The Locals HINTS AND HAULS THREAD

This sounds like a good time table to me.

 

If anybody is into the NFL and wants more BIF action to supplement here, there's a couple of pick pools still open that you can join.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nbo-nfl-picks-2014-season.193608/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nbo-epic-nfl-confidence-pool-2-0.193807/

probably some others but those are two that seem to have the most people so far.

 

Well, nothing like receiving a box right before going into work. Almost makes it easier going to work. I'm suspecting this was the work of @wheelzntoys and is a consolation box. Thank you so much for the box.


Pliny is a permawant and Drakes Aroma Coma is a want I haven't had.

 

Gale's Old Prize 1997. I also have a 2004 Weyerbacher Insanity, 2005, '07, '10-'14 Bigfoot, 2006 Thomas Hardy, and a bunch of other old things, but none as old as the Gale's.

Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw might not be made local to you, but I guess if it's an 'extra', you could toss one in my box if I'm your target

 

No, not all stouts age well. Like any other style, there are 3 criteria that determine age potential:

ABV (generally 10% and up ages well, 8% and up will take a few months to a year at most)
Bugs (Lacto, Pedio, Brett)
Smoke

As an example, Terrapin White Chocolate Moohoo, though in a fancy waxed bottle, at 6% it did not age well at all. I had one a month or so ago and it was kinda awful, lots of cardboard and oxidation going on.

 

Damn, '97? Now that is truly an "old" ale...

 

I tend to only age RIS/strong stouts without any adjuncts. Stouts with adjuncts like coffee, chocolate, vanilla, etc tend to fall off after a year or so.

 

I didn't think it was great fresh. Not really any better than the base Moohoo.

I just cleared my old stock of Breakfast Stout. Last bottles of 12 & 13. Still ok, but not improved.

As far as oldest bottle? I think it is a 2011 Insanity. I didn't really "cellar" anything until the last 2 years or so...

 

This is partially true; the adjuncts start to fall off, not the beer itself. Things like coffee start to fade and be less present after usually 4-6 months, and continue to diminish, generally slowly and steadily, over the next few years until it's just a touch in the background.

Accoordingly, it's a matter of personal preference how old you'd like a certain beer. BCBCS for example has an incredibly strong amount of coffee flavor when fresh, and even the one I had a couple days ago (8 months old) was still pretty damn strong. Personally I enjoy that a lot, but I expect I'll also enjoy that beer a lot when the coffee has faded a bit and the roasted malt flavors and the bourbon barrel flavors come forward a bit.

Barleywines, particularly hop-forward American ones, are particularly subject to a large swing in character (this is why I'm really looking forward to my vertical of Bigfoot I referenced earlier) - when fresh(er) the hops have a strong presence and the malt takes a back seat, after a couple years this reverses, and a couple more years later and the hops are all but gone completely.

Just to throw out another example of adjunct-driven beer, I haven't done a side-by-side yet (I will soon) but I've had year-old Pumking and fresh Pumking in the last week or so, and both are very tasty, but in different ways. Fresh, it's like pumpkin pie in a glass; vibrant spices, thick pumpkin flavor, it's ridiculous. A year aged, the pumpkin and spice flavors are still the dominant presence, but now it's more like "beer that is pumpkin flavored and spiced" than "pumpkin pie in a glass", as the adjuncts have fallen off a bit the malt has come forward and is more pronounced. It's more mellow but also a bit less eye-poppingly authentic to what will be on the table on Thanksgiving.

 

"not great fresh" and what I had recently are very different. "not any better than base moohoo" is, generally speaking, a pretty nice compliment, I love base moohoo... the beer I had, however, had 'taken a turn'.

 

Thanks -- that helps a lot -- anything that I have stored that is good enough to share is at least at 9%, but I now know what to drink and what to save

This is helpful too -- and what's good from my perspective is that barrel aged stuff DOES age well, and so far (although my palate is still evolving) I tend to like those less than I like the adjuncts you mentioned -- so what I like best and what will age best are different.

 

This thread is so educational/informative!!

 

I really like Moo-Hoo, as well. Perhaps over-rated or over-hyped would have been more applicable than not great.

 

My oldest bottle I can think of off hand and my prize jewel of my cellar is my 2008 Darkness. Darkness is in my top three favortie beers of all time. Darkness, BCBS(and variants) and well I have a few tied for third Backwods Bastard, CW BBS, CW BBBW, CW PM they are all right there but not really all that close to taking over a spot from Darkness or BCBS

 

I haven't been sitting on a lot of beers to be honest. I have a couple 2012 Darkness but I like to drink those when something is going on. They are good. I do have a 2010 Abyss.

 

Yeah I'm starting to really regret the oversight of leaving Darkness off of my "I'd really love to get this" list of stouts in the Stout BIF thread... I basically just listed all of the dolphin stouts from across the country and somehow left this one off.

 

What. the hell, is a dolphin?

 

Wait, does the case of Stroh's from 1989 that I found in my dad's garage count?

 

You may want to drink that darkness sooner rather than later. we had a couple of '09s and '10s we opened this year and they were starting to go bad (had at least one infected one too, sadly).

2-3 years seems to be the sweet spot for it from my (not extensive) experience.

 

It's like a Whale, but smaller...