The beer is clean. You know us Americans, we are obsessed with clear beer. What I am surprised about is that the bottom of the bottle has absolutely no sediment in it. I find this rather strange for a "barley wine," with bottle-conditioning and all. Either way, it's definitely filtered; quite honestly, I do not necessarily know how I feel about it. I suppose it does not matter too much, but I just don't like the idea of filtering something like a barley wine. Oh well. The head leaves almost no retention around the glass as it drops away.
The aroma is quite plain to be honest. I smell malts, some citrusy fruit notes, and toffee. That's all I get. I don't particularly smell any sort of toasted oak, but perhaps it'll come across in the flavor of the brew.
Wow. This guy packs a punch! The flavor actually surprised me because of the beer's lack of aroma. I get a huge grapefruit on the front, almost like a glass of ruby red. Then I do, in fact, get some oak mixed with a lot of alcohol. The grapefruit flavor is, for me, the strongest and most apparent in the brew. It is quite complex in flavors, but the finish is even bitter with undeniably lingering grapefruit notes. Sometimes when there are just a hodgepodge of ingredients, they can cancel each other out and only a small number of them are actually noticeable. I think this is one of those beers. It's not bad in any sense of the word, but it's also very boozy. Is it balanced? I would say so. Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely, especially if you like bitter citrus. Would I buy it again? Probably not, but never say never. Let's not forget the fact that it's a blonde barley wine and just that alone takes talent to produce. When I really think about it, hats off to Sam Adams for brewing some beers that are more complex than a basic lager or porter. If you can find it, give it a shot. At 11.5% ABV, it's worth the $6.00 you'll spend on it. I'm going to grab the other three and compare them all. Cheers.
