J.W. Lees - Harvest Ale 2002

During a recent trip to Pairings, a food, wine and beer store where you can build your own six packs of any brew available, my brother and I came across this gem hiding in the corner.  When we went to check out the cashier said "I didn't even know we had a bottle of this left!  I would have taken it home myself had I known".  Thats when I knew this 2002 vintage English barley wine was going to be a treat.  Thankfully enough my brother was gracious enough to let me have the first few sips to write a couple notes for this review.


J.W. Lees is a family owned brewery founded in 1828.  Based in Middleton within North Manchester England, J.W. Lees specializes in cask beer while also maintaining an impressive line up of lagers and "smooth beers" year round.  One of their seasonal bottles is the Harvest Ale.  This is brewed once a year in limited quantity and dated since aging each vintage is recommended.  Harvest Ale is brewed in a traditional method of open air, copper vessels and stored at a temperature ideal for aging.


Since this is from 2002 I am keeping my fingers crossed that its journey from brewery to my glass has been kind.  Who knows what conditions this beer has been through in the past eight years.  Even if its horrible it will still be fun to drink a beer that is almost a decade old.  Lets give it a shot, shall we?


Opening the cap provides a hiss of carbonation.  The pour is viscous and thick.  No head forms on this 11.5% ABV ale.  The color is a deep brown and slightly murky.  Swirling it in the glass shows lacing similar to that of a nice wine.  My taste buds are agonized in anticipation!  The aroma is amazing; caramelized fruit, figs, brown sugar, chocolate and bread.  No hops at all.  This is expected not only as an English barley wine style but also due to the age.  The taste is everything I expected.  Hints of chocolate, dark fruit, toffee and caramel all come together in a sweet and creamy profile.  The alcohol is hardly present, if at all, but is there to dry out the finish.


Overall 5.8/6.0 - It was only after sipping this is when I realized how lucky we were to find this bottle.  Its almost everything I could want from an English barley wine.  The flavors meshed together wonderfully and the big body was right on par for my expectations.  The only thing keeping this from being perfect for me is that it was only every so slightly on the sweet side for my liking.  But thats really splitting hairs in this case.  If you can find a bottle of this, no matter the vintage, pick it up.  Its a perfect after dinner drink or one to cozy up with next to the fire.