Samuel Adams Griffin's Bow Oaked Blonde Barleywine Ale

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts 
Purchased: 22oz bottle from Sam Adam's Small Batch Collection "gift set" [Batch No. 3]; 2012
Style/ABV: American Barleywine, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: 45

Wrapping up the Sam Adam's Small Batch Collection gift set, I'm hoping I saved the best for last. To recap: the Norse Legend Sahti was not so great, The Vixen was on point, and the Merry Mischief was a beer I will seek out again. Actually, the Merry Mischief merits a revisit on the basis that I almost bumped it to a Divine Brew. Tonight's beer is a big 'ol Barleywine, aged with toasted oak. How could this go wrong? About Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently the Boston Beer Company is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. Sam Adams is also the largest craft brewer in America, with over a million barrels of beer being produced annually. You can check out the Sam Adam's website for more info.

The Griffin's Bow has a lot going on. This beer uses pale malts as a base, to give the beer deep golden tones, and create flavors like coconut, pineapple, and burnt sugar. This beer is also aged with toasted oak that gives the beer flavors of wood, and hints of vanilla. And lastly, this beer uses those crazy Nelson Sauvin hops to add some citrus and grapefruit. All in all, clocking in at 10.0% ABV, and packing 45 IBUs, this beer is brewed with pale and "caramalt" malts, Nelson Sauvin and Zeus hops, ale yeast, and oak chips. I believe Zeus is pungent, pleasant, and lemony. With that said, into the glass and into my belly...

Samuel Adams Griffin's Bow

This one is quite the looker on the pour, starting out with a really nice golden color that quickly turns into a golden-bronze-orange beer as it fills the glass. This one poured with three finger's worth of golden-hued, foamy, IPA-like head. As the head pulls away, there is some epic lacing. In bright light, this beer takes on a golden/orange color, and has a nice transparent body. You can see some scattered carbonation in the form of small to mid-sized bubbles. The head still has some gold/orange in bright light, and a pinky's worth is sustaining nicely. Overall, this is an impressive looking beer.

You really get the Nelson Sauvin and Zeus hops in this....I have a bottle of this aging away, so that will be interesting down the road. I'm getting a lot of lemon, wood, grapes, passionfruit, grass, some pineapple, some grapefruit, and a fuckton of resinous, sugary sweetness. There's a touch of toffee, molasses, and burnt sugar. There's a really subtle hint of oak sweetness that comes and goes with the sugars when you swirl the beer in your glass.

Wowza, this one is surprisingly full-bodied and dense. I'm getting a ton of sugary sweetness up front, with toffee, burnt sugars, and caramel. I'm also tasting subtle oak, wood, and lots of zesty pineapple dances around throughout. This is a nice application of the Nelson Sauvin and Zeus hops, with dusty/oxidized lemon, hints of hops spice, resinous grapefruit, pineapple, and some more burnt sugar, caramel, and wood on the finish. The oak is very, very subtle. The hop bitterness is not aggressive at all, and the 10.0% is unnoticeable. On an added note...I'm not getting a ton of coconut in this. Nice.

This is initially dense, but sort of waters out a bit mid palate. If not for that fact...this beer would go places. I guess it still is, because it has really nice complexity, it hides the alcohol well, and yeah. The mouthfeel is full-bodied, but finishes a bit more thin. The finish is dry, but not uber dry, with dust, resinous hops, and bready malts. So the only caveat is palate depth...up front is sweetness, hints of oak, wood, and burgeoning hops; the middle is nice fruity hops, more oak, lots of sugars, coconut; the back is oak, coconut, sugars, and the finish I just described.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Lite Above-Average on this, which all things considered, might be too generous. After all, the Barleywine style is loaded with great beers. But I really enjoy the zesty lemon, pineapple, and bright sugary flavors that manifest as coconut in this beer. Also, the price is an outright steel at around 7 bucks a bottle. And...I'm curious to see what this tastes like in two or three years. I would pair this beer with citrus/lemon desserts, a burger, grilled food (grilled ribs...mmmm), fried chicken, or wings. Pretty solid stuff. Good job Sam Adams.

Random Thought: Good luck with the blizzard east coast....hope everyone stocked their bunker with lots of tasty beer.