Last minute gathering for a Barleywine tasting. Dave, Sam, Megan and I did the judging. While Candice, Sam's girlfriend, was kind enough to do the pouring! I have really wanted to try alot of these beers so last night was great opportunity to do so. I set it up sort of a bracket style, and we sampled 4 barleywines at a time. We sampled 11 barleywines, probably a few bottles to many, as most of us were beat up a little at the end of the night and the next morning! Goose Island King Henry won by a landslide and in the final 4 got #1 votes by all 4 judges!! #2 and #3 were very close with Dry Dock Bligh's Barleywine and Pelican MOAS taking those spots; #4 2011 Firestone Walker Abacus; #5 and #6 were 2012 FW Sucaba and Troegs Flying Mouflan. Other barleywines in the mix: Three Floyd's Behemoth (which is a blonde barleywine, lower in alcohol and more hops; very good but not really a fair comparison to the others in this category), Hebrew 15:15 (good, maybe a little hot/sweet; needs some age), Schlafly Reserve 2010, Duck Rabbit and a 2007 Stone Old Guardian which was a bit of a disappointment. Good times, would love to do another blind tasting sometime but good on barleywines for awhile unless there is half the amount of bottles. Nice hair Megan!!
First time doing a blind tasting and it was awesome. Can't wait to do it again. Thanks honey - I do look like a troll.
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