March Cellar Reviews

2009 Boulder Killer Penguin

I forgot this was in the cellar and cant really remember what this was like fresh. Has nice malty aromas with some floral notes. Taste is still very hoppy for 2-3 year old bottle. It had a nice malt backbone to balance it out. Its very smooth with minimal alcohol taste. Definitely happy I forgot about this one. I would guess this could easily sit for another two years. My only complaint is that I wish I had more.

 

1994 HotD Adam
Wow, there are bubbles? Really, there is carbonation. Outstanding beer, so smooth yet still holding onto the flavors I love in Adam. Some oxidation but not bad. It's probably been on a slow decline the last couple years, no point in holding onto Adam this long but IMHO it ages better than any beer I've ever had.

 

2008 Stone IRS 12oz

Heavy licorice, chocolate, red wine, blackberries, port aromas. Taste is similar, some slight oxidation, lots of vinous characters. Mouthfeel is thinner, carbonation is still good, easy drinker now, almost like a heavy porter.

 

1996 Anchor Old Foghorn

Bottled on 01/08/1996. Old school 7 oz bottle stamped: 6JH. Surprisingly it opened with a faint fizz.

A - Dark brown/red murky body. Non existant head, just some dark khaki colored edging. Swirling yields some lacing and retention. There is a lot of dark "stuff" floating around in the beer.

S - Predominantly sweet dark candied fruits. Plums, raisins, figs, etc. Some roasted malts and bittersweet chocolate. The finish is burnt and alcoholic. The smell is very unique. Although its not the most pleasant, its not all that bad.

T - Similar to the nose. Caramelized figs and raisins followed by roasted malts and some dark chocolate notes. The alcohol is a tad noticeable and there is some oxidation. The finish is cloyingly sweet. Complex and flavorful.

M - Obviously its a flat beer. The mouth feel is medium to thick and coats the tongue.

O - I'm struggling to get through 7 oz. of this beer. At 16 years old it does have some redeeming qualities. Lots of robust barley wine aromas and tastes. This beer aged well.

2007 Duysters Tuverbol

2007 vintage, corked and caged 375 ml bottle into a tulip glass. Bottle opened completely silently. Its interesting that they used drie fonteinen corks here. ABV on the bottle is listed as 10.5%.

A - Light amber/dark yellow hazy body. There is no head to speak of, just some light bubbles form and lace the glass when given a swirl. Completely still. Bottom of the bottle was quite yeasty.

S - Very gueuze like aroma. Bright lemons followed by some brett funk. Very earthy and tart with just a hint of saison like malt and spice. The finish is also a bit hot from the alcohol.

T - Sour lemon, leather, sweaty sock, biscuity malt, and some belgian yeast and spices. This flavor profile is really subtle and tame, probably due to the thin body. Its pretty tasty, but I was expecting something as bit more intense and flavorful. Alcohol becomes noticeable as it warms up. Mouth feel is obviously flat, with a light to medium mouthfeel.

O - A weird beer for sure. It has some aromas and flavors of a lambic with just some faint tripel notes in the finish. Its also way too boozy. I can drink flat and unblended lambic, but when its 11% abv it becomes a bit distracting. Not worth the price I paid for it.

 

Lolita 2010
-- Never had it fresh, but it's phenomenal right now. Still very fruit forward, but with a really lovely tartness and deep sour malt that tastes like age to me, if that makes any sense. Delicious.

Telegraph Reserve Wheat (Bottled Jan. 2009)
-- This Berliner-ish sour is great fresh. It's still good but very different with three years on it. Very sour, but much, much smoother, and a really intense funk that gives it almost a butternut squash flavor I don't get when fresh.

 

Hanssens Oudbeitje 2006

I found the 2000 harsh and undrinkable, so I didn't have high hopes for this one.

The glorious but delicate strawberry character that this beer had fresh has fallen off, but not by much. As it breathes, it does grow in prominence, with a fairly complex fruit character. Delicate strawberries with some seed tannins (not as intense as raspberry lambics, though). For a Hanssens lambic, this smells surprisingly mellow, and it is so on the palate as well, with a fairly oak and vanilla forward lambic base with a sourness that brings to mind rotting lemons, less some sweetness, and some lactic acid. Fairly slick on the palate. The strawberries are still fairly noticeable on the palate, lending a sweetness and acidity to complement the lemony lambic. Funk character is quite low here, apart from a mild earthiness on the mid-palate, there isn't much. Quite oaky on the finish with vanilla and tannins to add the low level of carbonation that's present. Oh, and it doesn't really need much carbonation for the flavor profile IMO. I never thought I'd say it, but this is a fairly mellow and easy-drinking Hanssens beer, one I could drink multiples of. Enjoyable, recommended, unique. 4/4/3.5/4/3.5

 

This is very interesting to me, I got given a five month old Abrasive that was totally undrinkable. Piney onion hops with a stale malt and faded hop flavor. I'm guessing the big difference is storage condition; gives me some hope for the future. Perhaps I will have to get a few cans to join my Hopslam experiment.

