Post a pic of your "Tasting" events

Nothing too crazy for us...

 

Notable standouts and/or surprises? Recently cracked an '01 JW Lees and was pretty disappointed.

 

Somebody should try a complete Miller product horizontal... Night would probably end up with fighting, but hey?

 

A few weeks ago with some local BAs

 

We may have gone over the top.
3F Golden Blend
50/50 Eclipse 18 EC
Alchemist Heady Topper
Alpine Nelson
Bells Expedition Stout
Boulevard Double Wide and LC2
Brasserie Trois Dame: Grande Dame and Sauvageonne
The Bruery: BT, WC, CR, and 2TD
Cantillon Cuvee Saint-Gilloise, Vignorrone, St. Lamvinus
CCB BA Church on a Hill and Marshal Zhukov
DFH 75 and 120
Eagle Rock Unity
FBS
HF Arthur
Hoppin' Frog BA BORIS
JK Boxer's Revenge
Midnight Sun Berserker
NG Cherry Stout
Oude Beersel
Panil Barriquee
Russian River T25
Southern Tier Pumking
Surly Wet
Williamsburgs Alewerks Bourbon Barrel Porter
Weyerbacher Rapture

 

So we did this last night...(big ups to OudErnest for the insaaaaaanely generous 2000 Reserva donation)



L-R: SN 2010, SN 1984, 2010 Reserva, 2000 Reserva

 

Curious on your take of the line-up.

 

Well, a bit of a confession first: I've never had Stille Nacht in any capacity up to the point of this tasting. This was a staggering realization that occurred to me earlier in the evening before we even began the lineup. Now, I'm a big fan of De Dolle beers (Oerbier Reserva is probably one of my favorite Oud Bruins), but for some reason SN had escaped me entirely up until now.

So anyway, in the order that we opened these:

2010 Stille Nacht: This was basically fresh, for all intents and purposes. Ripe with candi sugar and pretty heavy on the mouthfeel. I can see why people are fond of aging these. Great beer and perfect for the type of seasonal weather that the label suggests. Though, having been aware of the yeast change at the turn of the century, I knew that the next bottle would likely be strikingly different....

1984 Stille Nacht:.....and it was. These two vintages really couldn't have been more different from each other. For starters, the color of this vintage was significantly darker than the 2010. Whereas the 2010 was clearly classifiable as a BSPA, this was unquestionably in BSDA territory. Aroma? This thing smelled old. Not in a terrible way, but mostly in a "wow, there's a lot happening here" (sherry oxidation, dark fruits, leather...the kind of stuff that gets me totally pumped on uber-vintage beers). Taste was fairly lactic with a pretty distinct richness. Certainly not unlike some vintage Rodenbachs. Though, I was pleasantly surprised to find that after letting my pour sit for a good 15-20 minutes there was a noticeable chocolatey quality that peeked out from underneath. This one was infinitely better just a touch above cellar temps. Not entirely sure on the full provenance of this particular bottle, but I do know that it was acquired by a tasting group member in an IP trade back in the motherland within the last year or two.

2010 Stille Nacht Reserva: I have to admit...I was not fully prepared for how incredibly life-changing this beer was about to be. Immediately, on the first pour, we were remarking on how delicious the liquid itself looked in the glass. Carbonation appeared to be in control and somewhat fluffy. The aroma is off-the-charts. So much wine barrel....it's tough to describe. This brew really does straddle the line between beer and wine. Taste was insaaaaaanely ridiculous....in a good way. Tons of oak dryness (maybe needs to mellow out just a tiny bit) and a tiny bit of fruit (of the pitted variety). Mouthfeel was, for lack of a better word, luscious. I had a difficult time finishing my pour as I did not want this experience to end. I was originally toying with the idea of trading out one of my bottles perhaps for something else that I've wanted to try for a while, but I changed my tune pretty fast. This one falls easily into my Top 5 Belgian beer experiences (not an easy feat).

