Cellar Door - Red Wine Barrel-Aged
Stillwater Artisanal Ales

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2011 bottle

Served at cellar temperature (currently (57 degrees F). Gusher! Thar she blows!

Upon settling, the appearance is cloudy orange with a thin white collar. White sage, coriander, lemon grass, herbal. Red wine character emerges in the flavor, whereas it was a bit lost in the aroma. Lightly sour, tangy, funky. Medium bodied with zesty carbonation. Complex and delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Served into stemware. Cellared for 2 years plus. Decided to do so after tasting a year old bottle and saw lots of potential.

Beautiful crystal clear bright golden yellow color. Vigorous white head poured into glass, dissipated quickly, leaving basically no lacing. Bubbles look very small to small.

Very strong aroma of young and ripe apricots. Very mild barnyard funkiness. Faint mangoes too.

Touch of apples quickly turn into a lively quintessential apricot flavor. There is a bright and very present dry funk. Sourness is there but executed so delicately and expertly, that is doesn't overpower but helps create harmony. As it warms up there is a little tiny bit of apricot sweetness on the back of the mouth as an after taste.

Very dry and complex mouthfeel with lively and vigorous carbonation. After 10 minutes, carbonation is in perfect balance with flavors. Very slight oaked dryness lingers. Very similar mouthfeel to an oaked American Sauvignon Blanc.

This beer is very close to a perfect creation. The best Still Water I've had by far. Worth cellaring, drinking and searching out. White Sage never comes into play (and that's okay!). Sourness, dryness and apricot-iness is unreal. Wonderful!!

 

 

 

 

Big thanks goes out to BRoss242 for sharing this one before going out for the evening in New Orleans while I was in town for Zwanze Day! Served from bottle into a Poperings Hommel Bier tulip. Poured a hazy yellow-orange with a one finger white head that subsided to a minimal amount slowly. Maintained phenomenal lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, sage, wood, spice, fruit, dark fruit, and earth. The flavor was of sweet malt, fruit, dark fruit, wood, earth, and spice. It had a light feel on the palate with medium-high carbonation. Overall this was a pretty good brew. When I went into this one I really didn’t find a whole lot of barrel on it right out of the gate, but there was definitely a big spicy and herbal note going on. As it warmed the barrel, made its presence known. It definitely wasn’t overpowering by any means, but added a nice touch of complexity to the brew. Even with all of the spice going on, this one was quite enjoyable and made it rather easy to drink. Definitely worth your time trying this one.