Arcadia Brewing Company Cereal Killer (365 Day 170)

By scot in 365 Days of American Craft Beer, Beer on Friday, May 20th, 2011

Arcadia Cereal Killer

Barleywine. I don’t think the average macro beer drinker even has an idea of what that means. To beer geeks it brings thoughts of liquid goodness infused with dark fruits, hops, possible bitterness, sweetness to some degree, and plenty of unadulterated high alcohol. Those wonderful thoughts also tend to lead said geek into a frenzy as big beers are high on everyone’s want list. I think there are some that even believe a big beer is automatically good but that is a conversation for another day.

Cereal Killer, by Arcadia Brewing Company, is an English Barleywine. An English barleywine differs from an American mainly in the fact that it isn’t as aggressively hopped and uses more traditional hops to boot. I actually prefer the English version to the American as I don’t find them quite as alcoholic while having just a bit more sweetness, maybe masking said alcohol. I also usually cellar my barleywines, so the huge hop additions from the American versions drop out, leaving behind a sometimes huge, resinous bitterness that is left unchecked.

Cereal Killer is a solid barleywine that I have had multiple times. The alcohol is well hidden and it has a nice balance without having much sweetness or stickiness to the beer. Enjoy!

Aroma: 8, Taste: 8, Look: 8, Drinkability: 8, Overall: 8.0

Useless Fact: The Colosseum of ancient Rome was occasionally filled with water and an entire naval battle was staged there, complete with armed vessels and fights to the death.