampled at home in Washington on a chilly evening on 07-January-2014.
2012 Bottle // Purchased September 2012 // Sampled January 2014
Bottle in Vail. Thanks to adnielsen for sharing. Pours a cloudy orange color with white head. Malty, boozy, slight fruity flavors. Not a great barley wine.
12oz bottle pours a orange amber with a small tan head. Sweet malt and fruit aroma. Taste is the same.
Bottled earlier....
Amber with a etched form atop a hazy beer. vanilla, nougat, caramel, bits of floral hops. Flavor is caramel, crystalized hops, tea, sweet wort, bits of belgian candy sugar. Nice flavor. Medium bodied with tight, sharp carb and a semi dry finish. Nice beer.
Serving type: bottle
11-05-2012
Aroma is fairly malty with nice light caramel and faintly toasted bread notes. Some cracker and biscuit notes also present. Medium to medium light hop aroma that is fairly citrusy but with a nice complimentary spicy dank note.
Pours a nice copper orange with a thin white head that quickly recedes to a thin film on the edges. No lashing and medium sized legs.
Flavor is sweet and rich with lots of lighter pale malt complexity. Light caramel, faintly toasted bread and sweet biscuits abound. Medium hop flavors with high bitterness. Hops are mostly grapefruit but with complimentary resin notes and light spicy dank character. This doesn’t have the complexity that some darker barleywines has but it has a nice unique complexity of its own without blurring the lines of a hoppy stout. Surprisingly little fruit esters - this one is clean.
Mouthfeel is medium full bodied with medium carbonation. Low astringency and medium low alcohol warmth.
Overall a really enjoyable lighter barley wine. This might be my favorite lighter barley wine that I have tried. The light malt has a surprisingly nice complexity without getting into a darker malt realm. The hop character compliments the light malt well and doesn’t rate like an afterthought where a bunch of random hops were dumped in to bring up the bitterness.
Pours golden orange with no head. Aroma of caramel malt and booze. Taste
Is sweet caramel, booze with slight citrus notes. Nice bw.
Bottle: Deep honey in color, a bit like Fireweed, large frothy sandy head, nice lacing. Soft sweet bready nose. Slight melon like fruitiness. Strong pale breadiness on the tongue, sweet, a bit melon like.
Not all that hoppy, not overly malty. This is another one of those strong sweet Golden Ales that are so often called Barley Wines. I dig everying Dan Carey does, but this one seems a bit mis-labeled. I don’t say
that often, but this one is neither very hoppy nor really heavy in terms of caramel or rich malts. Its a strong fruity sweetness, so strong Golden is all over my mind. Okay, enough of the labels now. Body and mouthfeel
are moderate. Sticky sweetness on the finish. Neither English or American, this is a strong Golden that is neither overly hoppy nor overly malty. I am at a loss to put this beer into a category other than to say its not
like any other. Lets just say this, very fruity (in the bready/melon sense) without being too malty or hoppy. However, wished it were more hoppy and malty. Tiz decent, but seems like one of the old English
Strong Golden Ales that no longer exist.
Bottle. Pours a lightir copper to gold. No head. Aroma is hoppy and sweet. Sweet and hoppy taste. Warming. Good beer.
12oz bottle pours a clear, caramel amber with some thin, eggshell head. Nose is nice, caramel, oranges, a little grapefruit pith, cracker, brown sugar, a little carrot, lots of fruit, definitely more on the English end of barleywines. Flavor is the same, brown sugar, caramel, tea biscuits, orange, lemon, a little soap, bread, roasted root veg, a little minty. Full, sweet and bitter finish. Very nice. Well balanced.
Thanks, Adam! Nice vibrant copper pour with a thick, rocky head. Surprised by the bright fruitiness in the nose, as I’d fully expected this to lean more towards the malty, English-style end of the spectrum. Certainly loads of candy malts and biscuits, but there’s a clean, bright character that’s compelling. Carries over in the taste, too, providing a nice balance to a generally sweet beer so that it’s not cloying, heavy, or even especially boozy at 12%. Very fine, and will be curious to see how this one changes with age.
Golden orange. Medium creamy white head, mostly lasting. Drippy lace. Sweet, hoppy malty, caramel, slightly fruity, citrus, floral. Full body. Pleasant hoppy bitterness. Some alcohol warmth. Very nice balance. Great drinkability for the style.
Aroma- sweet and sugary. citrus. earthy freshness. floral.
Taste- sweet, like flowers. wine/alcohol. smooth. sugary. hoppy, bitter. Complex and delicious.
Bottled December 30, 2011.
Appearance: This pours the color and texture of apple cider and appears a hazy dark amber in the glass. The head is minimal and almost completely disappears quickly, outside of a thin ring.
Aroma: The aroma is a fruity with a strong sweet orange aroma primarily. Sweet malts back it with a slight musky aroma giving this a sweet leaning aroma.
Taste: Citrus is prominent here from the intro through to the finish with a sort of menthol cooling finish that I find very interesting. It reminds me a bit of the fruity Halls. Sweet and slightly musky malts back this with a slight bready finish. This is interesting and enjoyable.
