Misty, dark auburn beer with reserved carbonation builds a moderate, off-white lacing on the top. It melts down quickly to a superthin ring in the sides. A Sour Ale scent. The bottle says this is a Barley Wine. ❓ Conditioned in various wine and absinth barrels. Maybe the barreling has tweaked the demeanor diagonally the opposite? Anyway, the fragrance offers zero Barley Wine aromas, the components being red wine, fermented plum, wheat, lactic acid and sharp barrel notes. And the taste... this is extremely distant from a Barley Wine. Sour and vinous. I can definitely pick more fruit wine than red wine, sour cherry, grape mash, fermented plum, wheat malt and lactic acid. I can in no circumstances imagine a Barley Wine like this. The body is light to light-medium. The strength of the body and the ABV are in a clear mismatch. Ends like it starts. The mouthfeel is light, substantially tart, acidic and puckering. It's also intense, somewhat deep, edgy and barrel aged. Confusing big time!! How am I supposed to rate this? I anticipated a Barney Wine but got a BA Sour Ale. Could well be a Bière de Garde, by the way. As such, this would earn as high as 4.3. I will also top up the rating by +0.3 stars for catching me with my pants down. On the other hand, even though I normally prefer a beer's enjoyability to the strict style qualifications, this sample deviates astronomically from what I understand as a Barley Wine. Therefore, I must punish this beer by an unprecedentedly steep reduction of one whole star. The result is, hence, 3.6.