Taster trays are the way to go.

I hope your liver is ready. While many local breweries will be opening their doors for the WA Beer Open House, Beveridge Place Pub will be kicking off their 11th Annual Barleywine Bacchanal when they open at noon. This marks the start of our local “barleywine season”, as Brouwer’s Hard Liver and other events will follow.

The Bacchanal celebrates one of my favorite beer styles over a week-long period (through Sat, March 3) 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 ’11 and ’10 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
Alaskan
Anacortes Old Sebastes,
Anchor Foghorn
Anderson Valley Horn of the Beer
Beer Valley Highway to Ale
Big Al
Big Sky Old Bluehair
Black Diamond Old Geezer
Boulder Killer Penguin
Boulevard Harvest Dance
Boundary Bay Old Bounder
Bridgeport Oaked Old Knucklehead
Diamond Knot Icebreaker
Diamond Knot Real Old Ale
Dicks, Elliot Bay Portside
Elysian Cyclops
Emillisse Jack Daniels
Evil Twin Freudian Slip
Firestone Walker Sucaba
Fish 10^2
Fremont Cuddle Bunny
Full Sail Boardhead
Full Sail Boilermaker
Glacier Jim Beam
Great Divide Old Ruffian
Hale’s Rudyards Rare
Hood Canal Ablik
Hub Noggin Floggin
Laurelwood Old Reliable
Mad River John Barleycorn
Moylans Old Blarney
North Coast Old Stock
North Sound Vertigo
Pike Old Bawdy
Port Townsend
Rogue Old Crustacean
Scuttlebutt Old #1
Seven Seas Old Wheelchair
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Sierra Nevada Black Barleywine
Silver City Old Scrooge
Southern Tier Backburner
Speakeasy Old Godfather
Stone Old Guardian

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