Barleywine face off Scotland V USA (sort of).

Pin It Now! For some reason the pictures I took last night of the two beers are not on the camera so I had to take a picture just now of the two bottles.
From the USA I have a bottle of Anchor Old Foghorn which was thrown in for free with some beer by the good folks at drinkstore. I will be going to San Francisco in June so plan on visiting the brewery then, even though I would not be the biggest fan of many of their beers. I like Anchor just fine, I just tend to find them a little boring and usually overcarbonated. The carbonation issue was evident even in this Barleywine. On the nose was a rich malty aroma packed with vanilla, sweet caramel and alcohol. With the first mouthful I was hit by a strong alcohol burning before noticing a creamy texture and a slightly sour finish. Plenty of dried fruit packed in. It was lovely and I enjoyed it immensely but I just felt it was too fizzy.
At least Anchor are consistent in their mission to overcarbonate every beer I have ever had from them. It is a shame because apart from the over carbonation I quite enjoy some of the beers.


I have had the 16 year old Ola Dubh before and this time it was its younger brother the 12 year old's turn. Yes I know what you are thinking, this is not actually a Barleywine but on old ale? Well lacking another Barleywine to try, this is close enough. Besides I would love for someone to tell me a difference between the two styles because as far as I can tell they are the same thing.
The aroma is woody, dark malts and smoke. The taste starts off sour and then the wood and smoke come marching along sporting vanilla and a very evident dark chocolate finish. Lovely stuff.
I can only go from memory but I remember the 16 year old being thicker than this one as it is quite thin for looking like engine oil. The 12 year old seems to have more smoke character though which is interesting.

Out of the two I enjoyed Ola Dubh the most so Scotland wins.

Anyway I am off to get ready. I am going in to Dublin to meet up with a couple who contacted me through this blog. They are from the US and want to know about Irish craft beer. Then I will hop on a train to Enniscorthy* (wexford) and stay the night at my dads place. I doubt I will find any good pubs serving craft beer there but I will take a look while I am there.

* Some beer nerds might recognise the name Enniscorthy as being the home of the old Letts Brewery where a beer was once supposedly brewed and the recipe is now used to make Killians Irish red, an abomination of a beer which is like Coors with red dye in it.