Jackie O’s Brick Kiln

Jackie O’s Brick Kiln is an English Barleywine, this is the 2012 Vintage. I got this as part of a trade, thanks to Joe for the beer and Lee for transporting all the bottles for us! What we have here is bottle 136 (or maybe 156, the sharpie work on this is a bit unclear) of 342. This is my first Jackie O’s beer, and with all the praise these guys get I’m afraid that this is the kind of beer I could rate higher than I should. I hope I am able to judge it fairly.

136? or 156?

First off I have to say I love the flavor of this beer, really nice bourbon and a bit of dark fruit and caramel. The mouth-feel overall was a bit thin, not so much to ruin the beer for me, but it still would have been better with more. My excitement to try this beer lead me to open this barleywine much sooner than I normally would. Thankfully the hops weren’t too intense or overwhelming, although they did come off a bit tart on the finish. I think I was expecting a mind blower here, and although it didn’t reach that category, this is one fine barleywine. In retrospect I might have aged this longer, but give me a break, it isn’t every day that I have a Jackie O’s bottle sitting in my cellar!