Beer Styles: Barleywines and Imperials

It seems that we never run out of ales to talk about! Today's Ill-Gotten Booty Beer Styles post will focus on the high alcohol content beers.

Barelywine is a style of ale that is mainly known for it's high alcohol content, and usually has a sweet "wine-like" character and a quality described a "alcohol heat". They are typically aged, smoothing out the bitterness of the hops. I always feel like I'm sipping some fine whiskey when indulging in a barleywine. Other names have been used for this style over the years, including "old ale", "strong ale", and "stock ale". North Coast Brewery produces a high ABV ale called "Old Stock".

The color of a barleywine can vary quite a bit. Typically they are a caramel brown or mahogany, but never opaque. Occasionally they can be golden or amber. The color, as with most beers, has little to no effect on the taste or strength. IGB likes to have a barleywine in early Spring when the snows have ended, but you still get some cold days.

The adjective "imperial" derives from the British beer style "Imperial Russian Stout". Similar to how the original IPAs (India Pale Ales)  were higher ABV & IBU versions of the Pale Ale, Imperial Russian Stout was a higher ABV & IBU version of the popular Stout, itself an offspring of the Porter style. Several English breweries were doing a brisk business in Stouts and Porters in the Baltic region; according to legend the Czar was partial to a particularly rich brand of Stout and put in a special order. Due to its association with the imperial household, it became known as Imperial Russian Stout. The style was reborn during the 21st century craft beer renaissance with several breweries producing their own versions of the style. They tended to be rich and creamy, very hoppy, and at least 10% alcohol by volume. Gradually though, the adjective "imperial" came to be used to describe any style that had a higher than usual ABV. An Imperial IPA might be an IPA with 11% alcohol rather than the usual 7%. So anytime you see "imperial" these days, translate it to "more alcohol".  Other adjectives that do the same job are "double" and "extra".

Other high alcohol beers include Scottish Wee Heavy and Belgian Quadrupel, these will be explored in separate blog posts.