Hog Heaven Barley Wine

The first time I tried a barley wine beer was a few months ago at work.  We were part of a beer crawl and one of the kegs that we were featuring was a limited barrel of barley wine.  This thing came in at a whopping 13%-14% abv.  I'm not certain that the alcohol content had something to do with this style of beer quickly becoming my favorite but I enjoyed it considerably.

  

Well, since that day, I have made it a point to try other barley wines and sure enough, I'm a huge fan.  We no longer carry a barley wine on tap but we do offer one that is bottled.  This one is from Avery Brewing Company in Colorado.  It's not as high in alcohol (9.2%) as the others I have tried but it is delicious nonetheless.  The characteristics that I found in this particular beer were: a beautiful copper tone with a thick malty head.  It was full flavored with raisin, cherry and plum undertones.  It had balanced hops, low carbonation and a caramel finish.  I'm no beer cicerone, but for whatever it is worth, these were a few things that I experienced with this brew.