New Brew sampling - Barleywine

Today I tried one of the promising new brews.  At 3.75 months from brew day and 1 month from bottling day, this English Style Barleywine is still quite young.  Nice aroma, descent color, a little nutty in flavor, complex, with a decent amount of bitterness.  It's high in alcohol, but you may not realize it...at first anyway.  The hops will subside and as the flavors mature it will come together to be something excellent!  It will require some additional time to come into it's true greatness.

A Barleywine needs to have a good name, and the other night I had an epiphany, of sorts.  There is not another one like it.  Presenting, Anal Retentive Dishrag.

Anal Retentive Dishrag

It was brewed in a classic English style, with specialty English malts, UK hops, and Whitbread Ale yeast.  Watch-out upcoming BJCP brewing competitions!

OG 1.088
FG 1.018
IBUs 74*
ABV  9.9%

Brewed 02-03-13
Bottled 04-21-13

And of course there is a story behind the name.  Only a few know of the true origin of this unique name, and sadly, I don't get to see most of them nearly enough.



*Calculated at 105, with a 30% reduction due to hop sacks, results in this amount.  Too high for BJCP style either way, but with age, the bitterness will subside.  Brew it strong and let is work it's way out, right?