Stone Old Guardian - Oak Smoked
Whether you are writing the correct year by now or not, it’s officially 2013. That means a new Stone Brewing Co. Odd Beer for Odd Years release. The first time around, Old Guardian was “Belgianized”. This year is a oak smoked edition. This beer makes uses of the same smoked malt used in recent collaboration The Perfect Crime.
3.7
449 reviews
Escondido, United States
Community reviews
22 oz bottle poured into a tulip. 2013 bottle. Clear ruby with beige head. Aromas of smoke, toasted wood, caramel, malt, oak. Tastes of light smoke, malt, caramel, oak, light booze. Medium body with a dry finish.
Has some protein in suspension. Amber. Thin head. Aroma mostly shows the chewy malt. Sweet, lightly chewy and only vaguely smoky. Long finish with the age rounding out both smoke and hop.
August 1, 2015. Bottle, vintage 2013.
Light hazy amber with a small off-white head. Aroma is sweet malty with caramel, dark sugars, notes of smoked meat, burnt wood, some dried fruits and and hints of higher alcohol. Taste is sweet, malty, smokey and light bitter. Finish is sweet malty and resinous with toffee,hints of ripe pineapple, dark sugars, smoked charcuteries, some bitter grassy notes and alcohol. Medium bodied, soft to average carbonation.
Some higher alcohol notes that puts it a bit off.
Bomber, 2013 vintage. Rich, smokey aroma with a bit of oak as well as caramel, pine hops and a surprising amount of booze for a 3 year old beer. Pours deep amber colored with a thin off white head with ok retention and a little lacing. Starts with rich smokey flavor right off the bat with some caramel. Finishes very dry with smoke permeating through out as well as bitter pine resiny hops that dominate the palate before ending with a bit of boozy burn still. Pretty nice with my only complaint being the finish.
Pours a deep dark brown with a small reddish brown head. Aromas of liquid smoke, sardines, and firewood. Flavors of chocolate, espresso, and smoke. Nice dry crisp finish. Smokey aftertaste stays with you for awhile.
2 finger beige head, red-amber body. Nose: Wood-notes, smoked notes, caramel, dates and figs. Aroma: Smoked charcuterie, alcohol-sting, dates, figs, pine, resin, caramel, fudge, spruce, dark german bread, raisins, honey, blood-oranges, grapefruit and woody notes.
Long dry, bitter ending.
Où, Quand, Comment :
Bouteille, dégustée le 8/5/2013.
Visuel :
Couleur : ambrée foncée.
Apparence : semi-voilée.
Arôme :
Caramel, malt fumé, légèrement fruité (fruits foncés), légèrement boisé et léger de houblon herbeux.
Goût :
Entrée de bouche : Léger goût fruité (fruits foncés notes d’agrumes) avec un léger goût boisé.
Une dominante maltée sucrée (caramel sucré, malt fumé aux notes rôties) est présente avec une moyenne amertume de houblon herbeux et d’alcool doux.
En bouche :
Corps : moyen-ronde.
Effervescence : moyenne.
Texture : légèrement crémeuse.
Finale : moyenne-longue, composée d’une moyenne amertume de houblon et d’alcool avec un léger goût fruité, fumé, épicé et boisé.
Pours a Amber honey color. You can really smell the smoke on this one with a bit of char to boot. Three years have really mellowed the smoke element, however I can’t imagine what this would be like fresh. Really nice and rare. You do not see this everyday.
Thick auburn golden, decent flecks of sediment throughout and greasy lacing from a ringed head. Nose is rich sweetness, soft syruppy. Initial taste is rich cheap honey, greasy smoke and this leads to a heavy mouthfeel. Finishes strongly, ABV really noticeable and lingers fairly stringently sweet.
Bottle fae Stu666, Pig Out Tasting.
Bottle at craig’s. Pours deep amber, nose is smoky, oaky, caramel, taste is sweet, fruity, dry smoky finish, quite bitter, salty, little cheesy.
