Taster trays are the way to go.

I hope your liver is ready. Beveridge Place Pub will be kicking off their 12th Annual Barleywine Bacchanal when they open at noon on this upcoming Saturday, March 1. This marks the start of our local “barleywine season”, as Brouwer’s Hard Liver (March 15) and other events will follow.

The Bacchanal celebrates one of my favorite beer styles over a week-long period (through Friday, March 7) where they will rotate a ridiculous amount of great beer through thirty taps dedicated to barleywine. I enjoy barleywines in part because of the range of flavors you can get from the style. Traditional English-style barleywines are focused on the malt flavors, while many American-style examples ramp up the IBUs and focus on the hop profile. You’ll find barleywines that take both avenues to the extreme, but the best examples are balanced and smooth.

Due to the high alcohol content (average ABV of around 9% probably), most barleywines age quite well. Beveridge Place will feature multiple vintages of several barleywines that they will pour at the same time so that you can taste a vertical and see how the beer has progressed over time. I highly suggest this. While barleywines can still taste great after even five years or more, I find that most hit their sweet spot after two to three years of aging. So, I’ll be looking forward to some of the ’12 and ’11 vintage brews.

Following is a preliminary list of what will be available. Note that not all of these will be on at once, but that they will be spread throughout the week.

21st Amendment Lower DeBoom
7 Seas Old Wheelchair
Alaskan
Almanac Pumpkin
Anacortes Old Sebastes
Anchor Old Foghorn
Anderson Valley Horn of the Beer
Avery Hog Heaven
Bainbridge Oaked Old Toe Jam
Bear Republic Old Scouter
Beer Valley Highway to Ale
Big Time Old Wooly
Big Sky Old Bluehair
Black Diamond Old Geezer
Black Raven Old Birdbrain
Black Raven Cognac Wheatwine
Boulder Killer Penguin
Boulevard Harvest Dance
Boundary Bay Old Bounder
Bridgeport Oaked Old Knucklehead
Burnside Whiteout
Denali Old Mad Dog
Diamond Knot Icebreaker
Dicks
Elliot Bay Portside
Elysian Cyclops
Elysian Monocle
Emilisse Jack Daniels
Engine House #9 Thunder Buddies
Epic #13
Firestone Walker Sucaba
Fish 10 Squared
Fremont Cuddle Bunny
Full Sail Boardhead
Great Divide Old Ruffian
Green Jack Rippa
Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws
Hale’s Rudyards Rare
Highwater Old and In The Way
Hood Canal Ablik
Hub Noggin Floggin
JW Lees Harvest Ale
Laurelwood Old Reliable
Lazy Boy
Left Hand Oaked Widdershins
Midnight Sun Arctic Devil
Moylans Old Blarney
Naked City Old Proper
Ninkasi Critical Hit
North Coast Class of ’88
North Coast Old Stock
North Sound Vertigo
Oakshire
Pike Old Bawdy
Port Townsend
Reuben’s Auld Heritage
Scuttlebutt Old #1
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Sierra Nevada Black Barleywine
Silver City Old Scrooge
Snipes Mtn Ye Olde Roza
Sound Old Scoundrel
Southern Tier Backburner
Speakeasy Old Godfather
Spinnaker Bay Yeast Mode
Stone Old Guardian
The Bruery White Oak
Triplehorn Bygg Vin

You should also look for special announcement for rare verticals throughout the week.