Barley Wine & Some beer magnets

First off I just wanna say that I've been very interested in different beer styles  and making beer the last year or so, and I decided to create a place to write some things down.

So.. last fall I realized I had an extra glass carboy lying around, so I decided put it to use, and go to Northern Brewer and inquire about the beer style they had that would take the longest.  I came across a barley wine.  I know that barley wines are typically more on the maltier side of the spectrum than I like, but I figured I would give it a go.  Well, that was on September 28 of last year, and today it was finally time for bottling! (a good 6 months later)

Brought out from the depths of my basement.  Also realized at this point that I probably shouldn't have let so much sediment stay on the bottom so long... hopefully there won't be any off flavors.

Transfering into the bottling bucket... I can't wait until my next batch where I still keep thinking I'm finally going to keg.  Didn't take any pics of the bottles, but maybe upon opening. 

I tasted the uncarbonated beer from my hydrometer test, and it's very raisiny with a slight alcohol taste present... hoping the alcohol gets covered up with the carbonation.

Another thing I did today was make a few more bottle cap magnets for the beer fridge (Thank you brother for the great idea) as you can see from the photo.  You can also see the current beer I've got on hand still from the homebrews... although I know that some of the older ones are starting to run dry I believe. 

Lastly, I'm getting antsy for spring, and I got a book today on gardening for the brewer, and hope at the very least by season's end I can make a brew where the hops came from my own yard, if not some other ingredients as well.