Pours bronze with a huge creamy offwhite head. Aroma is caramel, slight smoke, slight straw. Taste is earthy, slight caramel, grassy, smokey and slight oak.
Bottle at home.. Copper.. Thin tan lacing... Massive toffee crystal toffee malts nose... Sweet woody malts.. Soft toffee malts... Big sweet toffee... Crystal toffee malts nose
bottle - Pours dark amber with a small tan head. It has a very smoky aroma with malt and strong oak. It tastes of very smoky, sweet malt with heavy oak flavor and big hops bitterness. The flavor is aggressive in pretty much every way. Three years of aging doesn’t seem to have changed that aspect. The full bodied brew has a long, bitter, smoky finish.
Bomber bought @ Systembolaget about 3 years ago. Pours hazy reddish brown with a small offwhite head that leaves some spotty sticky trace on the glass. Smell is malty and smokey with caramel, toffee, sweet dark bread, burnt wood, smoked charcuteries, minerals and hints of alcohol. Taste is sweet, bitter, malty, herbal, earthy and smokey. Mouthfeel is soft, viscous, round, tiny astringent, tiny boozy and medium to full bodied. Finish is sweet and and bitter with caramel, toffee, smoked charcuteries, burnt wood, moist soil, moist grass, resin and hints of alcohol. Bitter but very smooth smoked US barley wine. Quite like this...
Shared 0,65l bottle @ One Pint Pub. Pours clear amber with a low head. Aroma is bready roasted malts with smoke. Flavor is sweet roasted malts with bread, alcohol, smoke and hops. Quite nice.
Pours a dark golden amber/copper color with mahogany edges and a one finger yellowish-beige head that has excellent retention, only slowly fading into a thick, lasting ring. Streaks of soapy lacing left behind.
Earthy, slightly roasted aroma with a nice balance of sweet malt, resinous hops, toasted oak and smoke. The smoke and barrel notes are subtle but show up more as it warms with hints of dry wood, campfire and BBQ. These notes are faint however, and the American barleywine characteristics of Old Guardian still stand out. Slightly floral with grassy, piney hop oils and faint citrus countered by sweet and leathery malt notes. Lots of caramel sweetness along with toffee, hazelnut, raisin and fig. Smells pretty good but I was hoping for more smoke and oak character to make it really stand out from the regular version.
Full bodied with a slight creamy texture and a flavor profile that’s very similar to the aroma. The aggressive hops, sweet malt and alcohol flavors overpower the smoked/oak wheat notes. Not too smokey at all really with faint charcoal and smoked meat flavor but it does have a dry burnt wood flavor from the oak. Aggressively hop forward with resinous hop bitterness and a touch of citrus/tropical fruit sweetness. The dry bitterness is countered by a strong malt presence with notes of roasted barley, caramel sweetness, toffee, dark fruit and boozy sweetness. Subtle leathery presence with hints of raisin, date and fig in the back end. The high ABV is relatively well masked but there’s subtle heat and some nice warmth in the finish. Flavorful, well balanced and easy to drink. I just wish that the oak, and especially the smoke flavors were stronger. Dryer than usual but too similar to regular Old Guardian for me.
Poured into a snifter.
3.5 A: Deep amber color. Lots of crap floating around that for the most part is uniformly small. One and a half fingers of frothy beige head. Retention is about what you’d expect from a beer this big, but a formidable ring of lacing is left.
3.75 S: I bought this looking for smoke. I got some. I want more. Otherwise, this is still the just-a-bit-too-hoppy BW. However, I dare say the smoke brings everything together and it’s a lot nicer than the original. Caramel, plum, brown sugar, some toastiness, and a nice neutral maltiness. Herbal hops with citrusy and floral components.
