From Anchor Steam’s site:
Brewed strictly according to traditional brewing methods, using only natural ingredients — water, malted barley, fresh whole hops, and yeast. Old Foghorn is based on traditional English barley wines. Old Foghorn is highly hopped, using only Cascade hops. It is fermented with a true top-fermenting ale yeast. Carbonation is produced by an entirely natural process called “bunging,” which produces champagne-like bubbles. Our “barleywine ale” is dry-hopped with additional Cascade hops while it ages in our cellars.
From my notes:
deep, rich, red color. Thick, darkish, head that quickly evaporates. This beer smells of fruit: citrus and maybe plums. Taste starts sweet and malty, then mellows into bitter. Would be excellent except for the subtle medicine/metallic tastes that this barley wine has.
I haven’t drank a lot of barley wines and I felt safe trying Anchor Brewery’s take on them for a first try. This was a decent beer with a nice mix of malt and hops. I’d being recommending it to you right now if it wasn’t for that medicine taste. The last thing anyone wants to taste when their downing a brew is Robitussin! Despite all this beer had going for it that ruined it. Maybe I got a bad batch, maybe there are other good barley wines out there? I just don’t know… If you happen to know of a good one though please recommend it below!
Rating (out of five):
I enjoy Stone’s Barley Wine. It’s not quite as hoppy as many of their other brews. Not even a hint of medicine.
I’m leery of trying Stone again. I’ve been burned before. But, I do want to try more barley wines… I’ll pick it up thanks for the recommendation Michael.