The 2023 edition of Love, Lost at Sea Barleywine is out now from Buoy Beer Company, returning for its sixth year. This year, the barrel-aged brew was conditioned in barrels from Westward Whiskey for 12 months, adding complexity to an already-rich ale, with a final alcohol by volume of 10%.

Press release:

This month, Buoy Beer Company releases their 6th year of Love, Lost at Sea, a barrel-aged barleywine. A dark month favorite, this beer is one of Buoy’s few specialty bottles and each year is aged in barrels from a different whisky partner and for a different amount of time. Fans look forward to its annual release to taste how the barleywine differs from years past. The 2023 edition, which survived the brewery’s partial building collapse last summer, has aged for 12 months in Westward Whiskey barrels.

Westward Whiskey is an award-winning craft distillery that began in 2004 with a vision to create a “distinctive American whiskey inspired by the American Northwest.” Based in Oregon, Westward’s focus is on single-malt whiskys created from scratch with local Northwest ingredients.

Over the 12-month aging process, Westward Whiskey’s single-malt whisky barrels layer a warm taste and aroma of bourbon onto Love, Lost at Sea’s distinctive malt profile. The barleywine’s dense grist of British pale, British Crystal, Chocolate, and special roast malts create a bouquet of dried dark fruit and toffee, and its toasted sweet flavors of caramel and marshmallow are balanced with a healthy dose of Oregon hops. Together, they create a strong, complex, and harmonious mahogany-colored ale with a final ABV of 10%.

This year’s label artwork was done by Silje Røe Hagland (@sillysilje), a tattoo artist at Tattoo Smile in SE Portland. The label features a rough sea with a lost bottle and a flying gull.

“When asked to create the 2023 Love Lost at Sea label, I was visiting my hometown of Stavanger, Norway – a coastal city where canning fish was the leading industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s,” says Hagland. “I found inspiration in the old canning labels displayed at the old factory, the constant squawking of seagulls as you wander the city streets, and memories of many days spent combing the beaches for mail in bottles. One of my favorite memories growing up is sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen while she told stories of similar treasure hunts: of searching the beaches for letters, rolled up and tucked neatly in bottles to be thrown from the shores of the surrounding islands, for curious children, or maybe lost lovers to find as they washed ashore. I was also excited and inspired to collaborate with one of my favorite breweries around.”

Find 500ml refillable bottles of Love, Lost at Sea 2023 throughout Buoy Beer Company’s Oregon, Washington, and Idaho distribution areas. Select beer bars and festivals will be pouring Love, Lost at Sea draft beginning February 14, 2023.

Note: I did drink this 2023 release recently at the Suttle Lodge Winter Beer Fest—it’s good!