Schooner's Grille & Brewery Barley Wine - March 2005
After missing last year, I was delighted to return to San Francisco in February for the annual Barleywine Festival at the landmark Haight Street bar, the Toronado. And as I always do when I make that trip, I offered my palate for the official judging on Saturday.
These panels are always fascinating to me, as five or six fine barleywines are put forward and a group of individuals of diverse backgrounds and tastes are handed the task of determining which one is best. This year, I was given the enviable task of sitting on the final panel, along with seven other worthy adjudicators.
After nosing and tasting the five finalists, I knew immediately which one I thought merited the gold, and equally understood that it would be a hard beer to fight for. Crafted more in the British barleywine style than the American one, it was neither intensely hoppy nor over-the-top rich and alcoholic. In fact, rather than having any specific quality that stood out, its point of greatest merit was the way all its disparate elements blended and balanced beautifully into a relatively restrained, elegant whole. If you've ever judged barleywines in northern California, or even talked about beer with someone living north of San Luis Obispo, you'll understand me when I say that this was going to be one tough sell.
Nevertheless, the 2002 Casked Barley Wine from Schooner's Grille & Brewery of Antioch, California, held on and won the day with its enticingly herbal and fruity aroma, wonderfully malty and balanced body, and gently warming finish. Not a huge beer by any means, but one that I would be thrilled to have in my glass on a snowy winter's night, and a more than creditable recipient of my nod as TOTM for March.
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