3.5 T: Tastes good, but I wish the smoke came through stronger. Like the original, this is a bit too bitter for me. I like my BWs on the sweeter side, but Stone doesn’t do things like not hopping the shit out of everything. Anyway, caramel, brown sugar, toastiness lead the way with plum and raisin fruits underneath. Mild smokiness underneath that. Strong herbal hoppiness, again with notes of citrus and floral.
3.75 M: Heavier medium to heavy body. Good moderate carbonation. Reasonably creamy with well hidden alcohol.
3.5 D: Tasty beer. It’d be better with less hops, but it’s still good nonetheless.
★ 1,216 characters
DavoleBomb, Nov 27, 2013
On tap at bier thirty. Pours out a amber topped with a sand head. Nose is smoked meat toffee caramel sweetness along with a hop kick. Taste is more of the smoked meat sweetness malts over the top as stone does best. Not a big smoke fan but I do like sweet just so so in my book.
take this rating with a grain of salt; not a fan of the style nor hops and this was loaded with hops. high scores for app and palate - just couldn’t get past the bitter hops; I hope this was via a trade and I didn’t buy this
Bottle to pint glass
Oak, toasted malt, bacon, and caramel. Clear amber, with decent effervescence, a 1/2 cm mottled off white head with good retention. Taste is bitter up front, with wood, malts, some booziness, and a touch of orange. Okay, but not stunning.
Sampled on 12/31/15. Opened this one for new years eve to ring in 2015. I have had this beer for almost a year now and it seems like a good time to pop it open. Aroma is kind of surprising, the smoke is practically non exisitent, plenty of hops-citrus and pine with oak and sweet caramel malts. The body is a deep copper with a thick and chewy head that leaves some thick lace. The flavor is about the same as the aroma, not much smoke but thats o.k. its aged nicely, smooth, slightly syrupy and flavorful.
Pours murky red amber low copper white head
Aromas of german sausage, smoke, hints of caramel
Taste has caramel, dried fruits, hints of smoke, vinouos alcohol
Pours cloudy copper with low off-white head. Aroma of smoke, german sausage, light caramel. Taste is sweet, light smoky, caramel, toffee and resin bitter finish. Medium to full body with soft carbonation.
2013 bomber - pours a dark amber, some suspended particulates and slight head. Big aromas of licorice, caramel malts, smokey maple wood and raisin cookie. Lots going on here - more licorice, rich & syrupy malts, touch of smoke, burnt bacon and long bitter finish. Big, chewy, intense, complex, earthy and burnt.
Bottle - Vintage 2013 - Bacon, wood smoke and tons of caramel. Clear copper with a decent beige head. Caramel,wood, smoke and a light bitter finish. Nice.
.75l bottle @Vihreä Haltiatar. Pours hazy amber with low head. Aroma is smoked ham, malts, alcohol, caramel notes and dries fruits. Flavor is mostly damdy. Nice.
Big Bottle Poured a cloudy amber brown with little head. Malt and hops galore on the nose. Smoked aroma too. Heavy bodied. Medium heavy bitterness. Wow this is huge beer, everything about it is huge and heavy. Again this is malt sryup and hops galore with a middle ending of smokiness. Interesting to drink one. Prob wouldnt go out of my way to find another.
Dark copper, lacy.
Medium body, highly flavored, flat and lean mouthfeel, no heat or carbonation to speak of, long but non-generous palate.
Bitter, dry, lacks acidity.
Roast and smoky flavors,
The concept is more successful than the the product.
Bottle: Burnt caramel color with some tawny & orange highlights. Creamy beige foam settles firmly on top. Aroma includes earthy toffee, sticky caramel with a little staleness, herbal hop notes, licorice, & a very light meaty smoke on the back-end. Flavor is more herbal, ashy, & up front with lots of leafy, herbal hops. Faint perfume. Underbody of caramel malts, sweet toffee, toast, mild raisin, & a touch of liforice. Sticky body. Don’t get much smoke or oak in the flavor.. Maybe a very small touch.
Sweet, liquor flavors, smoke not strong, moderate bitterness, balanced. Overall a compelling barleywine.