Cellar Review Thread (2025)

I remember having a pack (four?) from way back when, that found its way into a batch of chili my wife made. We’re still happily married and at least one of us laughs about. Can you guess which one of us? BTW, the chili was pretty tasty.

 

Morning Cellar Dwellers. The air is crisp (read, “not in the 90s), fall and Halloween items are starting to see the shelves, the kids (someone’s at least, I don’t have any) are back in school. That must mean NFL Sunday Fundays are back. Missed my traditional Sunday Cellar Breakfast Beer last week as we had some friends over for week 1, but back now and kicking off the season with a 2023 Bourbon County Brand Backyard Stout.

Pours opaque black, head not decent in size but fizzier than normal and dissipates super quickly. Aroma is big barrel notes, moderate red berry notes, subtle roastiness and some cardboard characters. Taste is just lovely. Wonderful conglomeration of base beer, adjunct and barrel. So many luscious barrel notes: toasted oak, nutty, caramelly. Lots of nice rich chocolate notes, both dark cocoa and some milk chocolate. Really nice fruit notes with cherry, some raspberry characters. Mouthfeel is silky smooth, carbonation appropriate, ABV well masked, very good drinkability. Overall, an excellent beer. Very good fresh, but as is status quo with this series, seems to be really peaking at 2 years.

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

 

I got this can from @cheeseheadinMinneapolis . He had concerns about if it held up. I have never had it before, but I can say it is totally delicious.

Big Doc - The Explorium Brewpub - Greendale, WI - Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy - 13.1%

I am very happy with this beer.
Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/48260/762423/
4.28/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
From a 16oz can. 2023 release aged in Driftless Glen barrels. Canned on 10/10/2023

This beer has a nice dark amber color to it, and is fairly clear looking when I hold it to the light. The head is a 1 finger tan colored head. Considering the age and ABV, it is decent. There's no lacing on the glass.
The aroma is quite strong and complex, and I know I won't be able to describe it well. There's so much caramel and toffee. There's an earthy character to the aroma. The aroma is boozy and I do get the bourbon notes off it, which makes me want to go to Wisconsin, and get a Driftless Glen bottle.
The flavor is also intense. I get the caramel earthiness in the flavor. I get leather notes. Toffee is strong. Lots of vanilla notes and oak from the barrels used. There's hints of molasses. So much going on here, and I just can't put words to it all.
The body is so damn full feeling. Smooth as hell. There's a bubbly feeling to this beer. It almost has a creamy feeling to it.
Wow, This is damn amazing, and it also makes me want to try the bourbon it was aged on. Road trip to Wisconsin.

 

Hell For Stout - Paradox Beer Co. - Divide, Co - Wild Ale - 10.5%

Time has not been kind to this beer at all. It is a drain pour mess.
Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29972/218201/
1.94/5 rDev -35.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 1.25 | feel: 1.25 | overall: 1.25
From a 500ml bottle. 2016 release.

There was no hiss upon opening the bottle. The beer pours pitch black into my glass with no light at all shining through the beer. There's no head to this beer, and that does concern me that there might be issues with the beer.
The aroma is tart and sour smelling. There's no hint of vanilla or chocolate that the beer was aged on.
This beer is just a tart bomb. Holy cow. The bottle does say it is low tartness, but close to a decade and it has gone totally tart. I don't think it is infected, it is just from the yeast used and age on the bottle.
The tart feeling just doesn't seem to fit with what this beer might have been like fresh.
I have a feeling that I am not finishing this beer. Time has not done it well at all.

 

Revisiting Rye Barrel Orange Giant, first had it in February 2022.



Tons of smooth caramel up front with hints of sweet, juicy oranges and vanilla. The has a bit rough way back when, but it has mellowed nicely. Prickly rye and lightly bitter citrus meld well with the sweetness that carries over into the finish. A cellar success, really enjoying this.

 

Ithaca Luminous 2014 October beer- Stock photo but add an inch to the head it's just like that-Live review Celebrating the best cannabis growing season in this part of the country in years. Brought mine in this morning, enjoying some picked a week ago with this delicious beer. Live review

First off raising my glass to all the home growers, who, like home brewers of beer, greatly advanced the movement for better cannabis in the same way home brewers gave us the wonderful craft beer world of today. Cheers to y'all, year 38 for this old hippie growing proud to say and in the woods no more, NY is a grow your own state now.

This beer was supposed to be an attempt at Ithaca to make Brute after Chief left. I loved this beer at first, though I thought it was too fruity and sweet to mimic Brute. Fruity and sweet don't have to be bad things in a wild ale, and Luminous was to my mind well balanced and delicious at release 11 years ago.

What can I say, this beer has become a monster of bright strong flavors. the nose is grapefruit pith, sweet generic citrus, lemon limey funk, sour dough, and other delicious bitter notes. They are brighter now, stronger.

