Samlesbury (InBev): Gold Label (England: Barley Wine: 8.5% ABV
Visual: A clear red amber, light fizz of a head on the pour but not for much longer than that.
Nose: Barley and large amounts of cane sugar. Golden syrup cakes, slight cherries and somewhat musty. Liquorice.
Body: Sweet front, bitter middle and almost rising charring. Somewhat muddled, but quite bready. Barley and golden syrup.
Finish: Dusty and big charring. Gin air. Liquorice again.
Conclusion: This is a lot of people in the UK’s introduction to barley wine, and tends to influence their view of the style. The nose is pretty reasonable, promising a decent beer.
Unfortunately the rest of the beer doesn’t follow through, it’s got a muddled and uncertain body, with a dirty (and not in a good way) feeling to the flavours. The finish is pretty rough, you get the feeling it was bred for alcohol rather than pedigree and flavour and there no sense of direction to the drink.
Not absolutely atrocious, but pretty damn far from good.
Alcohol And Aphorisms 
but it says on the can it’s the number one barley wine 🙂
I remember drinking this in my pre-brewing days when I didn’t fully appreciate the flavours but knew enough not to drink carlsburg, etc… I think you’re being harsh on this drink. Is it perfect? Probably not, is it a good introduction to barley wine? Yes, I think so.
Possibly so, but it never did appeal to me. Had a few cans at the time and it always seemed kinda murky. I think it was the let down from aroma to body that did it – built up all my hopes and dashed them so.