Cellar Reviews (2020)

Got to enjoy my first Fou' Foune this evening. Bottled in September of '18, so just about 2 years out from that.

A lovely beer, the acidity was a little higher than I love and I'm honestly a bit testy about any cantillon i try that's not the geuze, because that simple geuze is probably my favorite beer of all time. This one had some nice apricot flavors that opened up as it warmed but lacked that touch of funk.

Would drink again, probably wouldn't pay the roughly 60$ this cost me though. It was a nice splurge for my 33 1/3 birthday though, and it went super well with the dinner of tuna that came off the dock 2 days ago

 

Very nice, congratulations on your bottle and birthday. I never had the good fortune to come across a bottle for purchase. They occasionally drop here, or at least they did pre COVID.

Was fortunate to try three different Cantillon offerings for the first time during Zwanze Day at Hopleaf last year, including a generous 1-2 oz of St. Lamvius shared by a person I never met before. I have to agree with you, their classic geuze is a great offering, would buy a bottle any time I came across one.

I definitely would like to try a Fou Foune down the road. Really disappointed there will be no Zwanze events stateside this year. I'm hoping Hopleaf will be able to bring in some Cantillon or other special offerings in lieu of a full celebration. If not, I'll still head down there for to try something new and drink a bottle from my cellar.

 

Seriously bummed as well. The cancellation of the NCAA tournament was the first time the severity of the situation hit me, the cancellation of zwanze day was the second wave.

I really hope.we see some cantillon bottles pop up around that time still but I'm bummed to miss out on this years zwanze offering.

Also, my post was pretty ho hum about the Fou' Foune but its a great beer, I'd love to try it fresh as I find that stone fruit tends to go sour for me. That said, it was a wonderful beer, my wife absolutely loved it (even poured and enjoyed the dregs, which is not her MO), and it was better than 95% of the domestic ba sours I've tasted in the last 5 years.

 

Nice review!

Just so you are aware, there is now a Bourbon County Review thread! In the future, consider posting other BC reviews there.

 

honestly, like stouts, I think its kind of silly to age a lambic with added fruit. I could detect the ghost of apricots past but what was probably that bright juicy taste of summer when fresh was mostly just an increased acidity that (to me) threw of the balance just a bit.

Also, if I haven't made it clear, this is me picking nits on a beer that I enjoyed immensely so that I'm offering more than just gushing fan boy praise. Ultimately, I'd take this beer at this age over most us made options. And I will definitely pick up any fresher bottles I encounter. But at this age, given tgr choice, I will grab the 2.5 bottles of oude geuze I could get for the same price

 

Came down to Revolution in part to have a my last shot at V. S. O. J., an offering canned 10/10/18 (6:39:01) and kept by the brewery until today.



The acronym stands for Very Special Old Jacket. Jacket is short for Straight Jacket, Revolution’s annual Barrel Aged Barleywine release.

This offering was aged between 2-3 years prior to canning in unidentified bourbon barrels. The brewery stated they were releasing the final four cases they hold for onsite consumption today, likely to drum up some additional business on a typically slow Monday.

I tried Revolution’s Deep Woods series in 2018, primarily due to the cluster for unlawful carnal knowledge of Goose Island’s 2017 release at Binny’s. I had a few Revolution pours prior to 2018, liked Anti Hero, Eugene and A Little Crazy, and decided to take the jump into their barrel aged series with my typical Goose Island money. I believe I made an excellent call.

Here is a review of the 5 oz offering I tried fresh in 2018, which I will compare to the full can. I’m pretty conservative by BA standards with rating scores, closer to Rate Beer scoring. Anytime I rate a beer at or above 4.5, I will grab more anytime I can find more.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22072/264097/

Appearance: Very dark brown black pour, light white tan ring for a around the ring of the glass. Consistent with 2018 pour. 4.25, unchanged.

Aroma: Variance noted here, Barleywine leads very firmly, barrel presence receded over the past 22 months, vanilla is gone at this point. Would likely drop .5 from my 4.5 aroma vs. fresh to 4.0, due to loss of complexity.

