Beer Review: Legend Brewing Co Barleywine 2009
Posted by Edmond | Beer, Beer Review, General | Posted on November 14th, 2009
Folks, literally hot off the bottling line, Legend’s Barleywine. 
This is a powerful one. Seriously, I haven’t looked at the past two years I have aging but I think this might be a little higher. So let me get into the review of this year’s beer.
Pouring this beer and I immediately take notice of the head produced by the pour. It is nearly one finger’s worth and an off white color. There are small bubbles in the head and no lace. The color is a deep amber color with some chill haze. There is active carbonation which I would expect from an unfiltered beer. My first taste and I get a floral hoppy character mixed with a yeasty malt back bone. As I drink a little more and the beer gets a little warmer the floral character really becomes a piney resin like quality. The mouth feel has a very hot liquor bite to it. Big beers like this with this kind of bite really age well. Over all I really enjoyed this years barelywine. I am definitely going to save a bottle for a few years to see how this ages. Be sure to hit your local wine/beer shop for yours today or head over to Legend’s Brewpub for some of this on tap.
15.3% ABV
I tried a sample and found the “hot liquor bite” too much for me but the rest of your review is spot on. On Halloween I ran into one of the brewers and he said that at a minimum it needs to age a few months. So I’ll probably buy a bottle and put it down in the basement.
I tend to actually like the hot liquor bite. Let’s know I got something serious going on. It also is a great indicator that I can put a bottle away for a few years and should really be in for a treat. In fact next year I plan to take out my 2007 bottle and sample that along side the 2010 bottle.