And the taste is the same way. This beer is as it was, but... moreso, and in ways that are more developed and fit together better. All the flavors of the nose are in a strong and brilliant taste with notes of orange, peach, and some more ascetic notes added. Not as sweet as when released for sure. As it warms deep funky notes appear.

Very high carb. leads to a light mouth for what really is a full bodied beer, and it works well. In this way it resembles Brute. Clean finsh is grapefruit pith, touch of neutral sweet, sourdough, and lemon limey funk.

Unlike me this beer has become much improved in old age, and is absolutely a refreshing, interesting, joy of a cellaring success.

 

Enjoyed catching up with the last few months.

@cavedave , I'm really glad you enjoyed the 2013 Bourbon County Brand Stout. Seems like the pre pasteurization ones 2014 and prior held on a bit longer, at least on my end. I try to drink everything within a year or two, consistent with @zac16125 's experience with the variants, but still have a 2017 Barleywine to bring out.

I still have one 2019 CBS left @Whyteboar , and hope it's as sublime as your late August experience.

I've switched things up with my cellar since my last post here late Spring.

• Everything left has been transferred to the refrigerator.
• I'm clearing all purchases within a year since late October 2024, to avoid creating new cellar beers.

I'll have plenty of reviews left among my 132 cellar beers left over this and likely next Fall/Winter to complete the clearing of my home cellar. See everyone in November!

 

So you aren’t going to cellar beers anymore? What led to that choice?

 

Cross posted on WBAYDN, and the beer is from ‘20, so it belongs here too.

This is, IMO, better than when fresh. More vanilla, more bourbon, more oak. Still plenty of raspberry.
Cheers!

 

I ran into a cellar unintentionally just buying a large number of beers between 2018-2020. I reached 453 beers when I took my first beer inventory January 23, 2021. Back then, I had a lot of bottles, which are better candidates to cellar, but now I purchase nearly all cans and prefer the smaller 12 oz cans of BA Stouts vs. 16.9 oz - 25.4 oz bottles. I don't feel it makes sense to intentionally cellar cans (I always refrigerate cans due to the can lining). I also feel most beer is better fresh than 1+ year out, with the exceptions primarily beers you don't like fresh that need to mellow out or slowly wear down a flavor you don't like.

I made substantial progress to get it down from 453 to 292 as of January 1, 2022, but then I tread water for three years (319 1/1/23; 295 1/1/24; 269 1/1/25). I should be close to knocking down around 100 beers this year, and hope to clear about 120 more by NYD 2027 to keep a manageable, fresh and diverse 2 cases of beer (4-6+ options) from then on out. I used to drink a few beers a day, but cut back to mostly one beer at home a day (1-3 on an outing), so it's also discipline at this point to limit purchases.

I still will follow the thread and pop in occasionally to post about a shared cellar beer, or a cellar pour at a Beer Bar or Brewery. It will take a few years to clear the remaining beers, as I still have 132 pre 2025 cellar beers, though all but about a case are cans.

Cheers!

 

Treehouse Might Oak BW April 2023 Bottled

Strong and dark fruit flavours. Faded hop finish. Understood, should have done a real American barleywine fresher.Dark brown, malty fruity aroma. Pretty good still. Rated 3.9

 

2021 BCB Classic Cola

Most of the cola and adjust flavors have faded but it’s a delicious beer with a mellowed out roastiness, lots of rich cocoa notes, and mild but very pleasant bourbon characters.

 

First Christmas beer of the season, 2023 Santa monk. Drinking nicely; generally prefer these in the 1-3 years on them range vs fresh.

 

I have decided to work harder on clearing out my cellar. This one seemed like a good idea for today.

Pump[KY]n - Avery Brewing - Boulder, CO - Pumpkin Beer - 18%

Wow, I was worried about how it held up. I shouldn't have been worried. The pumpkin spices are so well balanced. There's a nice hint of vanilla. It is a big beer, but very little burn. I am amazed with this beer. Glad I finally opened it up.

 

Batch 5 Cuvee de Castleton from Capt. Lawrence. 2017 Stock image.
Opening November beer a bit early to celebrate finish of trimming this year's cannabis crop grown outdoors. So glad to be finished. A pound of spectacular buds in cure jars right now, and half an ounce of dry sift hash made from shake on table in front of me next to my glass, and some in the still smoking bong as well.

Short and sweet. No pssst. No carb. This thickish wild ale has no carb. at all. What once was a delicate wild ale with notes of grapes and multiple flavors of mixed fementation, it now is a very ascetic one note beverage of harsh sourdough, with a bit of cardboard and hormonal funk at the edge. Not quite unpleasant, far from enjoyoble, a definite failure of the cellar.