Taste: Primary change is the receding of the vanilla, though it does come through here. Barleywine strong, pleasant. I let this sit for 15 minutes before first sip, another 10 minutes in the barrel emerges strong, very smooth and pleasant consistent with OG pour. Extremely smooth, sweeter than I would have imagined before drinking now, remains excellent. 4.5 score unchanged.

Mouthfeel: This was an amazingly full rich creamy barleywine when first tried, it is either the same or slightly even richer today. I never had a barleywine with this body profile, and I may never again. I give out 5s very rarely, but this version deserves an upgrade from 4.75 to 5, absolute perfection.

Overall: I had the pleasure of pouring a 2015 Straight Jacket bomber the first Saturday in May, my first Revolution package purchase four plus years prior, and it was most excellent. This pour, aged longer in barrels, but a few years fresher, rates as high. Am I pleased with the purchase of this pour today, my last shot at 2018 V. S. O. J.? Most definitely. Would I buy this again, even at the pricey $2.0833 per oz cost? Yes I would. 4.5 unchanged.

Lovers of Straight Jacket / V. S. O. J. still have a chance to head down as Revolution still has cans at the Brewpub. This is a world class amazing BA barleywine.

 

Greetings Cellar Nerds. Tonight’s beer is a 2016 Wicked Weed La Mure Morte, a barrel aged wild ale with blackberries. I liked, but didn’t love this beer fresh. I’ve never aged a WW sour this long, let’s see how it’s drinking.

Pours a translucent ruby with a large rose colored head. Aroma is wonderful, tons of berry, super tart, subtle plastic funk. Fantastic. Taste is puckeringly sour, moderate berry characters to balance, big oak on the finish. Mouthfeel is great, high but appropriate carbonation, very drying finish which leaves you eager for the next sip, very drinkable. Overall, this was a terrific beer that has unquestionably improved with time.

4.5/4.75/4.25/4.5/4.5
(Original/fresh rating: 4.25/4.25/3.75/4/4)

 

I’ll take them.

 

Even though I just posted a raving review of a domestic wild ale, I completely agree. Very few US wilds can even hold a candle to most anything from Cantillon or 3F.

 

Do y’all seriously see Fou’ Foune on the shelves? I don’t think I’ve seen a single Cantillon on a beer store shelf in the US since 2011 (I’m not even exaggerating and remember the year cause it’s when I was briefly living in New Orleans).

 

Not just sitting around. There is one shop locally that seems like they get a drop annually and then randomly stick stuff on the shelf throughout the year.
I just happened to check their online menu (they are call in orders for pick up only now a days) because they are also the only local source of Pliny and I wanted to get some of that for my dad while he was visiting. I saw that they had Fou' Foune as well as 1900 Brouscella and ordered both. They had one of each and I didn't grab a receipt but im fairly certain they were each 60$. Maybe $55 if I'm misremembering the price of the 3 Font bottles.

I'm just blessed to live in a small community with a small beer nerd base so stuff like that doesn't disappear instantly and sometimes I stumble across a gem

 

I have a sister that lives in Chicago, and rev is definitely the barrel program that I am most eager to try, and yet I have somehow never managed to get myself a single deep woods beer.

That sounds like a wonderful barleywine

 

Here is a link to this year's release. Several of the offerings will be widely distributed, Binny's the "Total Wine" of our area will carry these. In addition, I've seen several 2019 variants still available in Binny's and other local shops. Last year they sold as 12 oz four packs for $25-$40, should be close to the same pricing this year. Supermassive Cafe Deth was the best coffee BA stout I ever had, about the same/perhaps better than BCBS coffee from years ago.

If you have been nice to your sister, perhaps she'll grab a few cans for the next time you come in.

Cues Juliana.....

 

If only I'd known I'd need her to mule BA stouts for me when we were young
Might have put some more effort into those bday presents and let her tag along a bit more often

 

DONT JUDGE ME!


jk. I use post images.org and they sneak in advertisements in the links when you upload photos. Sneaky sneaky.

 

That makes sense. I was just scrolling through, and I said, “what’s...that?...” I almost didn’t click, but I was curious. My benevolent German overlords would not be pleased with my behavior.

 

Straight Jacket is awesome. Is this any different other than longer aging? I wish they'd can a non-BA version of Straight Jacket, because I'd love to cellar a bunch.