March Cellar Reviews

Thanks for posting, I have a Yeti vert that starts at '08, maybe I'll open these up sooner rather than later.

 

Just put down two bottles of 2008 Old Stock. It's basically right where I like it now -- viscous body, very light bitterness, lots of raisin/toffee with slight leathery/tannic flavors, cloying/sugary qualities all but gone, really getting into the swing of things. I'm going to go ahead and recommend my pairing as well -- a snowy night, Fireplace For Your Home on Netflix Instant, some Scholten Farms Weybridge cheese, and a nice book (Joyce for me).

 

Just had an '09 tonight. Tasty stuff - this is great news for next year! Cheers!

 

2009 Creme Brûlée, Southern Tier. Purchased in 09 and pretty much forgotten about.

High hiss of carbonation as the cap is released, pours a deep, clear mahogany with burgandy edges, small cap of off white foam, small lacing lingers. Smells heavily of sweet cream and brandy at a distance, butterscotch candy, maple bar, toffee crunch and dark brown sugar. First sip is brown sugar and tobacco, minimal alcohol burn with a fading hop astringency; butterscotch on the back end, maple, slight cola. This has dried out considerably compared to fresh, mouthfeel is lighter and is easier sipping. It has definitely mellowed out over the years, more well balanced with a more dull-cola type flavor making itself more known. Overall I'd say that this one is great right now, I have one left to try next year and see if it got any better/worse. Hope this helps!

 

2008 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot on cask.

Yes.

 

Sipping on a 2008 J W Lee's Harvest Ale, Sherry Cask edition, right now. I wish I had bought five more of them when I bought this one, because I can not find them in town. Much smoother than the same vintage of the Lagavulin Whisky Cask version I tried recently. The sherry flavor blends in so well. I'm looking forward to tracking down and trying their other cask aged versions.

 

2009 Southern Tier Chokolat.

Opens with a loud hiss, pours black with the faintest of maroon edges, I can tell this is a clear body. Smally khaki cap that quickly falls to leave a nice web of lacing. Smell is muted tootsie roll, some dark fruit, that's about it. Taste is dark chocolate, some blackberry wine on the back end, slight char or roast barley. This hasnt dried out much, still sweet but not overbearingly so, much more pleasurable. Mouthfeel is still thick and coating, and the alcohol is there still in the background. Pretty damn tasty actually, not very exciting but aging these is something I'll be doing from here on out.

 

Time for some fun: Central Waters Peruvian Morning, four years, 2009 - 2012.

'09 - smells like a bourbon bomb. Tastes roasty tipping towards ashy. Awesome smell, but it's a shell of its past glory. Decent.
'10 - subtle bourbon aroma. Integrated & quiet, nice roast, bourbon, coffee is faded. Borderline excellent.
'11 - big coffee nose. Less bourbon than the '10 (noticed that fresh, too), coffee still going. Very good plus.
'12 - reeks of coffee. Huge coffee notes, bourbon playing hide-and-seek. Very good.

Been hanging onto a couple bottles of this each year as an experiment. I don't drink coffee & don't like being slammed with coffee in my beer, so I usually hold onto this one for several months before drinking it. The '10 is the best by a ways, '11 next, the fresh '12 comes in third. Coffee lovers may feel differently. The '09 has seen much, much better days.

 

Just finished a side-by-side tasting of '09 and '11 Founders Backwoods Bastard.

The difference between the two is massive.

The '09 is extremely sweet with massive toffee, dark caramel and brown sugar notes. The bourbon has completely faded in to the background but is still there. Extremely smooth with almost no noticeable ABV for the 10.2% punch it carries.

The '11 is far less sweet with the bourbon flavours being much more prominent and some lighter vanilla and oak flavours apparent from the barrel aging. The alcohol is warming, compared to the '09 but it is certainly not hot. The sweetness is there but not nearly to the degree of the '09 with caramel, toffee and brown sugar flavours that are well balanced by the bourbon and warming alcohol.

Two completely different beers, and I much prefer the fresh '11. It would be interesting to see what the '10 vintage was like, but I didn't have a bottle turn this in to a vertical.

I would be interested to hear what others have thought about fresh versus aged Backwoods.

 

Bourbon County Rare
This is the third time I've had this. Still an amazing rich fudge brownie all over the nose and mouth. Possibly more sweet as it has aged, and definitely a more pronounced roasted marshmallow character in the mouth. This bottle had a touch higher carbonation than I would have cared for. The barrel work was so well done here, it's deeply integrated, powerful as always. Probably still better than the latest BCBS, which is a masterpiece. Destroys the BCBCS.

 

Fantome Sante 14
The wonder of this beer is largely in its use of bright, dank hops to compliment all the weird herbal, tart citrus and signature fantome funk. For this reason I'm not sure it's one to age for much longer, and it has regressed ever so slightly in the three bottles I've had. Still an amazing beer, my favorite of theirs along with the regular Saison.

