October 2014 Cellar Review

2012 Bells Third Coast Old Ale

Pours a viscous deep amber, carbonation bubbles seem to be suspended and stationary. Thin head and nice lacing; smell is butterscotch, slight prune, brown sugar. Taste is complex, piney resin, dates, raisins; mouthfeel is thick, small bubbles wait in the mix to pop on your tongue, flavors linger and the pine resin sets in on the palate for the long haul. Pretty damn good beer, wish I had some more to see how they hold up- oh wait I do

 

2013 Block 15 Framboise White

Age has really done this beer very well. Poured 2 full fingers of white head. Nose is full of berries; lacto and brett funkiness at moderate levels to balance the berries nicely. Taste is much the same as the nose. Lots of berries and moderate funk, but the two balance out flawlessly. The lacto funk is much more pronounced compared to when the beer was fresh. The beer was much more fruity when it was fresh, but there is still a significant amount of fruitiness in this beer. This beers sourness level has mellowed a bit from when I had a fresh bottle back in the summer of 2013. The mouthfeel is fantastic; creamy carbonation with a semidry finish. I recommend to pop a bottle of this beer right now because it is an unbelievable fruited sour beer right now.

 

For some reason your image isn't loading for me. What was this beer?

 

Just popped a 2013 Goose Island BCBS and Sofie. BCBS is smooth and velvety. Chocolate, vanilla, coconut, barrel character, slight alc presence but balanced with the other flavors. Drinking A-mazing right now.

Sofie is RID-ICULOUS, I enjoyed it far more than fresh. Light, bubbly, fluffy white head. The brett and wine barrel have become more pronounced but still balances out the saison base. I've heard rumors of this beers age-ability, and they are definitely true. Even after a year the brett doesn't become overwhelming, just complimentary. Reminds me of Prairie or Crooked Stave Saisons.

 

The best beer I had last year, period, was a 2009 Third Coast Old Ale. You are in for a treat.

 

Did a Sofie vertical in the summer and found 2011 to be the best, while 2010 was another story.

2014: grassy, tart, lemon taste notes with a slight boozy burn feel at the end.
2013: starts developing an aroma and taste that I can best describe as "wet, old hay," taste also becomes more brighter, tartness is mostly gone, which makes it more smoother.
2012: flavor is even more smoother than 2013 as the tartness was completely gone. A fainting soapy characteristic starts to develop.
2011: The tartness reappears, but with a more sour edgeness to it. Has a brighter lemon note.
2010: Starting to lose its luster. Flavor in general becomes lighter, tartness faded, and develops a clean finish at the end. Quite flat really.

From best to worst: 2011, 2013, 2014, 2012, 2010.

 

2014 Black Note

bottled on 03/12/14. So a 7 month old bottle.

Still a great looking pour of beer. light black body with a large khaki head. lacing and legs on the side of the glass. smells of expresso beans, bourbon, lots of oak, and dark chocolate. Taste is similar to the nose; all the flavors are integrated together nicely and not flavors are competing against the other. Not boozey at all. Still has that slightly creamy carbonation. Very smooth. This beer is going to continue to age well for quite some time.

 

Black Note is an interesting example, though--everything so smooth and rounded fresh, I'm not entriely sure what people are trying to get from aging it further. I'd be curious to hear from people who've aged it 2-3 years about how it could have improved or othewrise changed from a relatively fresh bottlin.

 

Russian River Damnation 23, Batch 069, Jan 2012 (purchased Feb 2012 and been cellared since).



Clean, clear golden pour. No floaties at all. Lively white head, settling down to a fine cap. Malty, yeasty, barley wine, tropical fruits aromas & flavours, with a clean citric bitterness. Lovely!!

 

2007 Brooklyn Monster

I cannot seem to get the image to load properly, so here's a link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cellared_beer/15313015559/

This one is really coming along nicely. It is squarely in the style of JW Lees Harvest of similar or greater age, though a bit thinner in terms of both viscosity and taste.

Smells are mostly of toffee, maple, brown sugar. On the tongue, I get some light nuttiness (roasted almond mainly), light vanilla, some maple syrup, oloroso sherry. Overall enjoyable. I'm not entirely sure how much longer this has until it starts going downhill, though it might be a while depending on your preferences. I do not get the sense it will last 20 years like some English-style barleywines, but we shall see.

I am short on good glassware following some major renovations to the house. I suspect what I was looking for (a nice stemmed large snifter) was still in a box, so I used my Corsendonk glass. Upon reflection, I wish I would have used a Reidel pinot noir glass from the O collection. It would have focused the nose better.

 

I'm replying to myself simply to say that the lighting was bad for the picture. The beer is a very clear, dark amber color. It looks murky in the picture, but it actually wasn't at all. It was very pretty actually.

 

Did a BA Barleywine tasting last night.

2014 CW BA Barleywine is still a bit hot and hoppy for my liking. Will probably try again in six months or so.

Mirror Mirror is drinking very good right now. I feel like the wine barrel is coming out a lot stronger at this point than it did fresh. There's a distinct grape taste on the back. I still have two more bottles, so I'm very excited to try these in the future.

BCBBW is just such a good beer. The alcohol burn is almost completely absent at this point and it's just rich syrupy vanilla, caramel, and brown sugar at this point. So good. I only have one bottle left at this point, and I don't expect to acquire any this year, so I'll sit on my last bottle for another year or so. I can't imagine it improving much more than that.

 

Popped open a '12 Sucaba at a share last night... Only had a few ounces, but was really impressed.

Hops have really faded to the background, but still there. Very sweet and slightly muted. Some serious toffee/caramel. Tons of barrel coming out as well.

We also opened a batch 1 Atrial which has become a totally seperate beer entirely. Sour and funk is really starting to take over that beer... In a good way. Still plenty of the Raspberry that makes Atrial great.

 

Just poured a Fullers Vintage from 2009 and its holding up very well, herbal, spicy, lots of hard toffee, some Christmas cake, no complaints from this guy.

 

2013 Le Terroir

Pours golden haze, thin white head. Smells of candy, fruity citrus, sweet rose, lick-m-aide. Tastes of sour, medium low acidity, citrus candy, slight oxidized paper flavor somewhere in the back, sour pear. Mouthfeel is light, carbonation medium light, real clean flavors on the palate. Not sure aging it did it much good from fresh, perhaps it cut the boppy pale ale dimension and brought forth the sour obviously, but a fun experiment nonetheless.

 

2010 St. Bernardus Prior 8

Medium body color, foamy off white head. Very nice aroma - complex malt, bready, nutty. Same flavors in the taste, plus some earthy herbal notes. Medium body, soft smooth carbonation. Very nice dubbel, a prime example overall.

 

2012 Abyss

More dark chocolate and definitely a lot less tobacco than I remember fresh. I wouldn't say it improves...it just maintains.

 

Stone 2010 Old Guardian Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Bought this a couple of years back or so when the Stone Store opened in Pasadena. I had it my fridge and finally decided to pop it and it absolutely did not disappoint. A fantastic interplay between the malts and bourbon. The bourbon had the perfect amount strength, enough to feel it's bite but not too much to bury the other things going on. Great stuff!