The Brit loves a good Barleywine, and since 2017, we've held an annual get-together to taste and chat about this classic style. Over each year, Barleywines are collected from any brewery that has one, with no particular connection other than we try to focus on Illinois. Our the last celebration was held back in January 2020 at Riverlands Brewing, and little did we know then that it might be a while before we held the next one, or for that matter got together as a group to chat and sample. This year, The Brit had to come up with another approach so that social distancing protocols could be still observed. So instead of gathering together, Ken McMullen and The Brit headed out to 7 breweries and tasted one or two barleywines at each location. Luckily, as we recorded throughout March, restrictions were being lifted, people were getting vaxxed, and we were able to keep our mask wearing to a minimum. In Part 1 we head to Hopvine Brewing for our introduction, then to Werk Force and Oswego Brewing for 2 beers at each. It's a great start, and stay tuned for the next part! Cheers!