Barleywine Fest Buzz

A busy life prevented me from making it to the Lucky Lab's Barleywine Fest this year, but fortunately we have a couple reports. From John:

Several of the barleywines were available in two vintages: '06 and '07 Anchor; '06 and '07 Butte Creek Train Wreck; '04 and '05 S/N Bigfoot; andf '02 and '05 Old Yeller from the Lab. The oldest was a decade-old Old Tavern Rat from Lompoc that had no carbonation at all and was a symphony of all those great raisin/plum pudding/pipe tobacco flavorsand aromas of a well aged barleywine...and a little cardboard too, but so would you be oxidized a bit if you'd been in a keg since the Clinton administration...

And from It's Pub Night:

My very favorite beer of the day was Terminal Gravity's 2005 Barleywine. It was unmistakably a barleywine, plus an extra helping of floral hops. The hops were balanced with just the right amount of sweetness, and there was a good wallop of medicine in there too: 13.1% ABV. It was a beautiful thing.

John has photos, and Pub Night has lots more text. Thanks for picking up my slack, guys--