576. Broadway Brewery – Barleywine

Posted By kkozlen on Jun 1, 2013 | 0 comments

Today was supposed to be the day of my alumni golf tournament in Columbia, Missouri, but the golf course was closed due to all of the rain recently. So, my friends Bill, Tom, and I had a great brunch at a Mexican place in town, went out and shot Tom’s pistol at a shooting range, and then stopped at the famous Shakespeare’s Pizza for dinner. After that, we headed to Broadway Brewery so I could try a few more local craft beers.

Location: On tap and served in a 6oz snifter glass at Broadway Brewery in Columbia, MO.

Numbers: No numbers posted, so I’m guessing: ~8% ABV, ~ 300 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s dark brown in color and fairly hazy/cloudy. It started with a thick off-white head on it, but the head fell pretty quickly to just a ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass, and there didn’t seem to be that much carbonation captured in the beer. The aroma was a sweet caramel maltiness with hints of toastiness.

Taste & Feel: The body was full, and the mouthfeel was smooth, due to the light carbonation in the beer. The flavors up front were big, sweet, and caramelly. In the middle, some breadiness came in, but it quickly became yeasy and plastic-cardboardy. In the finish, the yeast and plastic-cardboard flavors came through more with a decent amount of earthy hop bitterness. The caramel maltiness was joined by some of the cardboard flavors in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This beer had a mix of flavors that wasn’t very pleasant. With the sweet caramel, yeast, and cardboard flavors, I’d pair this with something hearty that could help pull away from these flavors. I’d go with something like a steak, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t recommend this beer, let alone a meal to pair with it.

Overall Impression: I’ve been to this brewery a few times on previous visits, having had decent experiences with their Pale Ale and their Nut Brown Ale. Unfortunately, this was very much a disappointment. It looked and smelled like a barleywine, and even tasted like it for a second, but the horrible plastic-cardboard flavor made me not want to finish it. I don’t recommend wasting your money on this one.

My Rating: