Barley wine
Encyclopedia
Beer style
Beer style is a term used to differentiate and categorize beers by various factors such as colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin....
of strong ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
originating in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The first beer to be marketed as Barley Wine was Bass No. 1 Ale, around 1870. The term "barley wine" had been used before in other contexts, for example in translations of Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
's Anabasis
Anabasis (Xenophon)
Anabasis is the most famous work, in seven books, of the Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.- The account :Xenophon accompanied...
(although it may have referred to regular grape wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
with cooked barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
in it).
Characteristics
A barley wine typically reaches an alcoholEthanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
strength of 8 to 12% by volume and is brewed from specific gravities
Gravity (beer)
Gravity, in the context of fermenting alcoholic beverages, refers to the specific gravity, or relative density compared to water, of the wort or must at various stages in the fermentation. The concept is used in brewing and wine making industry...
as high as 1.120. It is called a barley wine because it can be as strong as wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
; but since it is made from grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
rather than fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, it is, in fact, a beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
.
Most barley wines range in colour from amber to deep reddish-browns, though until the introduction of Whitbread
Whitbread
Whitbread PLC is a global hotel, coffee shop and restaurant company headquartered in Dunstable, United Kingdom. Its largest division is Premier Inn, which is the largest hotel brand in the UK with around 580 hotels and over 40,000 rooms. Its Costa Coffee chain has around 1,600 stores across 25...
Gold Label in the 1950s, British barley wines were always dark in colour. All are rich and full-flavoured.
The Anchor Brewing Company
Anchor Brewing Company
Anchor Brewing Company is an American alcoholic beverage producer, operating a brewery and distillery on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, California. The brewery was founded in 1896 and was purchased by Frederick Louis Maytag III, in 1965, saving it from closure. It moved to its current location in...
introduced the style to the United States in 1976 with its Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale.
Writer Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson (writer)
Michael Jackson was an English writer and journalist. He was the author of several influential books about beer and whisky.-Life:...
referred to a barley wine by Smithwick's
Smithwick's
Smithwick's is an Irish red ale style beer from Kilkenny in Ireland. Smithwick's is listed in the top five best tasting beers by the McHale beer rating club of Ireland. As of Autumn 2010, Smithwicks continues to be brewed in Dundalk and Kilkenny but tankers are sent to Dublin to be kegged for the...
thus: "This is very distinctive, with an earthy hoppiness, a wineyness, lots of fruit and toffee flavours." He also noted that its original gravity is 1.062.
Martyn Cornell has been quoted as saying "no historically meaningful difference exists between barley wines and old ale
Old ale
Old ale is a term commonly applied to dark, malty beers in England, generally above 5% abv, also to dark ales of any strength in Australia. Sometimes associated with stock ale or, archaically, keeping ale, in which the beer is held at the brewery....
s." He later clarified, "I don’t believe there is actually any such meaningful style as 'barley wine'".
The highest strength Belgian beer 'Bush' has often been said to resemble a barley wine rather than more traditional Belgian styles.
Style statistics
- Original gravities: 1.080-1.120 (English & American Style)
- Alcohol: 8.0-12.0 percent
- Bitterness: 35-70 (English Style) & 50-120 (American Style) IBU (International Bitterness Units)
- Color: 8-22 (English Style) & 10-19 (American Style) SRM (Standard Reference Measure); 24-48 EBC (European Brewery ConventionEuropean Brewery ConventionEuropean Brewery Convention is an organisation of technical experts for European brewers and maltsters, and the scientific and technological branch of The Brewers of Europe....
)