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One Barley Wine (2016)

    Brewery: Beer Studio
    Country: Sweden
    Size: 33cl
    Alcohol: 10.4%
    Price: N/A
    Systembolaget: N/A

    Time is a fickle mistress when it comes to beer. For some styles, time can be a nightmare. Beers such as NEIPA and lager will generally get worse with age and lose or alter their characteristics in a bad way. Other styles however will mature with age, bringing out new flavours and diminishing some harshness. Imperial stouts, Trappist beers and barley wines are usually great to store. In this case Beer Studio brewed a barley wine back in 2016 and it has slowly been aging for the past 4 year. Although there are few bottles left, I was lucky enough to persuade them to part with a few bottles for the tasting. As it is their most award-winning beer, I knew it would go down well with the guests.

    This was a murky deep brown to ruby coloured beer with a minimal beige head that didn’t stick around for long. The aroma was intense, with massive dried fruits leaping from the glass. Figs, raisins, apricot, orange and some floral notes in the background. The taste was dense and delicious. That dried fruit basket carried straight on along with toffee, pine and brown sugar. The alcohol was clearly there but still very well hidden, only really noticeable when a large mouthful with consumed. A rich, oily texture just dominated the mouth. The carbonation that was left was pretty low but that didn’t count as a negative in this beer. The aftertaste was a lovely even blend of sweet dark malts and a lovely bitter hop hit.

    This was such an amazing beer and I understand why it has won awards. I thought this was delicious and it paired superbly with chevre cream and fig marmalade. I hope they get back to brewing more batches of this soon as this is a beer that everyone should try.