OBK American Barleywine (5.25 US Gal)

Made this kit back in August, and am going to be bottling it this weekend, for consumption sometime Christmas 2014. I wanted to try the Polaris hops, and am glad I did.I ended up adding 3.5 oz of toasted oak cubes and 1 sliced and scraped vanilla bean to secondary, and let it bulk age for the last few months. Tried a sample last night, and it has become simply sublime. Plenty malty enough, but with enough hop backbone to balance it really nicely, and my oak and vanilla additions really give it a deep character which may otherwise be missing. I'm not going to knock any stars off for that though, because for all I know it might be better without my additions.I am going to bottle with an extra pack of US-05 added to the bottling bucket because of how clear it's dropped and I'd be afraid it wouldn't carb up otherwise.All in all, a great kit, worth the money, and I have no doubt it will be absolutely amazing after 12 months in the bottle.

This is one of the best recipes I've made in some time. You can't taste the alcohol at all, nice bitterness balanced with sweetness. Very hoppy, but not a typical citrusy hoppy. It's more like a double IPA but without the strong aroma. I suspect this would store well. This beer is going to be the first to have a permanent home on tap. Only issue for me was that my efficiency dropped a fair bit with such a large grain bill, so I had a 15% efficiency loss with my Grainfather. If you're buying the kit you may want some extract on hand to make up for any potential OG losses. I used US-05 and didn't alter the recipe other than enough OBK liquid amber extract to hit my efficiency target.