Barleywine is a great and sometimes misunderstood style of beer. HP Lovecraft is a great and sometimes misunderstood horror author, but the lessons in his stories can teach us valuable lessons about how to get the most out of barleywines.

1. Some Things Are Best Left Sleeping.

In the story At The Mountains of Madness the lead characters awoke a world that was best left sleeping. In doing so they release a potential evil on the world. A barleywine opened too young is like that.

To get the most out of a barleywine, let it sleep 2-5 years or even longer. As it sleeps the harsh aggressive flavors that would attack you when it was young will have mellowed. New complexities will come through and overall it will be a much more enjoyable beer. I know it is difficult to wait, but the reward is worth it . Even barleywines that are good young, get only better with age. (See Yeti from Great Divide Brewing Co.)

It always seemed like they should sell barleywines with a label do not open for 5 years, but that probably wouldn’t help move them off the shelf.

2.Cold Can Take The Life Out Of Things

In At the Mountains of Madness the potential evil is kept lifeless by the extreme cold of the Antarctica. Flavors in barley wine can be kept lifeless by cold as well.

A Barleywines served at 32 degrees will lack the subtlety of one served at 50 degrees. To an extent this is true of all beers. Serve it too cold and strangle the life out of the flavor.

3. Strength Without Finesse Is A Monster

Lovecraft understood what makes a monster work. If you create a creature of raw strength and little to no finesse, it is a monster. In the Dunwich Horror. Lovecraft does just that. A creature aggressive, and without direction terrorizes the population of a small town. A barleywine that is all alcohol heat with no redeeming beer characteristics is a monster.

If all you get is the heat of the alcohol, it either needs to age another couple years or it was not a well made barley wine.

4. Strength With Finesse Is Even Scarier Than A Monster.

There are many examples of this idea in Lovecraft’s writing, but for this we will use Cthulhu for the story The Call Of Cthulhu. The creatures extrudes power and intelligence in a way that has created a cult following among Lovecraft fans. He is something unexpected. A well made and properly aged barley wine.

I remember distinctly this effect. After enjoying a couple well aged beers with friends. I felt fine, until I attempted to get up and leave the table. At that point it was if all the alcohol consumed hit the system at once. I promptly sat back down and resolved to attempt getting up again later.

In a well made and properly aged barleywine the alcohol is subtle even though it is high in content. That is the monster, do not plan on going anywhere except the couch or floor if you have had more than one.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: featured

• Digg
• Stumble it!
• Reddit

• Do You Know This Bottle Cap?