Beer #50 - Angel of the Presence / Deep Creek

Beer #50 - W/C 8 February 2016

 

BREWERY //
Over the past few years Deep Creek beers have earned their way into the hearts of beer fans on Auckland's North Shore and Waiheke Island thanks to their brewpubs in Brown's Bay, Orewa and Oneroa. Deep Creek are enthusiastic about making delicious, flavour fuelled beers. As well as the core range, they regularly brew seasonal and experimental beers and we are pretty excited to taste the beers which will be coming out of their barrel ageing programme. We love that Deep Creek are so involved with their local community- this week they begin hosting yoga sessions in the garden bar. Sadly we have conflicting plans so won't make it...

TASTING NOTES // 
We LOVE barleywines. If you haven't tried one before, you can rest assured- this is most definitely a beer. The name comes from the alcohol strength which is generally around the same as wine. The style has an interesting history with a commonly told story of origin being that during the 18th and 19th centuries, Britain was often at war with France meaning no claret for the dining tables of the upper classes. Locally brewed barleywine took its place handsomely. The high alcohol content comes from using a lot of malt in the mash, double that of a standard beer. Brewers will often use the Parti-Gyle method and use the left over grains to brew a second, regular strength beer. Historically a third low strength beer, aka 'small beer' would be made from the same grain too. The amount of malt makes for a very rich, complex beer with lots of sweetness in the toffee and roast coffee flavours. For those with the patience, it is great to cellar barley wines where the flavour will continue to mature and change over the years. Angel is an American barleywine meaning it is brewed with a lot of hops, making it quite different to English versions. The hops add a bitterness which compliments the sweetness beautifully. This is a beer to savour, be sure to drink at room temperature to release all of the flavours and aroma. 

BREWERY // Deep Creek
BEER // Angel of the Presence
STYLE // Barleywine
ORIGIN // Silverdale, Auckland
ABV // 9.8%
TEMPERATURE // Cupboard temperature. 14-17C
FOOD MATCH // Toad in the Hole Pecan Pie. Dark Chocolate. Stilton.
GLASS // Snifter, Tulip, Wine Glass

Beer Style Blog - Read more about Barleywines over on the BLOG.