Cellar Reviews (2020)

Regarding the Jackie O's stouts, I'll agree there's a certain sameness about them that's easily recognizable but as far as being thin and one dimensional an experience I had last year begs to differ. A bar I was at had Great Lakes Blackout Stout on tap so I had a tulip of that which was ok but Imperial stouts aren't a Great Lakes strong point. I noticed a waitress taking a Dark Apparition to a table and asked the bartender why it wasn't on the beer list I chose from only to find out it was an outdated list so I ordered one. It was like night and day as far as richness and complexity of smell and taste, and it left a big impression. I'm sure you can find better ones, and I'm the first to admit tastes are subjective, but imo Jackie O's stouts are on the good side of the bell curve.

 

I just looked at my Jackie Os reviews. Only 3 total but all imperial stouts. For all 3 the “feel” category was the lowest rated category for the respective beer. 2 of the 3 I commented on the mouthfeel being thinner than anticipated, and 2 of the 3 I commented on as being heavily carbonated. That being said the three overall reviews ranged from 4.21-4.5 so obviously I didn’t exactly hate them.

 

That got a like for the cool photo and not for the infected beer (which is weak). Great photo though!

 

I had a nine year old 2 Turtle Doves a couple years ago which still tasted great. It was a strong Belgian dark ale style so maybe they just age better.

 

I drank one of these a couple of nights after this post from you but I forgot my post it on here. Here was my take:

Pours a very dark copper with a huge light tan head. Aroma is huge dark fruits, very sweet, molasses, maple syrup is still noticeable as are the bourbon barrel notes. Taste is massively sweet. I actually still get a ton of maple syrup. Big caramel and some candied sugar. Some bitterness to balance, oak and bourbony vanilla round it out. Great drinkability, it’s remarkably smooth. Overall i think this is great, surprisingly it may almost still be too sweet which I wasn’t expecting. I did think the barrel notes, including the maple syrup characters, held up very nicely. I have one left, will probably take it around 2 more years and see how it develops further.

4.5/4/4.5/5/4.5

 

would love to post photos and I took a photo. I have a difficult time posting them to this website...

 

Tonight’s SPOOKY Halloween beer is Fantome Chocolat. This was the most Halloween-y beer I had in my cellar, so figured now is as good a day as ever to pop it. No bottling dates but I believe it’s a 2018 as I’m pretty certian that’s the year I bought it. It’s a new to me beer, and sounds very unique. I typically love Fantome although this one seems a bit gimmicky on paper. Trying to approach this one without expectations.

Pours crystal clear, dark golden with a white tan head. Aroma is much maltier than expected and sweeter too. Caramel is the most prominent character early, chocolat is there too but not particularly strong. Some floral notes on the back end, a bit of hay although I wouldn’t call the aroma funky. Ok maybe a bit funky, with the earthy saison yeast notes. Taste is, unique. Not a lot of flavor up front, mainly just light, almost lager like malt notes. Most of the flavors come out on the back end. It’s quite earthy, floral, and has some moderate pungent funk on the finish. I wouldn’t have known there was cocoa in it had the bottle not told me, but I guess I catch the subtlest of cocoa notes (perhaps placebo). The chili flavors are very subtle but actually give a pretty nice, non-descript heat to add a nice balancing component. ABV is pretty high for the style, but is not noticeable. Carbonation is on the lower end. Overall, this was interesting. I’m not a huge fan of the style, but Fantome tends to make my favorite ones (especially regular Fantome Saison and Printemps), this is far from those but I did all in all enjoy it and appreciate the uniqueness. I will say it’s the least chocolatey of any chocolate adjunct beer I’ve ever had, but I guess subtlety should be the name of the game in an adjunct laden saison.

Cheers old beer lovers, and Happy Halloween!

4.5/4/3.75/3.75/3.75

 

postimages.org

Super easy, take photo, select “upload photo” wait for it to upload, select “hot links for forum” and post directly into the text box on the message board.

 

Tonight’s second CREEPY Halloween beer is part of my all time favorite beer series, COAST Barrel Aged Blackbeerd. Scary pirates are Halloween-esque, right? Anyways, this is the 2016 variant, aged in Heaven Hill Rye Whiskey barrels. The 2012 Blantons variant is one of my all time favorite beers and is actually the beer that got me into bourbon.


Pours an opaque midnight black with dense tan colored head that has great retention. Aromas are huge chocolate, big toasted marshmallow, bourbon notes with charred oak and vanilla. Absolutely killer nose. Taste is more roasty, more herbaceous. Roasted marshmallow characters are present but more subtle than the nose, some semi-sweet bakers cocoa. Pretty big charred oak and some rye whiskey notes, but when comparing with my notes from fresh the barrel notes have faded some. Overall a really great beer that aged well. I have a 2010-2016 vertical in the cellar and sometime will take a couple weeks and do that experiment.

4.5/4.75/4.25/4.5/4.5
(Original/fresh review: 4.5/4.25/4.75/4.5/4.5)

 

2017 Founders Backwoods Bastard



Happy Halloween Cellar Dwellers

This was my intro brew into barrel aging so I was really looking forward to this since our highly scientific controlled experiments have indicated that three years is the sweet spot and this bad boy has a 10/06/2017 bottling date. So why does this taste a little off? Not bad per se but a little less than what I was expecting. Maybe because this was a gift from some friends moving cross country (my Beer Cellar records has the date of 8/26 for this so this came from another batch) and wasn't stored to my exacting standards. The look and smell are fine but the taste isn't up to snuff. Oh well, I still have one left according to my less than 100% accurate cellar records so maybe next times the charm.

 

That's a hard lesson to learn but that's why we do these experiments.

 

3F Hommage sits on the shelves in California?!?!!!?!

 

CBS • 11.3% ABV • 2019 release (9/23/19 bottled date; aged in the fridge 10 months)


I did not love CBS at first blush. I scored the first bottle of a 4-pack just 4.02 (-14.5% rDev) in January and figured maybe some time in the "cellar" would help it.

It did. Ten months in my fridge has rounded off some of its darker edges and also helped meld together what tasted like a jumbled mess of notes in January. It now tastes more like a straightforward big American stout with the burnt bitterness and licorice being largely replaced with more cocoa/milk chocolate flavor. I'd score this much closer to 4.25 and maybe as high as 4.30 in this form.

For me, CBS might not get much better than where I've got it right now. I've got two bottles left from the four-pack and likely will drink them this winter. If I keep one for fall/winter 2021, it will only be for experiemental purposes. Experience tells me drinking time for these dudes is nigh.

Cheers!

 

Hommage and BIO Hommage are on the shelf here in NC. $60 and $65 respectively.