Southern Tier Back Burner Review

Name: Southern Tier Back Burner
Style: Barleywine
ABV: 10.5%
IBUs: N/A

The other day, I was browsing the shelves at the store when I noticed Southern Tier's Back Burner was now available. Having seen this on store shelves for the past few years, I had never really bothered to try it out; Nothing against the beer itself, its just that my interest in it was never piqued per se.

What did grab my attention, however, was that the price of this beer had dropped compared to last year, when it was going for at least $3-4 more than what I saw it for presently. "Awesome!" I thought to myself, "A decently priced barleywine, I guess I should check it out!" So I bought it and decided to see what it was all about.

Appearance - Very dark & cloudy amber/mahogany color with no visible carbonation. The head starts out thin upon the initial pour but fades away after a minute'

Aroma - Strong caramel malts & molasses notes, followed by some chocolate notes and mild booziness. I'm also picking up on some mild floral hops but it isn't immediately apparent until it starts to warm up a bit

Taste - Strong caramel and raisin flavors, with some molasses and floral hops in the middle. Very strong booziness here and buttery notes in the back (not the good kind either.) The aftertaste is a mix of booziness, dark molasses and a potent buttery flavor.

Well at least now I know why there was a price drop because this barleywine is pretty bad. Buttery flavors aside, it tastes too sweet for my liking. I'm not sure if there was an issue in the brewing process or if it has always tasted like this but either way, this is definitely one of the worst barleywines I've ever had, and that hurts just by typing it. Don't let the price tag lure you in like it did for me, trust me.

Southern Tier Back Burner - 3/10