Aging Parabola

I am very glad to see this. I had the same experience about a year ago with a batch 1 that was just amazing. The batch 2 at that time wasn't nearly as good. I hunted down a bunch of fresh bottles back then hoping that whatever magic happened would work again. Based on your experience, I am glad I did!

If you drink that batch 1 any time soon, let me know how it is. I have one left myself.

As an aside, I wonder if FW15 will get better... That one really let me down.

 

I had the opposite experience with Parabola. Had fresh batch 1, fantastic (never got to try one aged). Had fresh batch 2, also great. Had an aged batch 2 recently, didn't care for it. All the chocolate and vanilla flavors were gone, and it had gotten kind of thin. I remember it being a rich chocolate and vanilla dream, and was left with what some might call a more balanced, but for me, much less interesting beer.

 

You'll get to try Batch 1 and 2 again in 2 weeks

 

Figured I'd just ask here. My area was shorted on Parabola and I am likely only going to get one bottle this year. I've never had it before...so should I drink it right away or lay it down for a year?

I mean I don't mind waiting and I might still get to try it on draft since a local bar is getting a keg, but it isn't for certain. Thoughts?

 

general rule of thumb is to drink it fresh if you have never had it before. That's what I would do.

 

I had a similar situation recently. Batch 2 fresh was one of the better BA beers I've had. I did think it was slightly hot though, so I decided to age my other 2 bottles. Had it on tap recently and was a bit unimpressed. And I heard similar things from friends when they've opened Batch 2 bottles in recent months. So I'm not sure what to expect. I'll probably open one this summer and save my last for at least another year. Just to see what happens. But I'm hearing mixed reviews on this.

 

Someone needs to open their batch 1 and let us know. I currently have 2 complete verticals, but recently have been able to get more of the batch 3. I will probably have one this weekend. I will say that I was at a beer release in March and someone brought a batch 2 and it was a hit, so I thought it aged very well.

 

actually, i thought it's pretty friggen good right now. that comes from someone that technically ages more than he should or intends to cause he can't drink any faster.

my vote would be bust it open sooner than later. & not because of general rules like taste 1 now & try to find another for later, but rather i'm not so sure it has much on it to wait on improving/developing. jmho

 

i had the opposite experience, with 2011. perfection at release, gradually got more humdrum.

the answer about whether or not parabola cellars well is pretty obvious at this point: only way to find out is to try it yourself. there is not going to be consensus.

i get the feeling that most of us think it doesn't hold up, but i'm probably biased by being on that side myself.

 

myself and 3 other friends (possibly more) will be opening all 3 batches this Friday night before the Firestone Walker Beer Festival.

i'll try and report back

 

not to steal any glory or thunder the tasting sounds awesome, just want to raise a point that i think is valid but overlooked time & again. if we know that a batch of whiskey is distilled and put into hundreds of barrels to rest side by side - yet each of those sibling barrels will produce at least a slightly different final result after any considerable maturation/storage period:

Consider this: (we don't necessarily know the origin/distillery; using whiskey of we don't necessarily know what recipe; distillate barreled at we don't what proof; that was aged in - we don't necessarily know which warehouse, on which rick floor for how many years etc. etc.) is it really realistic to try to compare last year & previous batches versus this or next years barrels/batches? at the end of the day you can probably conclude some along the lines of:

batch X did well over time while batch Y & Z might be more/less likeable etc. but it's not like you can say batch X is a near sibling of Y & Z other than the label/brand name on each bottle is the same. i don't think you can take it any further to honestly give an opinion that any other release is a perfect comparison. more to the directly, barrel aging can add additional layers of uncertainty beyond potential batch variation.

EDIT: in case it's not abundantly clear i'm speaking more specifically of B/A ales.

 

just sort of skimmed your post (no offense ._.), but if you mean what i think you did, yeah... my suspicion about 2011 @ 1yr being better than 2012 @fresh is that 2011 was just a better batch. not to mention bottle variation.

all that said, even 2011 fresh vs 2011 aged, from the same case (so probably close bottle #s) is a matter of debate on here. the truth still seems to be that some prefer fresh, some prefer aged.

 

This reads like it was translated from Italian using Google translator...

 

yes i mean the first scenario. known same batch compared over a time lapse is a different subject altogether.

the basic problem with the general question as it stands: *what the party questioning is most likely to get is a current batch while relying on *the opinions offered being drawn mostly from prior experiences with prior releases/batches.

 

so you use Google translator for Italian. good to know. lol

 

and I just want to point out again that this Friday night, I will be with friends sampling all three batches to this point in time. My only expectation is to be sharing good beer with people I enjoy being around while looking forward to a great beer festival the next day.

then again... beer is serious business