The Beer Report: Bravo for Barley Wines
Each week, I get a chance to talk about beer for about a minute on Saturday mornings on FM 101 in Portland. Here’s this week’s topic:
On these dark winter nights, don’t you want to snuggle up with something warm and strong? I know I do! And no beer is better designed for snuggling with than barley wine! Among the strongest of beers — both in flavor and in alcohol — barley wine just begs to be sipped slowly — shared and savored.
Barley wines are just what their name implies: wine-strength sippers made from grains instead of grapes. Typically, most craft beers range in alcohol by volume from 4 percent to upwards of 8 or 9 percent ABV, but barley wines often start at that amount and can soar higher than 15 percent. Their high alcohol and rich, complex flavors make barley wines a perfect beer to sipped during the winter months, often revealing different nuances in the nose and on the palate as the liquid warms in the glass.
Barley wines can be cellared and aged much like a fine fruit-based wine. In fact, many barley wines are brewed with the expectation that they will be laid down. With time, the flavors begin to marry, and the components become more complementary and rounded. It’s a fun, longstanding tradition to enjoy several “vintages” of a favorite barley wine in a vertical tasting much like those enjoyed with fruit wines.
Many of our local and regional breweries release barley wines this time of year. And we will be talking more about barley wines today on Beer O’clock — the show for people who love great beer.
You can hear the report right here:
Posted by Lisa Morrison on January 14, 2012
Comments
Noah said on Sunday, January 15, 2012:
I Love barley wines! my boss actually got me into them, and ever since them, i always pick up a few during my outings… and your photo made me a little sad, last weekend i had finished my last bigfoot barley wine.