 

2009 Brouwerij Van Steenberge Piraat served in a Piraat tulip

Loud pop as the cork pops off. Pours clearer than a fresh version, though a minor haze remains. Slight amber with an aggressive head with a moderate pour. Aroma from this beer has faded into obscurity. Faint yeast and malt smell bounce off a surprising amount of foam. Taste of nearly over-sweet malt and robust esters from the yeast. All hop presence has vanquished. Impressive lacing for a beer of this age. Overall, not something I think I would cellar again as this beer is far superior fresh.

 

You Goddamn communist heathen, you had best sound off that you love Hanssens, or I'm gonna stomp your guts out!

 

If the IST in the pic is the only one you drank, then it is later than 2009. 2009 is the last year in which the picture on the bottle featured a Storm Trooper without the glasses.

If you DID have a 2009, any more details on how it is drinking? I have one, but Im thinking that it may have started to fall off.

 

2006 Smuttynose S'muttonator

A- Pours brown with ruby highlights and a beige head. Decent lacing.

S- Lots of fruit (plums, raisin, hints of apple peel), spearmint, potpourri, my grandmother's house (elderly people's perfume).

T- Caramelized malts, spearmint, vinous, sugary. This feels flabby, old and tired.

M- Decent body, nothing massive, but what a double bock should be. Low carbonation, pretty smooth.

O- Past it's prime in my opinion, but still decent enough. Six years is a little too long for this one. My overall rating would probably be a 3.75, or so.

 

Lost Abbey Red Poppy 2008 (batch 1)

The nose has a very nice and complex blend of acetic and cherry derived aromas, with red wine vinegar, sour cherries and black raspberries. A robust leather and mildly earthy tone is present, rather umami-like. An excellent nose. The palate is a lot more robustly tart with plenty of vinegar, a blend of balsamic and red wine with a cherry skin tannins tempering and complementing the bright sourness. The cherry fruit itself has fallen off here, all that's left is the fruit pits and skin. Robustly leathery and earthy on the mid-palate, with a little vanilla for respite. There is some lactic acid that's also present, cleaning up on the finish.Light in body with supple tannins, moderate carbonation and cleaning lactic acid character. Not particularly funky, I imagine a blend of HotD Michael (at age 1) and Rodenbach vintage would taste similar. Nowhere close to what it was fresh-ish, but better than more recent batches IMO. Still very well-structured. 4.5/4.5/4/4/4

 

Really glad to hear that! I have a bottle of this that I've been dyinng to open up!

 

Now couldnt be a better time- as my drinking buddy always says at the bar, you deserve it!

 

I like the 2009 a lot more myself. Could still taste the bourbon, but I thought it was more-balanced and less harsh than the '11.

 

2005 DFH Raison D'extra. Holy hell it's aged well....

 

2009 Founders Cerise

Bottled 03.20.2009 according to the bottle date-- so almost exactly 3 years old...

I was REALLY impressed by this one when it was fresh, but last year my opinion had gone down a bit... When the 2011 came out I busted out the 09 and 10 and godin64bit and I did the 3 year vert... We both agreed that the freshest was best, then the 09, and last place went to the one year old.

Now, I'm wondering if the 09 hasn't turned a corner for the better-- it is quite dry, though there is still plenty of cherry flavor. The slight tartness has increased a bit and the musty Orval-like yeasty funk is still there, but it seems to have lightened up a little as the sweetness dried up.

Tart cherries on a dry lightly funky delivery system? Sign me up!
I don't think my remaining 2009 bottles will go much longer before I drink them! Try on of these guys and tell me I'm wrong!
Cheers

 

I opened up a 2007 Kuhnhenn Jesse's Road Rash at the brewery today with splax23 and bierenutz. Jesse herself was kind enough to bring us glasses to sample the beer. Smell was pretty gross - not gag inducing gross, but not pleasant at all. The taste had a real '97 Triple Bock quality - extreme soy sauce, old leather, feet. It wasn't completely terrible; we all were able to finish our 4 oz samples like troopers (although I did have to wash the flavor out of my mouth with a bottle of Vanilla Gorillabilly mead afterwards). I knew going in that this was almost surely over the hill, but it was still fun to drink it nearly five years after release, with a fresh batch of it available on tap (which is quite tasty).