St-Ambroise 20th Anniversary Vintage Ale (2009)
McAuslan Brewing

St-Ambroise 20th Anniversary Vintage Ale (2009)St-Ambroise 20th Anniversary Vintage Ale (2009)
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From:
McAuslan Brewing
 
Quebec, Canada
Style:
English Barleywine
ABV:
9.8%
Score:
87
Avg:
3.9 | pDev: 11.03%
Reviews:
100
Ratings:
137
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Dec 17, 2018
Added:
Mar 20, 2009
Wants:
  6
Gots:
  12
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of daliandragon
Reviewed by daliandragon from Maryland

4.22/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
I have been hanging onto this for a few years and this seemed like the right time for whatever reason. Not much for head, but the nose is full of dark fruit and malt flavors, with alcohol barely in the background.

The body is more delicate than I would have thought, but is still honey smooth. Carbonation is still actively present, and keeps the moderately aggressive alcohol more or less in check. The dark malt melding into dark fruit flavors are legit but even more impressive is the herbal and pine hop flavors that have survived nine years in captivity.

Overall, this is a crushing sledgehammer that has lost little of its edge after nearly a decade locked up. This has aged beautifully. Nice effort.
Dec 17, 2018
Photo of EMV
Reviewed by EMV from Pennsylvania

3.99/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a 12 oz bottle (out of a nice cardboard cylinder) into a Dogfish Head tulip.

L: Cloudy molasses colored pour. Scant white head. Modest ring of lacing.

S: Caramel and sugars... dark fruit and sweets.

T/F: Follows the nose. Sweet, big, and boozy. Caramel and molasses... dark fruit/fig/plum. Not a lot of hop character left after 9 years in a bottle. Drinks more like an English Barleywine. Loads of flavor... ABV present and accounted for, warming... sticky/syrupy on the tongue. The finish is mild sweets and spice.

O: A big candy-sweet barleywine. Pretty delicious... definitely dessert in a bottle. This one has held up fantastically after nearly a decade in the bottle.
Jun 25, 2018
Photo of jzeilinger
Reviewed by jzeilinger from Pennsylvania

3.89/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A - Pours a hazy burgundy/amber color with a substantial amount of sediment and dense pink colored lacing.

S - Sweet candied malt, plums, some dark fruit tart acidity.

T - Sweet caramel, roasted toffee, raisin, spicy fig, some green apple effervescence after the sip, and boozy.

M - Full bodied, silky, velvety, sticky on the lips.

O - Nice job with this beer and a belated Happy Anniversary!
Jan 27, 2018
Photo of dcotom
Reviewed by dcotom from Iowa

3.87/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Poured from 11.2-ounce bottle into a snifter. Pours the color of caramel sauce. An aggressive pour yielded a thin head of off-white foam that disappeared rather quickly, leaving minimal lacing. Not much carbonation, giving it a rather flat appearance. There is a lot of complexity on the nose and palate. Aromas and flavors of light toffee, caramel, bread, prunes, and leather, with a little citrus and tannic astringence on the finish. There seemed to be a little bit of an off-flavor from oxidation as well. The alcohol is not well hidden, presenting itself prominently on the palate. Mouthfeel tends toward heavy and a little syrupy, with an intensely bitter, slightly sweet, and alcoholic aftertaste. About halfway through sampling this, I decided to pair it with some aged cheddar and pita chips. The food mitigated the intensity of the tannins and alcohol. Overall, not bad, nothing spectacular.
Mar 04, 2017
 
Rated: 3.74 by jaydoc from Kansas

Sep 27, 2015
Photo of mdfb79
Reviewed by mdfb79 from New York

3.95/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From 09/01/15 notes. Shared by BeerLawyer85; thanks Ross. 2009 vintage.

Pours a reddish-brown color with one inch of off white head and low carbonation evident. Caramel malts, toffee, dark fruity malts, raisins, plums, figs, leather, oak, and toasted malts. Medium body and low carbonation, no heat.

