India Barleywine - Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins

Being Kansas City based has its ups and down. While we get a lot of great Colorado craft beers, we aren't a big enough market to draw some of the more limited release beers those breweries produce. India Barleywine is one example brewed by Odell, a brewery who sent just about everything else out this way but for some reason didn't send this particular beer. I was lucky enough to receive a bottle of India Barleywine from the nice folks at Odell and am eager to give it a full review, so let's get to it shall we...

I was a little apprehensive about the India Barleywine at first, writing it off as a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot clone. I really disliked Bigfoot when I had it this winter, I thought it was entirely too hoppy to be called a Barleywine. I didn't see any point in making a Barleywine that hoppy, it seemed to defeat the purpose. Odell's India Barleywine was explained to me as a much more balance approach to a hopped up Barleywine. After popping this bottle open, I still have my reservations...

The aroma is definitely more IPA than Barleywine, it has that piney dish soap aroma to it that makes my tastebuds preemptively cringe. The body of this beer looks amazing, it is hazy and a nice orange copper color like a great Tripel. The top of my glass was completely covered in lacing from the foamy light tan colored head, another sign that this had some definite IPA genes in it.

The flavor of this beer is what made me a convert. Suddenly everything I'd heard about this beer made sense, those people weren't just pulling my leg... This beer is hoppy at first, quite hoppy but never over the top. The first sip I took was the most bitter because I didn't keep it on my tongue long enough. Letting this beer sink in allows the Barleywine to come through all the hops as your tastebuds adjust to all that hop flavor. Just to be clear, this isn't as hop as a big bottle IPA you'd get... it's just hoppier than most any Barleywine you'd get. The piney hops and sticky resin are a little abrasive at first but before it tastes bitter you start to notice hints of dark fruit, then a layer of caramel, followed by an abundance of malt. It took me a few sips to dial in all the flavors but it is well worth the trouble.

While I really like the India Barleywine, I'm not sure if I'd suggest it outright to someone who really likes Barleywines. There isn't a ton of that traditional Barleywine flavor here. It's more of an homage to that style by way of a big hop introduction. The combination of flavor is something I never would have thought of myself, but I'm glad I was able to experience.

In the interest of full disclosure, Odell Brewing Co. sent me this bottle of beer, the also gave me a T-shirt. You can read my other review on t-shirtadvocate.com, I gave it C+.