Cellaring Bois

It probably won't get any less sweet. There isn't much in these Anniversary beers to dry them out over time. What should happen though is the initial harshness of the alcohol should mellow out a bit and some of the extreme flavors that are really aggressive right now should blend a little more with other background flavors.

Just what I'm expecting to happen though. Obviously nobody can tell you for sure.

 

Well, 30 $ beer should be ready when it released...

 

It is ready. It tastes great. Nobody's saying it isn't.

However, beer changes over time and this forum is for talking about those changes. Anything constructive to add?

 

Keep in mind that the Bruery anniversary beers are made through a solera process, so some of Bois is already 1, 2, 3, and 4 years old. That means that it comes pre-aged, basically. It'll still change, obviously there's pretty much always room for that, but some of the oxidative "smoothing" that you'd expect from a big old ale has already happened.

 

I'm a huge fan of the earlier releases in the anniversary series, but I'm honestly a bit wary of Fruet and Bois -- the early iterations of the 100% barrel-aged versions have already started to thin out and develop a more cardboardy-oxidized flavor profile, whereas (in my opinion) the non-100%-BA versions are going strong (I know Papier's not everybody's thing, but my god that beer is doing well). So with the new anniversary beers being 100% BA, it remains to be seen whether they'll fall into that pattern or not. stupac2 also makes an excellent point that there is already old beer blended into Bois (though my understanding is that it's quite a small proportion of the total volume... need to ask next time I'm out there) so that's already affecting the flavor.

If it does do well, I'd expect the sugary notes to mellow somewhat and become more treacle/molasses-like (if you've had a late 90s J.W. Lee's recently, that's about where I expect the sweetness to go). It's never going to get noticeably less boozy (and probably will never lose that heat), but the rich/oily body will hopefully remain and it should retain some woody astringency. It's really a shame that this beer comes in 750ml bottles... I'd love to open a nip and sip it a couple times per winter.

 

Yeah, I have no idea how much of the older beer they blend in, I'd actually love to know that if anyone has asked. With the massive quantities they produce I'd imagine it's not that much, but who knows?

 

According to Andrew Bell's (a brewer at The Bruery) post here:

Not super helpful, but it's something.

 

Alcohol isn't sugary. It burns going down. The sweetness is coming from elsewhere. I've never had any of the anniversary beers, but barleywines/old ales typically get more sweet with a few years on them due to alcohol moderation and hop reduction, so I wouldn't expect the anniversary beers to be any less sweet than they were when they came out (except for perhaps the first one). Over the longer term, eventually there will be more oxidation causing them to thin out somewhat, which will reduce perceived sweetness, but they may already be over the hill by that point.

 

Alcohol does produce a slight perception of sweetness on its own, alongside bitterness and the characteristic burning sensation (oral irritation) (see e.g. Bartoshuk, PROP supertasters and the perception of ethyl alcohol in Chemical Senses vol 18), but alcoholic burn and sweetness are nearly always associated in beers since the fermentation of a higher alcohol product invariably leaves residual sugar.

My experience with subtly hopped (English-style) barleywines/old ales has generally been that both the alcohol and sweetness remain, but the perception of each is modified by the aging process. J.W. Lee's, again, is my favorite example, because the flavor profile is so simple and it's pasteurized so you don't have to consider the possibly of any organism breaking down complex sugars over time. To my palate, at least, the perception of sugary sweetness is already altered 2-3 years into aging, and is significantly altered at 8+ years (the sweetness, of course, remains, but rather than a cloying sugary flavor it's a more complex molasses sweetness). I attribute some of this change to oxidative glycation of Maillard products, like the soy sauce/oxidative tartness stuff, where sugars are actually bound to the browning reaction proteins to produce truly different flavor compounds.

 

Oh, it is ready. It's fantastic.

 

Yeah, I'm aware beer drinkers tend to associate alcohol with higher gravity beers and therefore malt sweetness. My point was raw ethanol on its own is not perceived as anything other than burning in the vast majority of people.

An aside to the main topic, but have these anniversary beers been getting smoother (less burn) each year? I would assume they have if they are doing a proper solera, but don't know.

 

Hard to tell so far (at least for me) -- carbonation levels went up for the first few years (haven't tried Bois yet, so not sure on that one) which has made them taste more burn-y to me. Fruet did seem to have some mellowing of the solvent aromas that I associate with aged boozy beers, but still burned on the palate.

 

Just had a 100% BA Cuir last night that tasted like it wasn't anywhere near a downslope. Frankly, tasted like it could go on going on for ages. Will be doing a full 100% BA tasting later this year to see how it's all coming along.

Also, high alcohols will definitely taper off. Those fusel alcohols are some of the most volatile. It will never be not be strong in alcohol and warming, so to that sense it will be boozy, yes.

 

I think the really early 100% BA ones (Papier set, not sure about 100% Coton) were on the early "green bottle" bottling line. The Bruery has stated that those bottles (which includes PiaPT BTW) aren't expected to age well, and they've since moved to a much better bottling system.

 

Last time I tried to cellar bois I went to jail for ten years and had to register when I got out.

 

I would not age this beer. It's already very well balanced between the base beer, alcohol level, and the barrel. I'm not sure what you could hope to achieve by aging it, other than to ruin the balance.

If you find something is too thick/sweet/boozy to drink more than one glass of in one sitting, the answer isn't to throw it in your cellar for a few years. The answer is to only drink one glass of it in a sitting.

 

I would strongly disagree with this. I'd describe all of NC Old Stock, Thomas Hardy's, and J.W. Lee's Harvest that way, and they all become truly terrific beers after several years of aging (and in the case of TH, at least, was specifically meant to be matured). Of course, like so much of cellaring, this is highly palate-dependent.

 

Those aren't barrel aged. Lee's does have barrel-aged variants, but I and apparently BA as a whole like them less than the straight version. Just because something will be good years later doesn't mean it will be better. Bois will almost certainly be worse. The fact that other beers which share some common elements get better with age means nothing.

 

... It does if you specifically describe the beer using those common elements

Regardless, I haven't tried Bois yet, so I certainly can't comment. Papier and Coton, at least, have improved significantly with a few years of cellaring to my taste.