Schell's Stag Series #7: Barley-wine

Schell's Stag Series Limited Release No. 7: Barleywine Style Ale. Brewed and bottled by the August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, MN.

Clear and lovely, magenta hue, slim ring of creamy foam.

Aroma: malt forward, with fruit notes of cherry, grape, apple.

Taste: Plump in the mouth, bursting with hops, packed to the gills with malt. Nice, wood-y texture in the mouthfeel. Full-bodied, unrelenting flavor. Rich, strong (though ABV is nowhere on the label), and satisfying.

This falls a little short of what I like from a barley-wine, it isn't big, beefy or bold enough. But it's close, and it's a great first stab at the style for Schell's. Tasty stuff.

Here's what the label tells us: "For Stag Series #7, two separate mashes of over 6,000 pounds of malt and 150 pounds of hops to brew this intensely malty and assertively hopped American Barleywine Style Ale."