Quote:
Originally Posted by TimBone
Couple of things:
Shag was nice enough to send me a Surly Abrasive Ale in return for the Ghost. What a wonderful beer. Thinking about Abrasive and Ghost, it's amazing how smooth and tasty they can make the Double IPA's. Halfway through the Abrasive, I double checked to make sure it was a DIPA. Thanks, Shag! I'm happy to be able to say I've tasted Abrasive Ale.
Secondly, I'm in Houston tonight, I just had a bottle of Great Divide Barrel Aged Old Ruffian Barleywine. Maaaaaaaaaan....just a solid beer. I paid for a full bottle after already drinking a flight of other beers, and didn't expect to finish all of it, but I just couldn't put it down. I'm not usually a fan of barrel aged beers, but between that and Parish Brewing Barrel Aged Grand Reserve, I've had two delicious barrel aged barleywines in just a month's time.
I want to look into more barleywines, barrel aged or not. I've always liked the style, but have given it the backseat treatment, opting for IPA's and farmhouse ales. What are the top notch barleywines out there?
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Glad you enjoyed the Abrasive! It is amazing how smooth and easy drinking some of these DIPAs are - dangerous.
I love me a good BA barleywine, particularly if it's an English BW. Sucaba from Firestone Walker is my personal favorite, and probably a top 5 overall beer for me. FW Helldorado is also excellent. Mother of All Storms from Pelican is world class, and probably my #2. A local brewery called Steel Toe makes a BW called Lunker which is fantastic. And, of course, the Bourbon County variant. Unfortunately, none of these will be easily available to you (or me).
I'm sure you could find Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (regular or BA), which most people seem to like, but I'm not a huge fan of. I had a few year old Deschutes Mirror Mirror last year, which was delicious. Central Waters BA barleywine is very tasty. BA Behemoth from Three Floyds is great.
Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, but no idea the distro in your area.