In the pantheon of British beers, no beer style is more potent or decadent than a barleywine. While the tradition of brewing strong beers with the finest ingredients of the fall harvest goes back centuries, it was only toward the end of the 19th century that the term barleywine came into vogue, originally associated with Bass #1. Due in large part to a shift toward weaker beers in the UK, barleywines had all but disappeared by the 1960’s when Eldridge and Pope released the now famous Thomas Hardy’s Ale in 1968. A decade or so later pioneering American craft breweries like Anchor and Sierra Nevada did their part to reintroduce drinkers to this shockingly intense style. In this episode, we revisit this history while enjoying some iconic barleywines with Angelo Signorino, Barley’s brewmaster extraordinaire, and Sandy Hugill, a certified cicerone and beer judge who recently moved from Thunderwing Brewing to UnTapped. We will compare the English and American versions of the style. Explore the effects of barrel aging with three different variants of J.W. Lees Harvest Ale. Investigate the nebulous distinction between imperial IPA and American barleywine, and jump in the wayback machine with a bottle of Anchor’s Old Foghorn from the 1990s.
Don’t forget you can find this episode and earlier ones on our podcast page, as well as Apple Music, Podbean, Spotify, Stitcher, and various other podcast apps. Just search for the All Things Beer podcast, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or a rating.
Beers Reviewed
- Manifest Barleywine – Barley’s Brewing
- Thomas Hardy’s Ale, Golden Edition, 50th Anniversary
- 2022 Harvest Ale – J. W. Lees
- 2022 Harvest Ale aged in Lagavulin Whisky Casks – J. W. Lees
- 2018 Harvest Ale aged in Calvados Casks – J. W. Lees
- Old Foghorn – Anchor Brewing
- 2024 Bigfoot Ale – Sierra Nevada Brewing
- 2004 Bigfoot Ale – Sierra Nevada Brewing
- 120 Minute IPA aged in Utopias Barrels – Dogfish Head
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