Hop Horizons
Beer Information
Wander Beyond: The Empress
This Scotch whisky and bourbon barrel-aged barley wine is/was brewed by Wander Beyond in Manchester, Greater Manchester, England. It's achieved an overall score of 97.33%. Based on 1 tasting, the average ABV is 15.50%.
The Empress is a colossal 15.5% barrel-aged barley wine from Manchester's Wander Beyond. Based on The Emperor, it spends 15 months in a mix of Scotch whisky and bourbon barrels β transforming an already powerful beer into something closer to a rich after-dinner drink.
It pours a deep mahogany-brown, with aromas of treacle, toffee, fruit cake and dark caramel alongside vanilla, oak and warming whisky.
The flavour is intensely rich. Sticky toffee and dark sugar lead into raisins, dates and dried fruit, followed by vanilla, bourbon and a deeper whisky character. The oak brings a little dryness and tannin, helping to rein in what is inevitably a very sweet and concentrated beer.
The body is exceptionally thick and silky, with low carbonation and substantial warmth. At 15.5% there's no disguising the strength, but the spirit character feels integrated rather than simply hot.
The Empress is emphatically not an everyday barley wine. It's huge, luxurious and best approached in a small glass, slowly. Treacle, fruit cake, oak and whisky combine into an extravagant sipping beer that captures Wander Beyond at its most uncompromising.
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Beer Listing
| Date and Time | Container | Pub/Place and Where | Strength ABV | Colour | Score Components | Score | Descriptive word(s) | Book No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20th May 2026 at 6:55 pm | can | (home), Liverpool, Merseyside, England | 15.50 | black |
Taste: 100% Head: 73.33% Aroma: 100% Ease: 75.56% Clarity: 90% |
97.333% | perfect | 1034 |
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Other Beers (etc.) by Wander Beyond
Apart from The Empress, Hop Horizons lists 60 others by Wander Beyond. These are:
A Delight In Small Evils AdΓ©lie Baribal Black Arches Bufo Bufo Calm Before the Storm Calm Before the Storm (Vintage 2020) (Cellar Series) Captain (Cellar Series) Caro-Kann And The Raven Celestial (w/ Lervig) Chasing The Storm Coconut Crater Cognac Edith Colossal Creek Dancing With Her Ghosts Deep Bloom Dragon Dance Edith Emerald Silk Ermine Gordie And Pretzel (w/ Chain House Brewing Co.) Great Armoured One Honey Beary Honister Hoot Hoot Hoot (w/ Marble) Hoot Hoot Hoot Hoot (w/ Marble) Imperial French Martini Imperial Great Rift (Vintage 2021) (Cellar Series) La Catrina Lepus Little Pixies Loveliness Meles Meles Mind Ritual Mollusca Momentary Peace Octopod Old King Cascade (Vintage 2021) (Cellar Series) Oxford And Loran (w/ Δrpus) Pablo And The Whale (w/ Finback) Petrichor Pod Running From The Daylight Sakura Twilight Scoop Sengi She's Lost Control (w/ Protokoll) Shimmer Sideways Nelly Silk (w/ Pomona Island) Suavito Symphony Of The Woods The Magician's Nephew The Quizmaster The Quizmaster (Cellar Series) Tiki's Turtles Ursa Vulpes (Vintage 2021) (Cellar Series) Wah Donka We've Got Mail (w/ Yonder)