Overall a decent barleywine; wasn't oxidized which is nice. Worth checking out but wouldn't trade too much for it.
Sep 02, 2015
 
Rated: 4.13 by Greasy from Kentucky

Aug 12, 2015
Photo of Kurmaraja
Rated by Kurmaraja from California

3.74/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Past its prime by now; a bit musty and cardboardy, but feels like the remains of a very nice beer. I let this one go too long in the cellar.
Jan 28, 2015
Photo of kevanb
Reviewed by kevanb from Illinois

3.65/5  rDev -6.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
11.5oz bottle, presented in a nicely branded cardboard tube, 2009 vintage, poured into a McAuslan chalice.

The beer pours a very murky and hazy leather brown color, burgundy and caramel hues with a soapy and thick finger of bone colored head, that recedes into a nice film around the rom of the glass leaving a few spots of lace behind. The aroma is heavily oxidized, malt, leather, tobacco, dried figs and prunes, stone fruits with brown sugar. There is definitely some semblance of the fresh beer, though there is a bit of that damp cardboard flavor that comes with oxidization. The flavors mirror of the nose, sherry wine, dried stone fruits, tobacco and leather, brown sugar, molasses and again, damp cardboard. The mouthfeel is still very good, coating, smooth, a little zippy from the carbonation and finishes quite easily.


Verdict: Well, it's obvious that this vintage is well past its prime, but there is plenty of evidence that when fresh, this beer has a lot to offer. For the price I found it, $6.99 for the bottle, it was easy to justify taking a chance on what could've been a nicely aged barleywine and this tells me that should I encounter this beer fresh, it's very much worth buying.
Jan 18, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by WesM63 from Ohio

Jan 12, 2015
 
Rated: 4.24 by Beersnake from California

Jan 05, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by TheBeerTruck from Michigan

Nov 03, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by R_Kole from Canada (AB)

Nov 01, 2014
 
Rated: 3.16 by Tommy9898

Oct 17, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by alex_hart from Oklahoma

Oct 16, 2014
 
Rated: 3.64 by PrendUnVerreDeBiere from Kentucky

Aug 27, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Maillard from Ohio

Aug 23, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by kdahnke123 from Indiana

Aug 07, 2014
Photo of Bouleboubier
Reviewed by Bouleboubier from New Jersey

3.54/5  rDev -9.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
(purchased at Binny's on Marcey - carefully poured into a tulip)

A: a fucking twist-off?! seriously?... poured out, lil bubbles on the lip of the bottle... dark, rose-tinted amber liquid... pretty cloudy/hazy... short rise of foam that sinks back into a very thin collar

S: the smell shot out of the bottle as soon as the cap was removed... old yeast dregs, plum wine... a touch of caramel in the far back... the kind of oxidized, broken-down alcohol sweetened malt character I often get with Hitachino Nest bottles... hint of the smoky phenolics associated with Scottish ales

T: mellow flash of acetic acid, pushed along by a port wine-tinged, citrusy booze, all whooshed away with a long, lightly-luscious caramel, mildly chocolaty malty finish... kind of a pyramid or kiss-shaped flavor-stacking - the fat, dull, dumpy malt base tapering lemon-acidy inward up into a acid-bitter crest

M: thickish, medium-full body holds up front, but is immediately held back upon passing the middle of the palate, attenuated out by the back rush of a soft-burning booze

O: kind of reminds me of older, shelf-dusty bottles of strong English ales... this one was pretty oxidized - in an unfortunate transitional stage? soy sauce on the horizon?... not really bad, but would've been nice to have some Stilton or anything creamy and funky to pair (and temper) it with
Aug 04, 2014
Photo of dgilks
Reviewed by dgilks from Australia

4.39/5  rDev +12.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Clear mahogany colour with a smooth, light tan head.

Rich, dark malt. Smooth. Ester. Aged alcohol.

Sharp alcohol with bits of melanoidiny malt. Sweet. Complex.

Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Really solid. Great flavour and complexity.
Jun 07, 2014
St-Ambroise 20th Anniversary Vintage Ale (2009) from McAuslan Brewing
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 137 ratings