Howe Sound Brewing – 2015 Woolly Bugger Barley Wine

Howe Sound 2015 Wooly Bugger Barley Wine Review

Rating

3.9 out of 5
Appearance
4.2 out of 5
Aroma
4.4 out of 5
Flavour
4.6 out of 5
Palate

Total

4.3
4.3 out of 5

Overview

  • Brewery: Howe Sound Brewing Co.
  • Beer Style: Barley Wine
  • Pros:

    Quite smooth for being so fresh and extremely well balanced

  • Cons:

    Burnt flavour profile and the bomber bottle change was not an upgrade

  • Conclusion:

    A very smooth and well crafted BC Craft Barley Wine

Howe Sound 2015 Wooly Bugger Barley Wine Review Howe Sound Brewing – 2015 Woolly Bugger Barley Wine Review

The Howe Sound Brewing Company has switched things up slightly with their 2015 Wooly Bugger by moving up to a full size bomber bottle instead of their traditional 375ml of years past. This beer is 10.5% alcohol and comes in at 75 IBUS. Pouring the beer it appears lightly clouded and a fairly dark brown colour topped with a single finger of lacing head. From the Woolly Bugger comes an aroma of caramel, rich malt tones, light hop bitterness and a smooth-bite of booziness. The taste too is quite large and intense with a light carbonation factor. A big body, slight sweetness of caramel and a burnt characteristic is joined with a rich and complex malt characteristic, subtle yet bitter hop tones and a very warming booze note. The Woolly Bugger is not the most intense Barley Wine on the market and does have a bit of a sharpness to it along with a fairly burnt overall tone. The 2015 beer is great to have today, but will continue to improve as it ages over the next few years should you choose to cellar a bottle or two.

Alcohol – 10.5%
Size – 650ml
IBU – 75
howesound.com

 

Howe Sound 2015 Wooly Bugger Barley Wine Review Howe Sound 2015 Wooly Bugger Barley Wine Review

About Author

Dustan Sept

Dustan Sept is the founder of Beer Me BC. His passion for craft beer drove the creation of beermebc.com in 2012. To learn more about the beermebc.com editorial team visit beermebc.com/the-beer-me-bc-team/.

Comments

  1. Mike
    Mike 23 January, 2016, 10:35

    I always love this beer but the bomber bottles seem to have kety this beer a bit more harsh then years previous. This will age well but slower than the small bottles of the past. Sad part is they also made far less of it this year so less people get it overall.

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