Crooked Stave 2014 Cellar Reserve

"In the coming years growler fills might one day become a reality, but we are not quite there as of yet."
Coming years? Is that plural? So someday when they actually brew beer at the source? Bummer

 

unreal.

 

And Crooked Stave overpromises and underdelivers yet again...

 

I'm really not disappointed about the growler fills. I didn't expect to be able to get fills of anything other than the normal beers which costs the same on draft as in the bottle so no point in buying a growler. As long as this years beers are good I'm fine with it. Plus no one wanted another tin tacker.

 

That was bullshit, too.

 

That's because they don't have their "dust collector" up and running.

 

Since I didn't really intend to start a CS pile-on, I'll go ahead and point out that none of us signed up for the membership so we could fill growlers. This bottle of Raspberry Origins that I picked up earlier and am sipping on now is *fantastic* and I don't see them lasting very long at my house. Fruit-forward, dark, funky and tart. Goddamn that's a fine sour ale.

 

I never really had any expectations for the growler this year...and yes, I'd much rather have that growler than the tin tacker. It's a really nice growler, so I'll just use it elsewhere. That said, you really do have to wonder when everything will be up and running at the Source. Will Great Divide beat them to the punch and be the first to brew on that block?

 

That was my first Crooked Stave release and I had a great time. Everyone was friendly, and there was some great stuff at the bottle share. I hope to be able to make it to some of the other releases this year.

 

That was one of the better bottle shares at CS...maybe the best. Tons of fun!

I especially enjoyed the beer explosions and fountains.

 

Has anyone opened any of the four new releases? Thoughts?

 

I opened a L'Brett D'or last night. It tasted/smelled good, but it had an odd slickness to it.

 

Yeah had a L'Brett d'Or Grand Cru yesterday and had a similar reaction. Also a slight disconnect from the tartness and the other flavors if that makes sense.

 

So I see that they have announced the next CS cellar reserve release details to members. I was looking at the original beer list compared to the actual releases, anyone have any thoughts on if the assumptions below are correct?

Raspberry Origins* - released
Cherry Bretta* - released as L'Brett Cherry?
Dark Origins - Fruit Sour* - released as Blackberry Dark Origins
Petite Sour – Blueberry* - 2nd release
Passion Fruit L’Brett d’Or* - 2nd release as Petite Sour - Passion Fruit?
Dry-Hopped L’Brett d’Or* - no release info
Apricot L’Brett d’Or* - no release info
Nightmare on Brett – Port/Sherry Barrel* - 2nd release
TBD Specialty* - released as L'Brett Grand Cru?
TBD Specialty* - no release info

I am just curious if the other TBD could be Persica? Anyway, getting my bottles of the first release next week, excited to try them, anyone open bottles yet?

 

I've actually opened up all four of the initial releases. My order of preference...

1) Blackberry Dark Origins
2) Raspberry Origins
3) L'Brett Grand Cru
4) L'Brett d'Cherry

I was really unimpressed with L'Brett d'Cherry.

 

What didn't you like about the Cherry? I'm really curious, my bottles are on the way and that is the one I was most excited about.

 

I thought the cherry was under carbed which made it have a slick mouthfeel. I didn't think it was bad but could have been better with a little more carb. The blackberry I opened was over carbed and a gusher. The carb gave it some sting on your tongue so it muted some of the blackberry jam flavor. I liked it better on tap with less carb. I thought the other two were done really well. L'brett Grand Cru was surprisingly good.

 

Opened the Blackberry on Thursday and really liked it. It's definitely one of their best,

That slick mouthfeel thing is a pretty recent occurrence for me. I got it with last year's Persica (#2) after letting them sit for a few months, with recent Batch 60 bottles, and with L'Brett D'or. It doesn't come through in the flavor or nose, but it's a little weird and it could be offputting.

 

I got that slick mouth feel with a batch 60 I opened the other night as well. When I mentioned this to a friend who is a home brewer, I was told that this is what is commonly referred to as "ropiness" and is a result of the pedio producing long chain sugars. It's a "sick" phase that some beers go through after bottling. He mentioned that Vinnie at RR says that a lot of his wild ales go through this at some point during bottle conditioning. It's something that's expected to go away, but I'm not sure what the science behind that is, but would love to know, if anyone can comment on that.

 

Random question:

Cellar Reserve beers are only sold to cellar reserve members. As a cellar reserve member we get a discount on the beers we purchase. So when they set a price for cellar reserve beers, beers that only members with discounts can buy, why do they set a price that no one will ever pay because the only people allowed to purchase these beers get a discount?

This just doesn't make sense to me.