Grain Master Double Mash Barley Wine Bourbon BA
De Meester in Stasegem, West Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Barley Wine Regular|
Score
7.33
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle from Stacks (?). Vintage 2021 (if relevant). Hazy brown, small, foamy, tan head. Aroma of date, pear syrup, dark honey, red apple, bourbon, brown sugar, liquorice, varnish. Taste has sweet date, red apple & pear syrup in a syrupy, brown-sugary, dark-honeyish malt body surrounded by spicy phenols and wet herbs. Herbal hoppy finish, lingering wet wood, some tobacco, more dried fruit sweetness and boozy, even slightly bittering bourbon alcohol, more phenolic effects. Medium body, syrupy texture, average carbonation. I appreciate a boozy Ale occasionally but the rougher edges haven't softened (enough) here over time.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Dark brown with thin head. Lots of sweet layers. Grainy, banana, caramel apples. The bourbon adds another layer but also a slightly firey boozy warmth and aids a dry and clean finish.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
Bourbon barrel aged barleywine by De Meester - I assume this is the right entry, even though name and description mention nothing about bourbon barrel ageing... Pale greyish beige, mousy, membrane-lacing, relatively stable head on a hazy chestnut brown beer with ruddy-reddish tinge. Aroma of caramel sauce, indeed bourbon, varnish or even fresh paint, red plum, cranberries, stale sweat or even a vague whiff of goat stable, vanilla-scenting wet oak wood, candi sugar, damp tree leaves, dates. Sweet, even sticky onset, lots of residual candi sugariness, candied date and sirop de Liège effects, softly carbonated; caramelly maltiness with a slight nutty edge, developing mild toasty bitterishness in the end, though more bitterness clearly comes from a herbal hoppiness and - above all - very prominent, indeed bourbon- but also rum-like alcohol; woody tannins are present but softly so, and get blurred by weird solventy and 'soupy' effects, reminiscent of chervil and withering thyme. Meanwhile the candi sweetness continues and cloys a bit in the finish. Ambitious, but too ambitious for De Meester, it seems: this is an unbalanced, solventy, crude and boozy, overly sweet mess. I love a good barleywine (ideally with a bit of age on it) - but this style is so often misinterpreted and maltreated that I am beginning to hesitate buying it, unless when coming from a trusted producer. Too bad, but the ambition is certainly there so I will not be too severe on this one - have a point for at least trying.