Saturn (The Bringer Of Old Age)
Bell's Brewery - Eccentric Café & General Store

 

 

Consumed on 6-21-2020.

Pours a nice amber color. There's actually a 1 finger yellow/white head, and the retention is quite good. There's no lacing on the glass.
The nose is very interesting. Caramel, vanilla, toffee, and raisin. Damn pleasing.
Taste - The caramel and toffee are up front. The vanilla comes in on the backside, along with the raisin.
This is a very smooth beer. There's actually a bit of hops in it also, which is surprising to me. There's a slight alcohol burn.
This beer is damn good aged. Wish I could have tried it fresh, to see how different it was, or not.

Bottled 4/3/15; drank 5/8/15 @ the Yarchives.

Murky orange/red rust appearance.

A rough pour yielded a nice eggnog head; decent lace.

Oak, caramel, booze heat & mild dill pickle notes in the nose.

Thick mouthfeel.

Booze heat & mild caramel flavors up front; a carbonated booze heat finish. As this warmed hints of vanilla emerged, but overall this was unpleasantly boozy.

I'm aging the rest of mine, as it's nearly undrinkable currently.

 

 

2015 bottle poured into a snifter. A hazy amber orange color with a surprising number of small floaties. A tiny light tan head formed and left quickly. A nice mix of bourbon and vanilla on the nose, slightly boozy. Similar taste with smooth caramel malt, a softer bitterness, vanilla, oak, and bourbon. Medium to light bodied. Excellent.

From April 2015, aged properly since. Poured into Belgian ale glass and allowed to warm.

L: Very small head, less than 1F. Not much retention, no lacing. Thin ring and partial cap. Beer is a clear very dark amber, almost chestnut.

S: Oak barrel, dried fruits, vanilla, caramel

T: Oh man, this has gotten SMOOVE over the years. Nice dried fruits and caramel up front, with citrus and vanilla characters, and a smaller dose of bourbon barrel than the nose might indicate. Only a bit of alcohol heat on the finish.

F: More medium than full than you might expect. A bit of carbonation. Flavors soft, rounded, and beautifully melded together after these years of aging. Balanced nicely.

O: Well worth the aging wait. A very nice drink to start a weekend.

Pouring from a 12 oz. bottle dated 4/3/15 into a tulip glass. This beer pours out looking like a tea. That light brown and almost lemon highlight color. No crown was formed and there is sediment floating throughout the beer. The smell is warming bourbon and alcohol mixing with oak, figs and even some vanilla. The taste brings those fig notes forward even more and it definitely brings the bourbon and alcohol for a big presence. There really isn't a "pop" that I want. It's a little flat. I think the carbonation might have died off some since 2015. It would really help to go along with these flavors, because with out it, this is a little too forward. It also leads to the mouthfeel being very flat and one dimensional. Overall, sadly, I just don't think time was this brews friend. I can see the workings of a really good beer and while it is still solid and drinkable, I can see how this could've been better those years ago.

 

12 FL OZ bottle
Served in a snifter

This beer pours rust colored with ruddy orange highlights. Suspended yeast is visible. It is topped with less than an inch of tan head that leaves speckled lacing.

It has a sweet aroma. I get some toffee and caramel notes along with vanilla. I also get hints of date, fig, and alcohol.

The taste is malty but not as sweet as the smell would indicate. A healthy dose of booze cuts through that sweetness. I do taste the fig and date from the smell.

Medium mouthfeel and syrupy

It has aged well although there is still plenty of booze flavor. It is pretty good. It is not the best BA barleywine that I have had in the last month though.

 

 

Bottle poured into a snifter.

Amber tinted brown, teeny tiny foam bubbles with moderate pour, but no real head.

Booze and oak in the aroma with some toffee sweetness.

Flavor is smooth booze and sweet caramel. Some earthy oak.

Much lighter feel than I expected, a bit syrupy, light carbonation.

Smooth and sweet, doesn't come together all the way for me.

It's startling how rife with floaties this beer has become - I've only ever seen it happen to this degree with a couple Mikkeller beers (IPAs I found sitting on a shelf in Des Moines... several YEARS past their bottling date) and with Cassian Sunset (hugely disappointing to me - I love Cassian Sunset).

The beer is still quite drinkable - though it's cloyingly sweet and syrupy. I don't hate it, but I'd rather have a '17 Bourbon Bounty Barleywine, given a choice.

Khaki head with lace. Caramel brown color.

Lots of caramel and brown sugar. Very malty. Big oak and barrel flavor. Bourbon and vanilla. Toffee.

Warming. Smooth. Solid.

 

I have had many many beers from West Michigan and across the US and this forever holds a spot in my heart as my favorite of all time

Update: November 18, 2017. Bottle aged since April, 2015. This beer has become unbelievably sweet and the 11.5percent is absolutely hidden. Wonderful caramel aroma and hazy, almost juice IPA like appearance. Less boozy than fresh, it has tame down a bit in that’s category which has brought light to the malt. Very sweet now, full of toffee and dense vanilla and bourbon. Quite smooth. 2 bottles left ;)