Palate: Medium to thick with moderate carbonation, slightly sharp towards the end.
Overall: This is unlike any barleywine I’ve had and that’s okay. This is an excellent beer and I enjoy it a lot more than the rating indicates. Well done.
An American strong ale. Big bubbly head on clear orange body. Lacey.Lots of orange aroma, and orange taste. Honeyish. Lots of flavour, a dangerously drinkable beer.
Bottle poured a clear golden amber with a small lasting creamy ivory head. Aromnas of crackers, lemon zest, grapefruit zest and a hint of pine. Palate was medium to full bodied and smooth with a dry finish. Flavors of crackers, earthiness, grapefruitr and light lemon zest with a crisp dry lightly bitter lingering citrus finish
Bottle shared with friends. Honey orange pour with a nice white head. Aroma is slightly citrus and toasty. As we were drinking we all tried to guess the ABV, and the guesses ranged from 7-9%. We were all a little floored when we found out it was 12%. The alcohol is very well hidden. The citrus notes carry through on the palate. Really excellent use of hops in a barley wine. Very well balanced and tasty. This was an excellent beer.
One of many New Glarus bottles courtesy of GhostFace. Pours slightly hazy orange. Aroma of caramel and citrus. Taste is maybe a tad too sweet. Hides it’s alcohol amazingly well.
Color is pale orange with light carbonation with a thin off white head. Aroma is a sweet caramel scent. It has a medium body with a crisp mouth feel. Flavor sweet malt, bold citrus and a mellow bitterness. After the citrus turns to a soap like taste and the bitterness comes out more. Overall its nice take on a Barley Wine, the only down fall for me was the soap like taste I was getting.
I know I had this slightly old, but this was truly one of my first disappointments from New Glarus. It was a light golden color and it was unfortunately pretty well oxidized. There wasn’t much to else to pick out, hopefully some bottles are stored better than at Discount Liquor and maybe I’ll try another again soon.
Bottle pour - side by side with the ’unplugged’ Iced Barley Wine. Pours a deep apricot with a solid off-white head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is very nice - sweet and sugary with caramel, some dark fruits, hint of booze (not overpowering), brown sugar and overall malty character. Flavor is good as well - caramelized malts, lots of sweetness, some booze, and lots of fruity characteristics. Palate is solid, slick and smooth - some burn, but not bad - this one did not drink like it was 12%. Preferred this drink to the Iced Barley Wine - a very good rendition of the style.
12oz bottle, thanks nuplastikk. Large off-white head that mostly dissipates, atop hazy amber body. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel, orange/grapefruit, some raisin, light alcohol. Taste is sweet, orange, caramel, some raisin/vinous, light grapefruit. Sticky medium-full body, some resin, alcohol.
Name: Thumbprint Barley Wine
Date: November 04, 2012
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: clear gold, wispy off white head, streaks of lace
Aroma: sweet caramel aroma, brown sugar sweetness
Flavor: sweet caramel flavor, light fruityness, rich, sweet, balancing earthyness, light bitter finish
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4
This poured a hazy light orange color with a beige head. Not what I expected this one to look like. Aroma was sourdough bread, lemons, and light caramel. Flavor was spritzy and fruity, with underlying sweetness. Certainly more like a wheatwine to me.
Shared by Thorpe429. Thanks Mike.
The beer is crystal clear, appearing a light golden color. Mild effervescence and a lasting quarter inch of white head that leaves some decent lacing on the glass. The aroma brings malt, caramels, alcohol, maybe a hint of butterscotch candy. Alcohol presence is nicely disguised. This one could sneak up on you in a hurry. Malty, fruity, a tad sweet. Hop presence shines in the finish, offering a light bitterness. Overall, I thought this was really solid. I would have this again.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 04-08-2012
Well, not sure why I haven’t reviewed this. Awesome extra from someone. Oddly orange pour with a small white head. Lots of sweet fruit on the nose, ripe strawberry dominates this, not in a weird way either. Lots of caramel and toffee as well, and some booziness but not anywhere near 12%. Sticky. Little hop bitterness in this one really. Aggressive and in your face but miles ahead of most bruisers of the same style. I haven’t enjoyed a barley wine like this in quite some time.
Bottle from the awesome CanIHave4Beers. Pours slightly hazy dark golden, nearly orange. Small white head. Nose shows toasty biscuit and graham cracker malt sweetness as well as bright hops and sweet citrus. A big, sweet beer, but nice savored just below room temp. Great for sharing.
Had this at the RB Pittsburgh December 2012 Post Apocalyptic Beer Tasting, Light hazee on a pale looking beer. Smell is quite sweet, something like hardtack candy. Yes, does have some of that barley wine nasty american wannah bee feel to it but lighter when compared to other american BWs. Does have some co2 in there which makes it a little more friendly. Seems to come across more like an old stronger ipa. Not too viscous and I like that in a BW. Does not seem like 125, maybe 8; perhaps they miscalculated?
From a bottle. Pours a brown color and a slightly off white head. Aroma has lots of caramel, toffee, and light cocoa. Taste is very similar with some light hops.