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From: alan@mtxinu.UUCP (Alan Tobey)
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: Re: Barleywines?
Message-ID: <510@mtxinu.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 28-Jan-86 18:55:53 EST
Article-I.D.: mtxinu.510
Posted: Tue Jan 28 18:55:53 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 02:37:23 EST
References: <342@opus.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley, CA
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> 
> I was fortunate enough to get some Old Foghorn (Anchor) when they did it
> for the 50th anniv of repeal of Article 18.  I've heard that it's been
> available sporadically since then in CA--any truth to this?  
>
Old Foghorn will be brewed sporadically by Anchor, not just for special
events.  The most recent batch (mid-85) can still be found here and 
there in the Bay Area.

If you do get your hands on some, AGE IT!  Any cool dark place will do,
several years is appropriate.  Out here we're still nursing along our
last case of the first batch of Old Foghorn, brewed ain 1974 and bottled
in 1975!  Still full of astonishing flavors, not "fresh" anymore but
complex in the way a fine old brandy is.  The latest batch doesn't
seem as intense but will certainly improve over five years.

Anchor's annual Christmas Ale also ages well.  A recent vertical tasting
showed the 78 still alive, the 79 and 80 going flat, the 81 and 82 still
young, the 83 [first change to the current Brown Ale style] dull and
caramelly, the 84 wonderfully rich and hoppy, and the 85 still completely
unintegrated.  Experience shows that 2 years of age works wonders.

At the same tasting, Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale didn't show the
same consistent aging potential.  The 1982 (first year, I think) is still
monstrously hoppy, potentially in balance but needing time; 83 fairly bland;
84 balanced and nearly ready; and 85 like a younger 84.

Bottom line advice:  treat barleywines like WINE, not beer.  Give them 
time to develop a complexity that's much more interesting than the
initial potency and raw punch.