Alright here's my review of Skylord's homebrew:Appearance: Poured fairly viscously. Very dark amber color. Good clarity with the first pour, a little cloudier on the second. Typical barleywine-style head.Smell: Slight musk, EXTREMELY sweet smelling (oatmeal vs barley possibly?). Apple-raisin-spice mixture.Taste: Definitely fruity – more raisiny than anything. Can taste some malt undertones.Mouthfeel: Very smooth – little to no carbonation feel in this beer. Slighty oily, rolls well in the mouth.Drinkability: Smoothness and character lend to make this very drinkable, especially given its alcohol content (seems to be pretty strong for a barleywine-style). Definitely would have this again.Overall: Excellent beer. Other than the overly extreme smoothness, I think this has aged pretty darn well. My first oatmealwine, so take that into consideration as well. Good representative of the grain-wine field, but definitely sweeter than other barleywines I've had (mostly smell-wise).
Not sure where to go next; most of what I have chilled is in the stout range (anywhere from Obsidian to a Peche Mortel I picked up a couple of weeks ago). Will have to go check it out.
Sounds yummy. W/r/t the raising flavors, Skylord - was it a particularly long boil? I used to brew old ales a lot (big time George Gale Prize Old Ale fan) and went with a long boil to get some toffeish raisiny flavors going. Just curious more than anything else.
I went with about a 60% oatmeal to barley semi mash with a 60 min boil. The fermentation was so strong it blew the fermentation cap off, hit the ceiling and left a stain. It made one of the most unholy of messes I've ever dealt with. It fermented in the high 80F degrees so I knew it would be sweet. Sat in the secondary for about 3 months (hence its name......)As a homebrewer I've gone one for you if interested.Edited to add this was a 2002
Cool - definitely interested.
It's time to start brewing again. I have a few really good old ale recipes that I've been wanting to try, and the kids are both now in school so the time is now available. This September is the rebirth of Bakermania Ales.
Sounds like my buddy's first Imperial stout. Brewed it, IG = about 1.090, put it into the (plastic) fermenter, started chugging away, went to work, came home... lid was across the kitchen, airlock on the counter. Thing went off like a bomb. Like yours, stain on the ceiling... so he named it the only thing you CAN name an RIS when it explodes: Chernobyl.
I'm staring down a Lagunitas Imperial Red ale. One of Lagunitas's highest rated beers. Lets do this 
Still the best belching beer made - seriously, no other beer on the planet brings up the gas like Moosehead. Scientific undergraduate studies were performed at 223 Merrimac Street in Buffalo to prove this fact. Hell, the paper was even published in a student newspaper, which just goes to show.
So where's the count at now?
Fro's had a good night.
early off the blocks. will you be drinking in to the nite?
I didn't, but can't wait to see what they say.
