Barleywine

[jerryjg]

Surely this must be the most extreme beer? Ive yet to try a barleywine.
Lord!

[vance71975]

Surely this must be the most extreme beer? Ive yet to try a barleywine.
Lord!

Not even what i would consider an extreme beer, i think most define extreme as anything that falls way outside an established guideline or uses odd or off the wall ingredients such as Palm Sugar,Date Sugar,or the majority of the gravity comes from other than grain such as my Molasses ale that is posted in the recipes section under the title "i know im gonna get grief on this one lol" This is not to say that barley wines are not very strong they are, and some are very highly hopped, but it is a very old style of ale and not really considered extreme by most i don't think.But that is just my personal opinion and i could be way off.:D

[MootsLnbKing]

It is ure personal opinion and u are wrong barleywine is one of the most extreme beers.:eek: just kiddin but seriously barleywines are great beers and should definatly be discovered

[M.K. Jeeves]

If you can find it, Try Old Nicks barley wine from Youngs. I think this was one of the first available barley wines, and will stand the test of time, in my opinion.

[M.K. Jeeves]

I'm bumping this thread, I would hate to see it get buried in the shuffle.
The topic is barleywine what say ye, realbeerians?

[wortchillergoal]

I'm bumping this thread, I would hate to see it get buried in the shuffle.
The topic is barleywine what say ye, realbeerians?

Anchor Old Foghorn
Brooklyn Brewery Monster
Middle Ages Druid Fluid

[MootsLnbKing]

Berkshire Brewing: Holidale
Sierra Nevada: Bigfoot
Southern Tier: Backburner
All great beers:D

[mannye]

Reviving the thread and indeed the entire Extreme Beer area!

I am very interested both in Barleywine and Mead, the former really only IMO being a very strong beer, and the latter having a historical connection to the former.

I am just getting back into the hobby and am also venturing into the professional realm and my recipe experimentation will also include these two "ancient" forms of refreshment. Although mead is a different animal what with the aging, but perhaps a "light" bubbly version similar to Ethiopian honey wine might be interesting.

[The Alchemist]

I am not the biggest barleywine fan ,but now and then it has its place for me. There have become alot of extreme versions on this side of the pond which have pretty much opened the door for anything stylewise. I'll agree with a post from earlier. Young's Old Nick is still a good choice,although rather tame when compared to other choices out there.

[BrewDog]

Try some Thomas Hardy's Ale. Fantastic BW.

Meads can vary wildly in strength, sweetness and carbonation, in addition to composition.

check out www.gotmead.com for a lotof good info.

[The Alchemist]

Has anyone picked-up on making this classic again? I used to enjoy placing this and Samichlaus aside for a few years and then trying them.

[mannye]

I bet they age well! I will probably throw together a batch of this as soon as I get re-stocked. I also saw the the question on casks and thought it might be interesting to age half a 5 gallon batch in a small wooden cask.

Anyone know what would be the traditional wood to use? I'm in totally in new territory with this one, and I'll be doing plenty of research!

First though I just finished bringing down all my old equipment from the attic (believe me, an attic in Miami Beach gets very uncomfortable in the summer!) and will be dusting it off, seeing what I'm keeping, not, etc...

Once I get that done, I'll start with a few extracts to get back into the swing of things, then get back to the mash tun! :)

[beerking]

Reviving the thread and indeed the entire Extreme Beer area!

I am very interested both in Barleywine and Mead, the former really only IMO being a very strong beer, and the latter having a historical connection to the former.

I am just getting back into the hobby and am also venturing into the professional realm and my recipe experimentation will also include these two "ancient" forms of refreshment. Although mead is a different animal what with the aging, but perhaps a "light" bubbly version similar to Ethiopian honey wine might be interesting.

Careful! If you are thinking of doing mead commercially, our infinitely wise Federal Government defines mead to be a wine, therefore, you need a wine license to produce it. Problem is that it is illegal (Federally) to bring malt onto the grounds of a winery! That is why you don't see any meaderies making braggot. Breweries get away with it by keeping the honey percentage low enough (and malt percentage high enough) to still have the mead "qualify" as a beer. I'm not sure, but I think a brewery produced braggot must be at least 51% malt. In fact, I think ALL beer must be at least 51% malt. Thank God, or we would have Buttwiper with even MORE rice than it already contains!:eek:

[mannye]

Careful! If you are thinking of doing mead commercially, our infinitely wise Federal Government defines mead to be a wine, therefore, you need a wine license to produce it. Problem is that it is illegal (Federally) to bring malt onto the grounds of a winery! That is why you don't see any meaderies making braggot. Breweries get away with it by keeping the honey percentage low enough (and malt percentage high enough) to still have the mead "qualify" as a beer. I'm not sure, but I think a brewery produced braggot must be at least 51% malt. In fact, I think ALL beer must be at least 51% malt. Thank God, or we would have Buttwiper with even MORE rice than it already contains!:eek:


Ha ha Bud is practically sake as it is!

But no, I'm not thinking about producing mead or barleywine commercially, just that since I will be working on many many batches in the coming months, I figure I might indulge the "hobby" part of it with some mead and barleywine.

In fact, it's most likely that I will farm out the brewing to a bigger shop until I am in a position to invest in a turnkey operation. It's my understanding that Sam Adams started out this way as well as many other now well established "specialty beers".

[MDRex]

One of my favorite beers is Dogfish heads Olde School. It's a 15% ABV barleywine and very tasty. Great beer to sip over the course of a night.