It's a 9.6% Barley Wine, aged for ninety days in an Irish Whiskey Oak Barrel. It looks like an English style Barley Wine, dark, almost opaque deep ruby in colour and the aroma is intense black fruits, plums and oak.
There is an obvious initial sweetness, tempered by the alcohol so it's never too cloying. On the tongue the light carbonation cuts through the heavy vanilla oak so the flavours don't get too much.
The complexity increases as the beer warms up, and the fruity flavours come to the fore. Blackcurrant, plums and the unmistakable sour cherries all play their part. The big vanilla oak remains, to be backed up by dark chocolate and rich toffee.
The sweetness and light carbonation lend themselves to a somewhat pleasant caramel mouthfeel, and that sourness tempts you to think of black treacle and maybe even the slightest hint of liquorice in the finish.
This is an excellent sipper, to be enjoyed of an autumn evening when the chills are just starting to settle in for the lengthening nights, the leaves are turning red and you can just start to smell smoke in the air.
Although this is a sweet beer, the sourness on the finish means it doesn't get too rich or syrupy, it is very easy to enjoy over a couple of hours or three.
I don't know if many, or any, bottles remain available, but I did think it was worth a review all the same. I enjoyed drinking this one over a Friday evening with a movie, easygoing and approachable, well done O'Hara's.
