I feel like I’m just supposed to automatically like this beer. Super intense hops, crazy malt, and an ABV to 
sterilize most minor cuts and scrapes. But I just can’t get into it. Which troubles me, since everyone on Beer Advocate gushes about this one. Sometimes I wonder if reviews on BA suffer from the snowball effect…the first posters set the tone for all the rest, and you end up with a pretty consistent (and potentially inaccurate) number of “A” or “B” ratings throughout.
Purchased in a 750 ml bottle bearing a 2008 born-on date, so maybe too green to truly appreciate. I know many people cellar these, which is what I probably should have done. Pours with just about zero head, which is to be expected with an 11.5% ABV. Very rich mahogany coloring.
I almost can’t begin to describe what comes through in the nose. First its the hops. 120 IBUs worth of hops. Enought to put tears in your eyes. Very piney. Then it’s a burning solvent scent. The alcohol is very present. If you dig a little deeper, you start to get a combination of sweet scents, maybe toffee. When you swirl the beer around in the glass, it looks like viscous, melted caramel sloshing around.
As expected, the taste is extremely bitter, which I can deal with. But it’s also a bit like cough syrup. Maraschino cherries. Ironically, on a couple occasions it irritated my throat and forced me to cough. The taste (and the aroma, for that matter) reminds me of an Imperial Stout I made last winter. Nobody really cared for it, including me. It was like drinking straight malt extract.
Overall, I think what turns me off is that this beer is just too intense in every respect. It took me nearly six innings of the Twins game to finish one glass. And not because I was trying to savor it. I’d like to say it’s not balanced, like pushing all the bass and treble levels to high on your equalizer. But I think it actually is. It’s just that every element of this beer is there in its maximum capacity. Too much going on, even for a guy that likes complex beers.
I’m trying to take a step back and separate my personal reaction from how this beer stands up stylistically. So, I’m not going to destroy it, but I’m not going to recommend it.
Rating: B- (with the caveat that this is probably a very good barleywine)
September 25, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Three things:
1. I’m a bit happy you didn’t love this beer because I’ve been searching for it for so long. Now I’m less intrigued. Having said that, barleywine is probably my favorite beer style so I’ll probably like it more than you.
2. All the depicted Crustacean bottles online look like typical Rogue offerings with the glass “caricature” painting on the side. This looks ceramic or something. And corked. Was it a special release?
3. Totally agree with you about BA “snowball effect.” One of my favorite things to notice is when one poster (or even worse the Allstrom Bros.) comment on a flavor or taste that simply is NOT in the beer, and then all the following reviewers claim to have tasted that nonexistent taste as well. I’m gonna start claiming I taste stuff like lox and watermelon and cinnamon in beers and see how many people “me too” me. Like old-timey map makers that included fake towns to catch plagiarizers.
That’s a good idea for a blog post actually. One of us should write it up.
September 25, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I can send it to you. But I did really struggle with how I felt about this one. I get that most people who like barleywines (like yourself) would likely really appreciate it. But it just didn’t do it for me. I think I’m too into Belgians, and this doesn’t have enough of that distinctive yeasty quality for my taste.
This one did come in a nice ceramic bottle with a rubber gasket cap and metal clamp for easy storage (I had the one glass, and put the bomber back in the fridge for another time…I’m secretly hoping the oxygen ruins it so I don’t have to finish the bottle). This was the only Rogue in the store that didn’t have that typical caricature.
September 25, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Oh, and not to rip on the Allstrom Bros., but some of their reviews are so ridiculously inaccessible I sometimes laugh. There’s a difference between being descriptive, and being too clever for your own good.
September 30, 2008 at 8:47 pm
[...] an epiphany about my beer preferences. I’d much rather do with lots of hops, than lots of sweet, sticky malt. Don’t get me wrong, I love most Imperial Stouts and Quads. But hops just do something [...]
October 30, 2008 at 4:59 pm
[...] caught my eye…their Winter Warlock English Barleywine. My last experience with a barleywine, Rogue’s Old Crustacean, left a little to be desired, so I’m hoping this one turns out better. They’re also [...]
November 3, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Don’t know if you noticed on my twitter feed, but I finally had this one on tap and disliked it immensely. I was too turned off to even take notes and review it!
November 3, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I shudder thinking back to my experience. I had one glass and let the rest of it go flat. Pretty horrible. I need a good barleywine to get me back on track with the style.
November 3, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Also had the Lagunitas Gnarlywine (review coming soon) and Anchor Steam Foghorn barley wines over the weekend. Both outstanding. Oh, and your Old Guardian will be there soon! The best barley wine in the biz!
November 9, 2008 at 11:08 pm
[...] may recall my last experience with a barleywine, Rogue’s Old Crustacean. Pure, cloying swill. I gave it a B minus because it was the first of its kind I’d had, and [...]
March 26, 2009 at 1:18 pm
[...] Guardian (basically my all-time favorite beer), but yet not nearly as horribly sweet and cloying as Rogue Old Crustacean. I’d definitely try this one again, and plan to age the three other bottles I still have in [...]
February 12, 2010 at 9:51 pm
I will be sharing this beer next week with a few friends. Each month one of us brings a specialty beer to the office and we split it after work and BS about it with each other just for fun. I read the BA reviews about this barleywine, but after reading the reviews here I am curious as to what my friends and I will think of the beer. Wish us luck. Slainte.
February 12, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Jason, it’s been some time since I tried this beer, so my palate may have shifted a little. But if you’re into exploring barleywines, you couldn’t do much better than finding a bottle of Stone Old Guardian. One of my favorite beers of all time.