 

Bullfrog Black Cherry Bomb
I believe this was released in December, 2008, and I've been lucky to drink from a few bottles of it over the years. The back story of this is pretty cool, it was a mistake, base beer wouldn't carbonate. Somehow it has evolved into a tapestry of flavors unlike any other. The most recent bottle was from January. With subtle changes every time I drink it I feel compelled to update my review. Here is the most recent edit, from a bottle that was one of the best 3-4 of any beer I've ever drank:

January 2012 update, just a few notes from a recent bottle. Pours black with a tall deep caramel head that slowly fades away but leaves a persistent cream atop, moving appearance to 5. Acidic and earthy, smoke element stronger than prior bottles. An umami type quality through the first pour of the bottle. It's imperative that this beer breathes and opens for a good 15 minutes before you really get into it. As it does the earthy, unsweetened chocolate character is just marvelous, dry but incredibly rich, atop that a screaming high acidic sour cherry. Layers of rich, earthy malt, lightly sweet but heavy dry cocoa powder and vanilla, washes of acids. Depth of flavor and complexity is magical, this particular bottle was probably the best American wild I've had.

 

De Dolle Stille Nacht Reserva 2005
Vinous qualities have swelled up considerably and have washed out some of the really cool stewed peach, pear from fresher bottles. Some clashes between the hops and the barrel. This beer is ALWAYS going through peaks and valleys, it's not one that necessarily either improves or declines with age. After an amazing bottle last year, the most recent one from January, 2012 was disappointing. I think storage conditions are huge for this beer and I'm not sure this one was kept right, but who knows.

 

2008 FFF Behemoth Blonde Barleywine (purple wax).

Slight pft when the cap is removed. Pours bright orange, with a slight tinge of tea coloration. Small lacing of off white marinates on top. Smells of pears and peaches, iced tea, chocolate covered figs, slight honey. Taste is stone fruits up front, followed by a faint coffee flavor and astringency. Juicy peaches comes through a lot, slight chocolate on the edges. Mouthfeel is perfect medium heavy, couldn't ask for a better feel in a bwine; medium low carbonation carries the flavors nicely. Damn good barleywine!

 

I went to an epic tasting last week, so I have quite a few:

Brasserie Belle-Vue – Gueuze (from 1981) - Held up well. Some definite cardboardy flavors, but there was still some nice sourness and sweetness.

East End Brewing Company – Toaster (from 2009 I think) - Really nice, very balanced. Drinking fantastically

Avery Brewing Company – The Czar Imperial Stout (from 2002) - Held up extremely well. Still drinking very smoothly, some sherry flavors developed. A bit of heat leftover

Brooklyn Brewing Company – Black Ops (from 2009) - Meh. Way better than fresh, but I'm not a huge fan of this one.

Domaine Familial Louis Dupont – Cidre Dupont Reserve 2009 - Smells really funky/sweaty, but tastes really sweet and clean. One of my favorites of the night

New England Brewing Company – Imperial Stout Trooper (2009 I believe) - Awesome brew. Didn't blow me away, but it was still really good.

Hill Farmstead Brewery – Everett (Utopias / Buffalo Trace Barrel Aged from '10 I think) - Yum. Definitely held up to the intense barrel aging.

Cigar City Brewery – Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout ('11) - OMG. Probably one of my favorites of the night. I've never had it fresh so I can't compare it, but it was damn near perfect

Avery Brewing Company – Ten Anniversary Ale - Another brew that held up really well. It sort of got lost in the mix, though...

Sierra Nevada – Celebration Ale (from 2006) - Believe it or not, it was pretty damn tasty. Still very bitter and it even had some hop flavor

Dogwood Brewing Company – Excellent Adventure (unlabeled barleywine that was never released according to the person who brought it. 9 Years old) - Awesome!! It had developed some sherry flavors, and it was pretty boozey but still a fantastic beer.

Goose Island – Pere Jacques (from 2008) - Very nice. Some nougat-like sweetness, and all of the Belgian spiceyness was pretty much gone.

Some other beers we had that night:

 

'09 Smuttynose Imperial Stout

Decided to experiment with one of these bottles, just love it fresh, but curious to see what a few years would do to it. And that would be: almost nothing! Still marvelous. Still hoppy, believe it or not. Still chocolatey. Too bad it's a school night & I don't have a fresh bottle, because I'd wager this hasn't lost a step. Better? Hard to get better than it was fresh, but this one ages like a champ. Might need to grab a few more next time around & do an even longer experiment. MMmmmmmm. Excuse me, I must go drink.

 

I agree they are delicious, i have about 5 of the sherry and port edition sitting in the cellar

 

2011 Surly Abrasive, almost exactly a year old. At 2 months, I thought it was fading, so I stuck a can in the cellar to see what would happen.

Looks just as good as it does fresh, with lacing totally coating the inside of the glass. Quite hoppy in the nose, though the abundant citrus has faded, leaving mostly piney aromas. Taste is good - hop flavor and bitterness have dropped off, but the malts don't quite fill in the gap. Sweetness is bumped up a fair bit, with a chunk of stone fruit and a pang of citrus. As expected, it still tastes like a hoppy barleywine. Surprisingly tasty, actually, and way better than I expected.

 

DFH Raison D'Etre

Bottled 29NOV11
Reviewed 05MAR12
This one is over a year old, let's see how it held up.

Pours as described: mahogany, with a finger of honey cream foam that falls to a scattered surface leaving cobweb lace. Smells of raisins, honey, candy, and the slightest hint of brown sugar. Flavor is sweet and malty. Plenty of the candy sugar comes through, and the malts seem appropriately oxidized adding just a hint of woody character. There is a nice, subtle belgian character in the yeast, but not nearly as dominant as the homeland offerings. Nice, moderate body is matched with a good, smooth and prickly carbonation. I dig this offering, not so much fresh, but at this point, I really enjoyed.