FW Parabola & Sucaba

Not too sure about why that temperature. I will say that the bottles of Parabola and Abacus I've opened recently (after being in my 50 degree fridge) have been magical.

 

both beers better fresh, or at least that's the majority opinion. apparently firestone walker agrees with us.

 

They probably know what they're talking about. I had Parabola from fresh last Spring until New Year's 2012 and the fresh bottles were overwhelmingly better. My "cellar" (aka dark basement closet) runs from 52* to 62* throughout the year so I could see why you would want these guys in the coldest possible environment to protect their delicate barrel flavors.

 

Don't agree with any of you guys. Parabola 11 is pretty great right now. Tons of coconut and vanilla. Heard a podcast with the brewmaster from FW and he said these beers are built to age for years. Said , they have a cellar with vintages from all the big beers. Also said he thinks the 15th ann. Beer will age great ( and that has double jack in it). So, they do think they can be aged.

 

anyone who tells you that a fresh bottle of Sucaba is significantly better than a now 1 year old bottle of Abacus is out of their damn mind

 

If it means anything, a group of BAs and I got together a few weeks ago and did a blind barrel-aged barleywine tasting, which included year-old Abacus and fresh Sucaba. The year-old bottle of Abacus ranked significantly higher on almost everyone's score cards.
Goose Island King Henry and Flossmoor Bourbon Barrel-aged Hi-Fi Rye were the standouts, though the Abacus wasn't far behind. It's a world-class beer, and there's no substantiated reason to believe the beer should fall away significantly after such a relatively short window of time.

 

I throw my opinion in here.
I think '11 Abacus was better than Sucuba fresh for fresh.

I don't necessarily think the extra age is what makes '11 Abacus better; I just think it was a better vintage to begin with.

 

I fall into that boat. The recipes seem different. Sucaba is darker and has lots of brown sugar flavor, and I don't remember Abacus having anything like that going on, just lots of bourbon and barrel.

 

First off, the Abacus batch was much better from the start then Sucuba, so comparing one batch to the other for again potential is a silly affair.

Second off, the Abacus batch did seem to degrade as time went on, but is harder to tell since there was bottle variation it seemed, at least Arbitrator and myself discussed this. None the less the malt and barrel richness did seem to fade out, leaving oddly a more alcohol harsh beer then fresh.

This is my opinion after drinking almost a case alone personally, and pours at tastings. Buying/drinking a case of this stuff over a year is nice, and seems like a decent way to learn how a beer ages. Your opinion may vary.

Love,
Your friendly neighborhood barleywine *****.

PS. There is a growing contingent of people that believe 90% of Barrel Aged beers are far better fresh, and i am of that contingent. It's hard for me to understand when people say a beer is "too hot", but then again i am drinking a dram of bourbon as i type this.

 

I agree with most of what you are saying Chad

my comment was in response to "the majority opinion" that SucabacuS is better fresh and that FW "agrees with us" [that it should not be aged]

i stand by my opinion that anyone who says a fresh bottle (Sucaba now; Abacus last year) is significantly better than Abacus is now, is out of their mind. different? yes... but isn't it supposed to be?

and, like your opinion, this is mine formed after just shy a case of the two beers sampled throught it's time in the bottle.

lately, some BA's seem to freak out whenever another mentions something that challenges the norm, and they go into panic mode. there is no need to freak out that Abacus is not doing well with age

PS: My last bottle of Abacus was on 4/9/12. I noted that while the barrel character had subdued (expectedly), this was possibly the most balance that I had tasted between the barrel character and the great barleywine itself. chalk this up to time or bottle variation

 

Wish I could more accurately comment on the subject, but I didn't have my first Abacus until about 6-8 months after bottling. Sucaba was decent fresh, but not mind blowing to me.

 

They have the same freshness and storage paragraph on all of their beers. Some of their beers do great with age, especially Parabola.

 

The anniversary beers don't hold up for very long. Whoever thinks 11 is still great must not have had it fresh and the 10 was so run down when I had it a year ago. You guys need to stop kidding yourselves that barleywines and stouts already aged in barrels will improve indefinitely.

 

Had Abacus v Sucaba in a blind test w/ about 6 other BAs a couple months back. Every person liked Abacus more.

 

I rated them the same.

 

Slugger's gonna slug.

 

drinking a 2011 now. its the best stout ive had still. i'll see what the 2012 is compared to this but right now its insane.

 

Me, I'm going to keep on kidding myself.

Blanket statements like this are just silly. There are those that decline & those that improve & I've discovered plenty of both to this point.Some go south pretty fast.

Had Firestone Walker XI two months ago & it was flat-out excellent. I never had it fresh, so maybe it was better four years ago, but saying they don't hold up very long? <shrug> I'd heartily disagree.

 

Which barrel aged beers would you say improved with time?