Straight to Ale/Yellowhammer/Blue Pants Liberation Barley-wine

The penultimate bottle from the big UncleJedi package.

Liberation Barley-wine Straight to Ale, Blue Pants, Yellowhammer. 9% ALC. VOL. English-style Barleywine Ale. A Series of 4 Limited Edition Beers. No. 1. Straight to Ale Brewing, Huntsville, Alabama.

Appearance: dark brown body, small, slimmed dark cocoa-tan head.

Aroma: malt-forward, but rather subdued. Some fruity notes down there. This nose is keeping it close to the vest.

Taste: Bigness, sweetness, malt and dark fruit. Just a hint of hops, and then along comes the booze. It's creeping up there, knocking on the door. Meanwhile, we're getting earthy tones, nutty notes, waves of caramel and cocoa. Not too big, not outsized in the least, and that's what's had me stroking my whiskers.

This doesn't fit the formula of barley-wines as I expect them, or desire them. But, what's wrong with that? It's it's own thing, more refined, and mellow.