December 16 Cellar Reviews

2009 Samichlaus

Clear dark brown, ruby highlights. A ring of head. Lovely aroma of dark fruits and toffee. Taste is similar, sweet but not cloying. Only a touch of booze. Long lingering aftertaste. Sticky mouthfeel.

In my opinion one of the best beers to cellar. After having a great aged bottle from a friend, back in 2009 I bought a full case, drink a couple each Christmas, and 7 years and its still improving.

 

found two six packs of Third Coast at 10.99 each I bought early Dec. bottled Oct 2014. the store shelves are not exposed to sunlight.

couldn't get a decent picture. pours murky dark amber. floaters as expected

the smell right away is sweet sticky bread, but there was something else that took me a while to pinpoint. fig. wait no, fig newtons! yeah, that's it. after sitting exposed for a few minutes, the age starts to come out in the form of tobacco. taste is not unlike the smell. sweet fermented fig newtons. tobacco. earthiness (prob from the yeast, I don't care about pouring it in). a slight lingering bitterness that may still fade with time, not sure. it's good. very, very good. Van Johnson good. mouthfeel is slightly prickly at first and there is a pleasing stickiness that remains. resinous maybe? bitterness lingering still. quite a while, actually. overall, glad I bought both packs.

 

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout 2015 Vintage
From The Cellar
12oz bottle into Libbey Tulip
Bottled 10/1/15 (about 15 months old) Winter 15-16 Vintage
L- pours a dark brown and appears dark black in the glass with inch thick mocha colored head, leaves lacing
S- deep rich roasted chocolate notes, caramel, vanilla and slight hint of coffee as well
T- smooth rich chocolate, followed by a fruitiness that I associate with dark chocolate, with notes of espresso on the finish
F- as mentioned in the taste real rich and smooth, full bodied
Overall this is one heck of a beer, and it is amazing what a year can do. As I had 2016 vintage this week and the 2015 is much smoother, and really smooths out the rough edges.
Cheers!

 

2015 Pretty Things Our Finest Regards

One year in, this is richly malty, creamy, caramel, nutty, slightly fruity. I found it a little boozy fresh (11% ABV so no surprise there), but that's all but gone a year in. However, it seems like there's something a little off as well, a bit of a metallic-soapy character that creeps in towards the finish. I honestly can't quite put my finger on it.

I don't have a ton of experience with barleywines (for a long time I was under the impression that I didn't like them at all; more recently I have discoved that I don't like HOPPY barleywines) so I'm not going to get too detailed here. It's one of the more uneven beers I've encountered. Overall it's good, but most good beers are just good throughout. This is more like a great beer that's got some flaws dragging it down.

I still have one or two of these stashed away, and I think I'll let them go a while longer. Partly in hopes that the beer is going through a sort of awkward phase, party because it's Pretty Things and I'll be sad when all of it is gone...

 

2012 SN Bigfoot
It remains pretty dangerous with minimal alcohol presence as the malt body fades with time and leaves a medium bodied mostly caramelly sweet, mildly hopped but rustic ale with rough edges and all but mostly just trusty good cellar drinking.

 

Cuvee Delphine from De Struise Brouwers
2012 Vintage Bottled 9/14

This is beer is a barrel aged version of Black Albert. Pours very dark near pitch black with a strong tan head. The nose and taste were chocolate, vanilla, and really nice dark stone fruit (raison) much more so than I'm used to in an IS - more like in a great aged Belgian Dark Strong Ale. It made it a bit different, more complex and better than most really good barrel aged Imperial Stouts. And it was the smoothest IS I've ever had - no bitterness at all (which I loved) and no bite whatsoever even at 11% ABV.
One of the best beers I had, pick one up if you see it.

 

Very encouraged by this. Hate this beer fresh, aging hoping that the cherry will mellow and meld.

 

Yeah, I agree that in some years, the fresh version can taste a little cough-syrupy.

 

I had it stored in a cool basement based for approx 4 years, and then in my refrigerator for the next 3. I was hoping I would get a little more from it, but oh well!

 

Had this 14' Prop on Dec. 29th. Had high expectations for this one since it trades in rarified air. Fortunately I was able to get one without trading the farm.

A- Poured pitch black as expected with small tan head.
S- Typical Bourbon County nose with faint hint of coconut
T- Very sweet with a glimpse of coconut that is quite subtle. It comes and goes very quickly and doesn't linger on the after taste. Traditional big bourbon county taste.
F-Rich, full body feel
O-Excellent beer but slightly dissapointed as I had higher expectations. Being a huge Bourbon County fan in general, I had maybe built this one up in my mind and rode the hype train. While a very good offering, not great.

 

This beer ages very well, I had a 2004 bottle back in November, it held up very well and still had great flavors and characteristics of Old Guardian. I have a bottle of 2009 that I will be having in February sometime, and I am hoping that it held up just as nice as the 2004 bottle. This is a very good BW that holds its own every year with the best of them, and at a really good price point for a bomber these days. Cheers!

 

Yes I could see the '04 still being bright, I like this BW and am glad I still have some more older ones available to try.