February Cellar Reviews

Sipping a FIS bottle date 12/15/13. Alcohol has subsided but chocolate and coffee essence is out up front.. Mouth fell is very full and smooth. Like what a year did, have a bunch more op from this bottling so will continue to store, but the year has helped smooth out this one a lot for me. Made a good beer better

 

Haven't looked at or contributed to the monthly cellar reviews in awhile; forgot how much I enjoy the geekiness that is reading about aged beers. Thought I would share my review on a 3.5 year-old Noel de Calabaza:

Batch 892 - Bottled 09-23-2011.

A: The bottle says it's a deep mahogany color, and I reckon that fits the bill. Billowy, taupe head pours out to at least two fingers, and lacing is ample.

S: Brettanomyces and oak. Mostly brett. I guess almost 3.5 years of aging will do that.

T: Starts out with some fairly ripe plum, but by mid-sip the brett has the spotlight. The plum, which is not particularly ripe, nor too tart, hangs around though, and I get it on the end in most sips. I get a bit of spicy oak every so often, but it's not a strong contributor. Not much of an aftertaste to speak of.

M: Purdy carbonated. Maybe just a smidge too much, but it keeps the beer going down easy, which I like for a wild ale, which is really what I consider this to be, especially after aging.

O: Tasty indeed. After trying many of the Jolly Pumpkin beers several years ago, I decided this was the only one I particularly enjoyed, at least for the price. I wouldn't say this is better than younger versions, just different.

 

Bell's Expedition

Bottle date 7/26/13

This bear at about 4 years old cultivated my love for cellaring. At this age, the anise is still pretty strong; I bought a full sixer of this when I spotted the vintage and I will continue to age the others.

 

Just had a 13' BBPT5. Tastes exactly like bcbs. So strange.
14' tastes nothing like bcbs.

 

Dude's been busy. I hope you're feeling okay today.

Hey, what year was the Cereal Killer?

 

2012 Founders Bolt Cutter

This beer gets no love on here and its trade value is routinely shit on. I'm not sure why. This past Saturday it was delicious and very warming in the cold while waiting outside for the SP Biere de Fantaisie release. The beer has retained its awesome malt character and the barrel has mellowed out a ton. Drank super smooth for 15% with little to no burn.

 

Agree! I thought it was excellent when it came out & even better when I had my second (& last) bottle several months ago. Not bad if you want to stockpile more though...

 

Agreed! I had it fresh on tap, and while good, wasn't super impressed. I listed it FT with the mention of "looking to help some one who couldn't find one" and got no response.....win for me now!

 

Agree and agree with @maximum12 , had one around thanksgiving and enjoyed it very much, saving another, we should all buy a boat together

 

Did a 4 year ('11-'14) Elijah Craig Eclipse vert last week. 14 and 13 were incredibly similar, honestly a negligible difference between the two IMO. '12 was enjoyable, a bit more base beer coming through but still very strong. '11 was the best of the 4 though, things had really started to meld together and blend quite well, bourbon with many other flavors, rather than on top of them all.

 

wow didn't know about this thread will have to remember these threads when i crack open the king henry

 

I've found BBPT5 to have a fairly strong hop character fresh that BCBS does not have, but obviously the hops die down a bit after some aging, so it would be more similar to BCBS after some time. Just my opinion/experience.

 

Chimay Grand Reserve. Vintage 2 of 2012. 750 ml. Sampled on 2/28/2015.

Appearance: Brown color, which was red when held up to the light, with lower carbonation, and a light beige, thin, creamy head.

Aroma: Dark fruit--cherries, plums, dates, burnt brown sugar, with some alcohol warmth.

Taste: Strong Belgian candi sugar, alcohol warmth, burtn brown sugar, apples and raisins sauteed in butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, dark fruits of mostly cherries but some raisin.

Overall: Became increasingly sweeter the more I drank. Still good, overall, and probably the best Chimay has tasted to me.

 

Dark horse has quality control issues. They cant seem to make a single year of BBPt5 consistently the same anymore. The batches from 2012 and earlier were outstanding and similar to the previous years batch. They were also making a lot less of it back then. Maybe that is the correlation.