Green Flash Barleywine Style Ale

Brewed By: Green Flash Brewing Co. in San Diego, California

Purchased: 22oz bomber from Binny's in Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Barleywine, 10.9%

Reported IBUs: 85

It's raining out, with temps between 40 and 50. That might not sound impressive, but it is for the Chicagoland area, especially in January. By tomorrow evening, it's supposed to be back into single digits with a windchill of -4. Today feels like Spring, and tomorrow will feel like Winter. So to embrace this little window of warm weather, I feel compelled to drink a hoppy, West Coast beer. About Green Flash:

Green Flash Brewing has only been around since 2002 and only puts out about 14,000 barrels annually, but they seem to be on the rise. Based out of San Diego, California, Green Flash Brewing Co. was founded by Mike and Lisa Hinkley in 2002 (in Vista, California). The company brews big beers, and focuses on premium styles and traditional styles with modern twists. The company describes their beer as "cutting edge." Since its inception, Green Flash has won a number of awards for their beers, and has already carved an impressive mark in the world of craft beer. For more info, check out their website HERE.

I haven't circlejerked enough about how much I love Green Flash, so I'll say a quick word: I love this brewery. These guys make some really good beer. If you check out Green Flash's beer page, you can get a brief description of their Barleywine Style Ale. This is a giant, hoppy Barleywine, clocking in at 10.9% ABV and pushing 85 IBUs. This beer utilizes a four hour boil to bring out intense caramel malt sweetness, and giant Pacific Northwest hops. When consumed fresh, this beer should feature big toffee and citrus. This beer is also a prime candidate for aging, and should mellow nicely with time. Let's glass this up.

Green Flash Barleywine Style Ale

This one pours a gorgeous amber-red color in low light, with a slightly hazy body, and two fingers of gorgeous amber/tangerine-colored head. I'm already seeing some nice, sticky, clingy lacing, and there are some nice alcohol legs on the side of the glass. At 10.9% AB, I'm impressed with the fat bubbles hanging around the surface, and swirling this kicks up a finger's worth of head. In bright light, the beer takes on a lovely reddish/orange color. You can see lazy, mid-sized bubbles rising up. This beer appears to be slightly hazy. It's a nice looking beer...

...and that aroma. Oh man. This is such a bright and vibrant beer, with sticky and resinous citrus jumping off the nose. I'm getting big pine sap, orange, grapefruit, white grapefruit, tangerine, tropical fruits, floral, and mild hop spice. There's also a big underlying caramel and toffee aroma, with molasses, huge plums, and hints of golden raisins and white/purple grapes. At 10.9%, I'm not really getting booze on the nose.

As far as Barlewines go, this one is bold and assertive. You get a lot of hop kick in this, with big resinous pine and citrus filling in mid-palate. Up front is some big caramel and toffee, and the caramel and toffee remain supportive throughout. The back end features resinous, teeth-crushing bitterness, but it's layered with boozy complexity: plums, raisins, and grapes. There's also a dash of biscuity bread in the back. As the bitterness builds, so does the 10.9%, as I can feel the boozy warming in my chest. I'm getting some grass, big citrus hops, grapefruit, caramel, toffee, biscuit, grapes, raisins, plums, and complex alcohol.  

Fantastico. This beer brings it...this is bold, assertive, features great palate depth, and moderate to high complexity for the style. This is medium-full to full in terms of the mouthfeel, with smooth/creamy carbonation up front, and chewy hops in the back. From smooth, to resinous hop cone in my mouth...the back end is sticky and dry, and maybe a touch woody. It beckons for another sip. And you get some nice warming with the bitterness. Up front is a blast of initial bitterness, and then sweetness: caramel, grapes, plums, sugary citrus; mid palate is more caramel and toffee, with some grassy hops, citrus hops, hints of tropical hops, and burgeoning hop bitterness; the back end is ridiculously resinous, with hints of pine, grape, raisins, booze...and dat finish.

Rating: Divine Brew

Me gusta un Light Divine Brew. At 10.9% ABV, this is a touch too drinkable, in my opinion. Or maybe I'm just an alcoholic... I'm not prepared to call this hop-forward, because I don't think it is. I think this beer is balanced (for the style), it just happens to have a ton of hops. There's also big and complex malt sweetness supporting this beer...and this one should age nicely. But I don't know. I kind of like this one fresh. Full disclaimer: I like this one so much I picked it up twice. I now have something to look forward to every year. I like to sip on my Barleywines over a basketball or football game, but the huge flavors in this would pair well with spicy foods, wings, burgers, whatever...really. And this shit is a bargain. I think a bottle of this was like 6 or 7 bucks. Seriously, buy 3 or 4 of these. Drink a couple fresh, throw one in the cellar for a rainy day.

Random Thought: A rainy day...also, what the hell is going on with Manti Te'o? He has to have been in on it from day one, right? On an unrelated note, I watched Taken 2 this weekend. It was every bit as bad as I expected it to be, but it was also hilarious and cheesy. If you do watch Taken 2...turn it into a drinking game. Take a shot for every forced one-liner that Liam Neeson does, or take a shot every time he kills somebody. You'll thank me later.