Rather than run away from crystal malt, Kyle Harrop of Horus Aged Ales in Oceanside, California, embraces it fully with this deviant barleywine-strength ale.
Barleywines and wheatwines explore the boldest flavor frontiers of their respective grains. Now, daring brewers are applying that maximalist approach to wine-strength beers brewed with millet, rye-wheat hybrids, smoked malts, and more.
Give those barrels plenty of time before tasting, says New Image founder Brandon Capps, and be open to new possibilities when tasting different components for blending.
When it’s time to pull nails and evaluate components for blending, New Image’s Brandon Capps recommends including tasters who are less familiar with the style, while also ensuring that tasting happens blindly and individually.
Brandon Capps, founder of Colorado’s New Image Brewing, explains how they use a Madeira-inspired “estufagem” process to intentionally give barleywine a head start in the aging process.
From selecting malts with intention to deploying Madeira-inspired macro-oxidation, finishing on different woods, and blending to taste, New Image founder Brandon Capps outlines a technical approach to crafting characterful barrel-aged barleywines.
“Paragon is our barrel-aged barleywine produced like a vintage,” says Mike Murphy, brewmaster at Lervig Aktiebryggeri in Stavanger, Norway. “Every year is the same but slightly different due to blending, subtle differences, and other variables. We stick to the same base recipe, and the yeast [and] aging do the rest.”
An American brewer in Norway inspired by English flavors is producing some of Europe’s most sought-after barleywine, with a new blended vintage appearing once a year. Here, brewmaster Mike Murphy explains the philosophy behind Paragon and offers practical tips for brewing your own.
From Obelisk Beer of Astoria, Oregon, comes this prototype homebrew-scale recipe for a black barleywine that combines flavorful aspects of both barleywine and stout.
Brewers may not agree yet on what makes a great black barleywine tick, but this chimeric new “bipartisan drink” is adding some much-needed allure and interest to a style that’s been falling out of favor.