Holidaze Barrel Aged English Barleywine

Review Date 12/18/2025  By John Staradumsky

  Style: Barleywine   Brewery: Humble Forager   Country: USA   State: Minnesota   $ Per OZ: $.67 (B)   ABV: 13.9%

I almost didn’t try Humble Forager Holidaze Barrel Aged English Barleywine. That would have been a shame, because this is a very fine brew indeed. The impediment was the price, $10.99 for a 12-0ounce bottle at Half Time. Still, a barrel aged holiday barleywine just was not something I could pass up, so in my cart it went.

I’m glad I bought it. This beer is impressive indeed, a delicious sipper that sustained on a cold late fall evening. I could not find a listing for it on the brewery website. There is a QR code on the label that says “Scan to learn more about this English barleywine.” When I did, it just took me to the general brewery website. Untappd did have this to say, though, doubtless from the brewery:

A barrel-aged English barleywine with a rich malt foundation layered in toffee, dried fruit, vanilla, and warming oak spice. Full-bodied yet smooth, it offers a luxurious balance of sweetness and barrel depth, perfect for celebrating the season. Vegan: no Lactose: no Gluten Free: no
CONTAINS NUTS

Humble Forager Holidaze Barrel Aged English Barleywine is my first beer from Rochester, Minnesota’s Humble Forager. My bottle label says the beer is barrel aged for 33 months, and has an alcohol content of 13.9% by volume.  

Humble Forager Holidaze Barrel Aged English Barleywine pours to a very dark brown color with an almost nonexistent head and that on a very vigorous pour. What I did get during that pour was boozy bourbon, and lots of it mixed with dark fruit. The decadent aroma was apparent as I poured and a few feet away as well, wafting through the air as the liquid moved from the bottle to my glass. Taking a sip, the beer is full in body, rich as it rolls over the tongue. It’s rich with dark fruit too, plums and sweet figs, with notes of toasted walnuts, molasses, and brown sugar. It pops with candied fruit and malty cake. It’s all soaked with bourbon which shows up again in the warming boozy finish.

 A bourbon-soaked fruit cake of a beer, I would absolutely buy it again, even at the price. Half Time still has it in stock, now for $7.99 a bottle. If they still have it the next time I buy from them, I will certainly pick up a few more bottles.