Barley Wines combine strength and complexity. It is a brawny, malt-forward beer. As one of the strongest beer styles, it’s also an intense brew: lively and fruity, bittersweet, alcoholic.

Barley Wine Vandekelder is molded after the classic English variety which is less hoppy than its American cousin and boasts a complex mélange of caramel and fruit flavors counterbalanced by the warming alcohol and sturdy hop bitterness. It’s a sipper, preferably late at night, in your most comfortable chair, under a blanket, at the fireplace, . Or . . . at the pub with friends and strangers. Or . . . at your kitchen table as a digestif after a satisfying meal.

We certainly do not want to discourage you from drinking it, but be aware that this is a style that is often aged, as it evolves fantastically over time.