Is this…barley wine??
Friday 19 January 2007
Ran into Pete Malfatti, beer distributor extraordinaire last night. He opened the trunk of his car and passed me over some Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball.
He says it’s a barley wine, Beeradvocate.com says it’s an American strong ale. I says it’s Friday and we’ll find out tonight!
why wait? Afterall its after noon! (did you get my cordarounds yet? I expected them to be mailed same day air)
yeah since when do you wait to drink mark? you certainly couldn’t wait til the end of practice…
I had a sample of the Hairy Eyeball last night at the Krown, and I found it out of style for a barleywine, too sweet. I’d call it and the Brown Shugga “sweet American strong ale” for want of a better category. Beer Advocate has them in the American strong ale category. Brown Shugga is sweeter, Hairy Eyeball is fruitier, both are too sweet for my usual taste though sometimes I am in the mood for the sugar bomb that is Brown Shugga.
OTOH, the Olde Gnarlywine, which is classed as an American barleywine, also seems too sweet to be an American barleywine. I prefer them to be more balanced with hops, like Bigfoot and Stone Old Guardian.