I tend not to be a huge fan of British barley wines. Huge, sweet and syrupy, they seem to me at least to be the most unnecessary style of beer around. If you want sherry drink some sherry. At least part of this opinion was formed by drinking too young bottles of J.W. Lee’s Harvest. I recently found a few bottles of the ‘03 batch aged in Calvados barrels and was interested in giving it a shot. If it wasn’t drinkable at least after 5 years, I’d know that it wasn’t something to keep on my radar.
It was definitely drinkable.
I let the bottle warm up for about an hour before pouring it into a crystal sake glass (don’t ask.) It poured a beautiful deep warm amber with a lot more carbonation than I was expecting. Definitely not over gassed, it was a just a fuller and richer head than you would think from a five year old English beer. At first the nose was dominated by the Calvados (which I admit is something I know nothing of beyond beers aged in barrels once inhabited by the spirit. Later I would begin to pick up the rich malt scents and a mild note of alcohol.
Rather than being overwhelmed by a massive syrupy sweetness, there was a pleasant and malty sweetness that was quickly joined by peppery alcohol, soft oakiness and fruit. Impressively dry finish. A really nice sense of warming and almost no fusel alcohol. Truly an incredible beer, I can’t wait to age some of the other barrel aged Harvest ales.
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