2000 Stille Nacht Reserva: Where to even begin with this one. Well, this bottle was generously donated by a friend/fellow BA who was regretfully unable to attend this tasting. Remarkably generous, to say the least....and we officially owe him big. Expectations were pretty high as we were all well aware of this beer's elite "whale" status. Pushing all that aside, we tried to approach this as objectively as possible. The cork came out without much work. Poured nicely....but was also noticeably darker in color compared to the 2010 Reserva. Apparently, the recipe/yeast change doesn't specifically apply in this case, but it there was a clear visual distinction in either case. Not sure why that was the case, but we happily shrugged it off. Aroma? Fell right smack in the middle between the 1984 SN and the 2010 SNR....almost as if it was a hybrid of the two. Had some old notes going on, but body was full and had a lactic quality that I really enjoyed (even more so than the 1984). It didn't have the in-your-face vibrance of the fresh 2010 SNR, but we didn't subtract any points for that. This is a vintage beer, plain and simple. Now, as for its place on the "whale" list? I'm not so sure that it warrants the position that it's been given. Difficult to get? Duh. Fantastic beer? Of course! However, it just didn't have the qualities that I would expect something that's (for one reason or another) arbitrarily thrown in with the likes of Framboos '99 etc. Many great qualities, but clearly lacked that "X" factor that you would expect to find in a beer like this. Infinitely thankful for the opportunity to have tried this gem, though. Big ups, Ernie!!!

Now, if I had to rate all of these in a lineup? Would probably go something like this:

1) 2010 SNR
2) 2000 SNR
3) 2010 SN
4) 1984 SN

The others in the crew may have a slightly different take, however...

 

3 rounds, 5 beers per round, each one blind.

Round 1:



Wanted to do all Citra beers, but couldn't find enough regionally.

Three Floyds Zombie Dust American pale ale
Westbrook Single Hop: Citra rye pale ale
Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
Terrapin So Fresh, So Green, Green (2012 Citra fresh hop) IPA
Alchemist Heady Topper DIPA

Round 2:



All Belgian quadrupels, obviously.

Rochefort 10
Straffe Hendrik
Westvleteren XII
Pannepot 2011
St. Berbardus Abt 12

Round 3:



Founders Breakfast Stout (2010)
Goose Island Bourbon Country Brand Stout (2009)
Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel
Founders KBS
Founders Breakfast Stout (2012)

My friends were appreciative.

 

Left to right:

Heady Topper
Bourbon County 2009
Bourbon County 2008
Juicy
Luscious (aka Hell and High Water)
Kabert
King Henry
Bourbon County 2007
Kate the Great
Coolship Red
Bourbon County Coffee 2012
Bourbon County Rare
Bourbon County Bramble
Rye'd Da Lightning

Huge thanks to BeerMeFitz! I haven't even heard of Kabert, so imagine my surprise. Thanks to moefriedman for releasing the King. Thanks to dlello2 for hitting us with the Godzilla of palate cleansers. Last, but certainly never least, thanks to The22Lou for helping us out.

 

Co-worker bottle share 11/17/12

 

07 - 12 BCBS vertical. My rating, in order - 09, 11, 08, 12, 07, 10.

 

4 of us had a nice afternoon/evening:

Herfst
Lente
BA Plum Klaus
GBS
BBGBS
Syx
Lolita
Westvleteren 8
Vera Mae
Racer X
1995 Triple Bock
FW16
MOAS
Rapture
Bolt Cutter
Rahr BB Winter Warmer

For me, Syx was the most disappointing and Rahr's BBWW was the surprise stunner. FW15 is better than 16. Bolt Cutter is exactly what others said about it. BA Plum Klaus was interesting...DDBA's brother beer. MOAS was ok, not great.

95 Tripel Bock is not good, but not as bad as expected...although it's a Frankenstein: soy sauce, teriyaki, salt, crushed up Milk Bones (don't ask how I know that) is what I got. No booziness. Would make a nice beef marinade.

 

Last night with some friends...


Growlers of Flower Power & Ten Fidy

 

saturday tasting with DenverBeerDrinker and sir-knifes-alot. cheers!

 

Little tasting 5 of us had last night. (paying for it today). The Bourbon County is a 5 year vert 2008-2012

 

Sour tasting from a year ago.

 

^^^Damn!!!!!!!! Wish I was at this one!!!

 

7 of us enjoyed my 17th annual Winter Ale Fest all Belgians this year