Ridgeway Imperial Barley Wine
Bottled, Special;
3.2
166 reviews
North Heath, England
Community reviews
(Bottle) Pours hazy amber brown with tiny loose white head. Pleasant aroma of toffee with honey notes. Full bodied, slightly sticky with fine carbonation. The taste is unusual, complex and interesting, if perhaps a bit discordant. There’s pleasant toffee and honey sweetness up front. There’s some significant hoppy bitterness in the finish. For me, while both are great in their own right, they don’t quite work together; however they also compelled me to taste again. There’s some vinous notes, maybe white port. The booze is well hidden. Very interesting and enjoyable, if a little discordant.
11.2oz bottle. 2015. Pours golden with a barely-there off-white head. Aroma is apricot, cognac, booze, honey, caramel, and some citrus. Taste is spice, fruitcake, caramel, toffee, some apricot, light wood, light sherry, a little toast, and a little raisin. Light earthy hop bitterness. Light-medium body. Moderate carbonation. Oily mouthfeel. It's... fine.
2015 Bottle poured a hazy golden amber with a small lingering amber head. Aromas of caramel, dried fruit, honey and light sherry. Palate was medium bodied and smooth with a dry finish. Flavors of caramel, honey, light sherry and a hint of fruitiness with a smooth dry lingering honeyed caramel finish.
330ml bottle, 2015 vintage (#48502). Poured into a Westmalle chalice at home on 5th Oct 2019. Golden body, wispy white topping. Barley sugar sweet and lovely, cobweb aging just about right. Really enjoyed it.
Rødgylden klar skum tæt hvid
Bær malt alc sukker
Bitter modrate sød modRte
Vandre blød
@ home
Bottled, 330ml, aged 7yrs from the now closed S.H.Jones, Banbury, Oxon. Gold to amber with white head. Despite the ageing this still proved to be a touch harsh on the palate. Fiery alcohol notes, boozy, nasal with a fruity, apricot flavour. Mid roasted malts. It's okay.
Bottle. Clear golden color with small creamy white mostly lasting head. Strong malty aroma and alcohol. Sweet flavor. Oily palate
330ml bottle from West Berkshire Brewery, Yattendon. Amber colour with white head. Big caramel, big sweet malt, toffee, stone fruit, molasses, light dark fruit, booze, brown sugar, dried fruits, light diacetyl. Bit thin for abv.
Bottle @ home. Clear dark brown with a beige head. Aroma medium+ malty (caramel, roasted, dark fruit). Flavor medium+ sweet, dark fruit, light bitter. Almost full body, medium carbonated.
Dark brown, small tan head. Aroma booze and caramel and malt. Medium full body. Flavor is mostly sweet malts and caramel. It's not really bad but could have used some more balance.
Tap@Taphouse, Copenhagen (05/01/2018) - dark brown coloured pour with beige head. Medium sweet malty toasty, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, dried fruit shred, spices into the warming boozy close.
Poured at Shelton Festival, hazy brown with small beige head. The aroma is candi sugar, cararmel, spice, wood. Medium body, similar flavors to nose, nice sweetness, boozy finish, very good.
Medium amber beer with a thin white head that disappears quickly. Rich boozy nose of hazelnuts, butterscotch, and toffee. Flavor is unfortunately not quite as strong as the aroma, but follows it with caramel, treacle, sweet vanilla, and custard cream all coming through followed by a mild bitterness with an underlying alcohol bite. Pretty good.
2015 330ml bottle pours deep amber with a few bubbles slowly rising to the top. Aromas of caramel malt, dried fruit, whiskey and a slight metalic smell. Flavours of toffee, sugar candy, honey, white wine vinous, floral characters and alcohol. Not much carbonation to speak of. Finish is a little bitter with a hint of (slightly unpleasant) sourness.
Aus der Flasche getrunken (Kauf in Hamburg). Leicht trübes Dunkelamber mit weißer Schaumkrone. Malzige Nase. Süßlicher, dichter alkoholischer Körper.
Very deep gold colour almost amber with small off-white foam. Aromas sweet dried fruits, plums as well as some sweet aromatic malts and sweet jam. Palate, medium to full body with smooth lightly carbonated texture leaving light warming finish. Taste, slightly boozy and warming reminds of one sake and has malty notes with a light touch of fruits. Overall, okay not bad, strong but not rocket fuel, drinkable.
