December Cellar Reviews

Abyss 2009 - had high hopes that this would be one of the ones that slipped thru untouched but pucker up....infected...drain pour

 

2011/212 Victory Helios Saison. I have had this in my cellar since sometime in 2012 but somehow it never made in into my inventory spreadsheet and I can't find any date on the bottle.

Explosive carbonation. Bone dry with lingering bitterness (surprisingly so). Aroma is fantastic with layers of earth, stable, soft ripe fruits (peach, orange cream), light funk, foamy light yeast, and wet hay. The aroma has improved with time if anything. It is very good fresh as well.

The flavor is now dominated by brett as expected, which can be good or bad. Rather reminds me of Orval past 3 years of age with less balance. The nice malts are hard to discern at all, and no hop flavors remain. The brett is intense, and some sharp phenolic off-flavors are present but not overwhelming. Only the most hard-core fans of Brettanomyces would say the flavor is better than fresh at this age. Rather unbalanced. Still enjoyable, but I do enjoy most of what brett does to almost anything.

Conclusion: Not something I was thinking would get better, but I was curious about what the brett would do, and its positive impact on the aroma was impressive. Overall good results and considering the minimal overhead for the original bottle, it was worth it for education's sake. But I wouldn't age this again.

 

Bell's Batch 9,000 - This one keeps getting better. It is malty, sweet and beautiful.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

Vanilla BA Framinghmmer at 6 months. Vanilla slipped a little but definitely still there and the roasty bitterness is almost completely gone. 3 more months then I'll drink my last one!

 

2013 BCS - This beer gets so much better with a bit of time. Side-by-side with the 2014, the one with a year on it stood out. Less hot/boozy, sweetness had muted (which it needs), and it's just a great, complex BA stout. I don't think anything beyond 18 months does this beer any good, and I've got a couple 2011 and 2012 bottles that will serve as a good test experiment.

 

Just posted this in a different thread...
'07 Expedition Stout (batch #7817 - Feb. 1st 2007 - almost 8yrs old) held up very well. A little oxidation in the nose (but not bad) along with some faint chocolate and molasses. Carbonation is light, mouthfeel is great. Tastes of dry cocoa and dark molasses. Faint tart hints of fig, plum and cherry hiding in the background with an almost imperceptible buttery touch at the end. Starts strong and sweet with a very dry finish. Not bad at all.

 

In honor of Black Friday I opened a bottle of 2011 BC coffee. As expected, the coffee flavor really fell off. That said, everything else was great, the oaky barrel flavor came through and there was almost no alcohol bite at all, super smooth and delicious. I have a couple of standard bcs from that year and I can't wait to open them.

 

4-5 year old Petrus Aged Pale (bought 09/2011, brewed sometime in late 2009 or early 2010). I thought I remember someone saying that both this and Petrus Oud Bruin were pasteurized, but from my aging experiences with both beers I would guess that this is not pasteurized and the Oud Bruin is.

This beer has more carbonation than fresh, and smells far more funky than my review of the fresh bottle indicates. The very pleasing wine-like acid balance of the fresh bottle has become unbalanced by excessive contributions from the indomitable brettanomyces. There is still impressive complexity, and allowing it to breathe for 30 minutes helps restore some more traditional "flanders acid ale" flavors from under all the funky, horsey brett.

More sour than fresh, and totally bone dry. Impressive ability to hold up to the years, but I enjoy the poise of the "fresh" bottles more.

 

2011 Mikeller Funk e Star. Wow, this one got weird. Despite my never having believed I could taste this in a beer, I taste a distinct flavor of Trader Joes Siracha Garlic BBQ sauce. Not good. I remember this one being very unusual fresh but 3 additional years of weirdness in the bottle just made it freaky. Good carbonation. Smells like smoked celary, sweet and sour sauce, burnt ketchup. Tastes like the above mentioned BBQ sauce, melting band-aid, air from a bicycle inner tube (in a subtle way) and cinnamon sticks marinated in steak sauce and left in a pan to scorch. I thought maybe the odd Brett used in the original beer might take this to a new level with some age. Should have left it in the cellar, now I want to know what shenanigans might have ensued if I had let this go for 5 or 6 years. God, or even 10 years? Holy hell. Maybe it would get so "tripping major ball-sack" that it would come back around and be amazing. My advice, if you decided to cellar one of these for some unknown reason (as I did), leave it for another decade or more.

 

I wonder whether the Older Viscosity would end up the same as this or not...

 

(https://www.flickr.com/photos/cellared_beer/15877067018/)

Dogfish Head Olde School, dated 11/21/08

I was a little disappointed with this. The aroma has undercurrents of what I expect in a nice barleywine, so there is so e brown sugar, vanilla bean, maple syrup, etc. Unfortunately, it is heavily masked under a combination of bubble gum and alcohol burn. It almost dissuaded me from tasting it.

The taste is an improvement on the smell in that it is not inoffensive, but it is very one note. It is very sweet. Strong predominance of brown sugar. Honestly, just about everything else in the taste is there as a light subdued hint of flavor after that. Some vegetal flavors like sucking on sugar cane.

Mouthfeel is nice. It is very softly carbonated which gives it a velvety feel on the tongue. While the alcohol is virtually silent in the taste, it is high enough to to give the gums a slightl tingly feeling. Fairly thick.

It is visually very appealing. Crystal clear, with a deep amber color and a hint of a head.

All in, I was underwhelmed with this. At this point, I am not sure where it is going. I have quite a few more bottles. I think I may ignore them for a few more years and see if they improve. I could see where they would improve and gain more complexity with extended aging (maybe?), but I'm just not sure how long to wait. Usually by 6 years old I feel like I have a better handle on the question. Quite perplexing.

I suppose I'd be willing to trade a bottle or two if anyone else wants to take a try at it and hasn't something of similar interest. I just don't know I need as many of these in the cellar as I have. It might be interesting to see if others have a radically different view of it.

 

I split a 2010 Samichlaus Helles with a friend on Thursday. Toffee, apple taffy, smooth brandy. Caramel. Sweet as expected, but delicious. Having recently split a 2010 Samichlaus Classic, I will say that with four years of age I prefer the Helles over an equally aged Classic, though both are great.

 

2007 Samichlaus Helles. Very clean and simple, with mostly brown sugar, molasses, golden raisin, and stewed plum in both the nose and the flavor. The cleanest beer of this age I have tasted. Thick, sweet body. Rather like a less heady, straight-cut and clean version of Thomas Hardy's ale at this age. Obviously a totally different base beer, but they share of similarities after this much time. Very tasty for being "store aged" on a shelf.

 

2011 Founders Curmudgeon, snifter. My last from this batch and good riddance, looking forward to a Curmudgeon-free cellar soon. This particular one, however, mostly ended up down the drain. Smelled of rancid paper and rotting wood. Bleh.

Much better was the 2012 Narwhal I opened about 15 minutes later. Not remarkably different than it was at 12 months of age, just mellower. Plums and an indistinct berry of some sort, both covered in dark chocolate. Yummy. Will have to remember to put a bottle away of every four-pack I buy from now on.

 

2012 Curmudgeon. Moderately better than the 2011 but still unpleasant. Only one left before my cellar is rid of this diseased mess of a beer.