Session #12 - Barleywine

I have said I was going to do one of these for about 6 months now and things kept getting in the way, but I am going to do it this time for a few reasons. I have a barleywine of my own on tap that is a little over a year old that I would like to start comparing it to some commercial versions and see where I need to go. Another reason is that this is a great style for this time of year and a great beer to just sip on right now. I have also been holding out on cracking the bottles of 2006 and 2007 Bigfoots to do a vertical tasting.

So there you go, these are my reasons for doing this. Here is the deal, beer bloggers do this the first Friday of every month. One blogger decides on the style and then the other bloggers report their experiences, knowledge, antcedotes, etc., about said beer back to the host of this months session.

This months session is hosted by The Brew Site, a really great beer blog I have been following for awhile and someone that has helped me a little here and there. Here is what he had to say about this months session.

Whether you spell it "barley wine" (conventional) or "barleywine" (my preference), this is definitely the season for it. It's a style with a wide range of interpretations and possibilities, so I want to leave this Session open for the same: whether it's a tasting review, or a food pairing, or an experience, or a (homebrew) recipe—it's wide open, and I can't wait to see what people come up with.

You can check out his posts on this subject directly here and here. If you would like to add your own post on here shoot me an email or if you have direct access, post away. It will be February 1st, so get to planning and tasting.

Now if I can just get my hands on some Upstream Barleywine I will be set.