11.2oz bottle. Filtered dulled orange-copper body. Thin, soapy off-white head. Drinks along the lines of Samiclaus...big and ruthless. Boozy. Not much hop character. Unique and fun to sample, but overall a pretty unimpressive offering. Not so far removed from horrible Eastern European Strong Ales.
Pours slightly hazy golden, topped with almost no head to speak of. Sweet malty nose, woody with vanilla, quite some dry fruits and whisky. Sweet and slightly boozy, dry fruits presence, spiciness in the finish. Light bodied and quite boozy.
Color Arancio senza schiuma. Al naso liquorosa, sembra un vinsanto. Leggera Carbonazione, corpo pieno ma alcol non esagerato.
Bottle (2015 vintage).
Head is initially small, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing.
Body is light to medium amber.
Aroma is lightly malty (grain), trace hops (stale apricot), with light notes of alcohol, sherry, candy sugar.
Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter.
Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter.
Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately to heavily alcoholic, lightly to moderately astringent.
Pretty disappointing...not much aroma, and what is there is pretty simplistic. Watery and thin (for the style), boozy, and rather astringent in the mouth. It’s quite hard to find good barleywines, and this is sadly no exception to that rule.
330ml bottle, vintage 2015, bottle #31828. Pours crystal clear amber colour with a white head. Aroma is boozy, sweet malt, dried fruit, vinous. Taste of sweet malt, dried fruits, alcohol, spices. Mouthfeel is smooth, very boozy though and there’s some alcohol burn, feels stronger than 10%, not an easy drinking beer. First barley wine I’ve tried so can’t say if this is a good or a bad one but I don’t think it’s a style I’d drink often.
Flaska från SB, 2015 vintage, flaska nr 14114. Smak och doft av torkad frukt som russin, aprikos, fikon med toner av honung, marsipan, äpple, läder och brunt socker. Fruktig, bra balans, fin sötma, sherry känsla, bra beska. Mycket gott redan nu och hade troligtvis blivit ännu bättre om jag haft tålamod att vänta. Mycket gott.
Flaska från SB, 2012 vintage, flaska nr 461. Klassisk engelsk barley wine som väcker minnen av Thomas Hardy eller J.W. Lees klassiker utan att kanske nå riktigt dit. Välmogen med väl integrerad alkohol och sötma. Mycket honung, fat, dessertvin, sherry, torkad frukt, läder. Riktigt gott.
Flaska. Vintage 2012. Flaska nummer 9295. Klar orange med ett medelstort aningen smutsat skum. Den här ölen har mognat väl. Den tidigare stickiga alkoholen har helt försvunnit, allt har blivit så mycket rundare och lenare. Det har blivit ett riktigt bra öl av detta helt enkelt. Toffee, läder, frukt, nötter och trä finns i både doft och smak. Jag önskar att jag hade sparat ett par flaskor till.
Aroma is English yeast, malts and dark fruit/tobacco. The flavor is dark fruit, mild tobacco, malts and a medium sweet/slightly tart/warming alcohol finish.
Crystal clear, pale amber body with a small, short-lived, off-white head that doesn’t leave much lacing. Malty and strong aroma of caramel, overripe generic fruits, dark dried fruits and alcohol, with citrus, anise seeds and other spices in the back. Strong flavour of boozy alcohol, caramel, overripe generic fruits, dark dried fruits, anise seeds and pale malts. Moderate sweet taste followed by an aggressive, grassy and quite heavy bitterness. This is definitely not a US barley wine.
[33 cl bottle, 2015 edition bottle 23698, from Systembolaget Gårda, Göteborg]
Bottle pour at Shelton Brothers. Boozy nose with orange marmalade showing bold. Balanced and smooth on the palate with the alcohol better hidden. Dry on the finish.
Sample from a bottle at DØE 2016. Clear amber colour with an off-white head. Aroma and flavour of malt, dried fruit, sweetness, spice, sweetness and bitterness.
Bottle 33 cl. Pours a clear golden with a white head. Aroma is sweet malt, British yeast and alcohol. Rich, sweet body, fruity alright with quite some late bitterness. But very boozy and hard to drink as it’s not overly complex. More like a Malt Liquor in a cute bottle. 150816
Mörkt guldgul med litet skum. Doftar torkade frukter och honung, här finns också en liten blommighet. Smaken är först rätt kärv med en underliggande beska, men vartefter kommer även en liten sötma av torkade frukter, det finns också en alkholhetta. Munkänslan är trevligt tjock och lite oljig. En maffig barley wine.