Trade Help: Cable Car, T25, Blabaer, OGV 08

What does '07 OGV trade for?

 

Yes to the first point. I was saying you should trade for an '07 over '08. I didn't realize you already had '08. Sorry for that. Regarding reviews, anything that has come out in the last couple of years has been rated significantly higher than bottles released before that. I'm not sure if that's people trying to hype beers or just a general bias towards higher ratings, but it's obvious that it is occurring.

Regarding '08 vs. '07, I doubt there are very many people who have had them side by side that would choose the '08. It's still a great beer, but '07 is fantastic.

... And yes, avoid the synthetic corks.

 

Any reason why you feel 2013 was such a bad year? Was it something about the batch or bottle variation? Just wondering for my own information.

 

I've had most of the OGV bottlings. But like other people have said, people don't trade their OGV bottles away because they're better than nearly anything else out there. I wouldn't trade for '07 OGV unless it's the December bottling. Every bottle of the February '07 bottling (St Valentijn Cuvee) that I've had has been synth cork and very sub-par.

'02 - Just as good as Blauw and the 1999 Screenprint, better than 1998 50th Anny and Millennium IMO
'03 - Just shy of the quality of '02
'04 - Only in 375ml format, flat with no carb. Not very good.
'05 - The 375 bottles suffer from carb issues also, and are mostly flat. The 750's are pretty good, but not as good as the '02, '03, '07 or '08
'06 - Synth cork, flat. These bottles are garbage.
'07 February - Cuvee St Valentjn - rubber band and plastic. Not pleasant. Again the syntheic corks for every bottle I've seen.
'07 December - Very good, on the same level as the '03 bottles
'08 - Just as good as the December '07 and '03 bottles

Generally my ranking of bottlings would be '02, '08, '07, '03. I've had a half dozen '08 bottles that were incredible, but only one or two '07 OGV's that were on the same level. I would also give a "do not trade" recommendation for the '04 - Feb '07 bottlings as well as the '04 Wedding magnum.

 

Taste is vastly different than other vintages. It's a known quantity among lambic lovers. Also, I have a friend who had the damnedest time trying to give a bottle away in a trade.

Just do a search of Blabaer in the FT:ISO forums. Ppl will generally say, "I'm not interested in 2013 bottles."

Extremely well said!!

 

2014 is a whole new ball game, it was sooo nice.

 

Not every St Valentijn Cuvee has a synthetic cork. Mine did not. Also, I was recently surprised to discover that not every 14/2/2007 bottle date has the St Valentijn label. Some have just the standard OGV label. (And the one we had had a synthetic cork and was not as good as the natural cork St Valentijn. Neither was as good as the Dec 2007 bottling. Both were substantially better than the synthetic cork 2006.)

 

my feb 07 is not a synthetic cork

my 04 375 had loads of carb. one of the best gueuzes ive ever had.

02 is also one of the best gueuzes ive ever had.

interesting on 03 since its the same barrels as blauw

 

What are your guys thoughts on whether or not a 2006 vintage Iris could land an '08 OGV 750? The Iris was bottled in 2008.

 

Pretty close, maybe a small plus on the Iris, but I'd rather have the OGV.

 

So people that have had multiple vintages of Blabaer, which was the best? I can see 13 didn't get great reviews. What about '12 or previous years?

 

I've only had '11 and '12, but both had a weird plastic finish to me. I would say one of my least favorite Cantillon bottles.

 

So really looks like either Blabaer is overrated or like everything else there is plenty of bottle variation.

 

Both. Blueberry is hard. Tried many, loved none.

 

I was in SF and tried to get a Cable Car at Toronado and bar tender told me they had none. It was my 58th birthday and I told him I knew they were expensive but he told me he would sell me one if he had any. So I do not think there is any CC in SF.