This edition of The Session is sponsored by The Brew Site

How vividly I remember my first barley wine.

The year: 1994 and I was just learning about craft beer. It was one of those cryogenic Rochester winter nights where the wind is blowing with such force it seems to be snowing sideways. Entering the bar from such a hostile environment, it seemed a good idea to order something warming. Anchor Old Foghorn looked just the thing.

The next morning, as hammers pounded against my eyes from the inside, my friends recounted all the hilarious things I’d said and done. For casual readers, barley wine is a paleish ale fermented to the maximum ability of the yeast. And thus an important lesson about barleywine was learned. it is strong.

It is also delicious. The concentrated strength of the liquor coaxes astounding flavors out of the grain. Left to mellow for a bit, the hops on a good barley wine lose their caustic bitter bite in the finish, drying out the palate after the sweet rush of malt, and the whole thing is rounded out by the alcohol’s warmth.

Brewing a great barley wine takes a considerable amount of skill. The brewer is operating at the limits of what the ingredients will do, and he or she must be able to coax every bit of alcohol out of exhausted yeast, and must balance the flavor of that alcohol and malt sugar with a powerful dose of hops. Since all the components of barley wine are so large and obtrusive, the brew needs time, months to a couple of years, to meld its flavors together and dull the edge a bit.

Our current favorite is Rohrbach 15th Anniversary Barley wine, a modified version of the recipe Bruce used to win the bronze in this category at the 2000 Great American Beer Festival. Unfortunately for the vast majority of the world, it’s only available in Rochester, New York.

But hey, a great brew is worth the trip.

- Mark