January Cellar Reviews

John Barleycorn Barleywine 2011

Pours bright copper with ample carbonation; fizz crackles endlessly as aromas of rich toffee and caramel wafts upwards; taste lets down for me- dry, chalky toffee, no sweetness whatsoever, bitter, sad; mouthfeel is exceptionally dry. This one falls flat for me.

 

A 2002 JW Lees Harvest Ale. Toffee, black licorice and caramel. A treat as always.

 

Cracked the cellar for some friends last night. Russian River Consecration Batch 007 (2012 I think) was perfectly balanced. Not too much acid. Cantillon 2011 Lou Pepe Kriek was the same, still plenty of bright, juicy cherry with some stinky blue cheese in the nose. 2010 3Floyds Dark Lord had aged nicely. Loads of chocolate on the nose. Finished a bit oily.

 

Hey, where did you get that from?

 

Its cold in IL. What beer can match the intensity of this wicked cold evening? I reached for a bottle of 2012 BCBS! That should tame the -13 degrees temperature outside right now.

2012 BCBS; bottle date of 08/23/2012.
poured into a HF wine stem.

Appearance: midnight black; thick medium brown cap on the beer that drops down to a ring on the outside of the glass. Lots of booze legs on the side of the glass. A gentile swirl of the glass bring back a thin cap of head.

Smell: So much charred oak barrel in the nose mixed with some spicy bourbon. Dark chocolates and tobacco notes that provide a deep and rich aroma. Some slightly oxidized flavors include cinnamon, black licorice, brown sugar, and dark fruits.

Taste: This beer starts out with an intense yet balanced mixed of charred oak, tobacco, leather, and dark chocolates imparting a moderate bitterness with a little sweetness on the side. Rich vanilla and milk chocolates in the aftertaste with a light lingering bitterness of the charred oak barrel and smoke notes.

Mouthfeel: high end of a medium bodied beer with low carbonation. The beer is oily and slightly syrupy, but the carbonation breaks that up with a slightly prickly bubble as the beer lands on the tongue. Pretty smooth, but you can still tell this beer is all of the 15% abv listed on the label.

Overall: 2012 vintage reminds me a lot of the 2009 BCBS after it has sat in the bottle for a while. Its holding up fantastically and probably has another two years until it falls apart. It is still pretty robust and could use more mellowing as it still has a bit of a booze kick to it. The flavors are starting to meld, but they are still pretty robust and rough around the edges. I like where this beer is at right now, its pretty tasty.

 

2010 Bigfoot. The bottle has not been disturbed in at least a year, so it poured like orange-fired ruby, and crystal clear. Smells divine, and tastes wonderful. I opened a 2009 within the last month and I think I like the 2010 better. So perhaps there was some variation in bottling/batch, but I suspect I just prefer it a bit younger. I have not had any other aged beer that is so massively hoppy but still has such intense sherry flavor/aromas. Very unique and a classic cellar standby.

 

Well. It's still pretty sweet with a decent amount of heat. I can detect a light oxidation; a light flavor of metal and wet cardboard but not so strong to overpower the base. A good amount of oak persists throughout. I've had all sorts of these vintages going back to 2005 and I can say they reach the sweet spot at three years or so.
I have a few more 2011's and several 2010's left so I'll see if they turn the corner; for better or for worse.

 

A few months ago I had one from 1997. It was tart, almost wine-ish.

 

Yeah I can see that, bet it was fairly thin as well. I'm personally a fan of thick, sweet, chewy, barleywines- the kind that noobs complain "give the diabeetus". If it ain't decadent, it ain't for me.

That said this is a great one fresh or with a couple years on it. Some brews just aren't meant to go forever.

 

Poured nice and slow with light carbonation as this style should especially at this age. That nose smells of prunes, raisins, light booze and a mix of my grampas candy bowl..caramels, butterscotch and tootsie rolls. It has a very loooong drawn sweetness balanced with a light tartness and prunes. It's very coating, not so much sticky but full. Way to easy to drink!

 

'09 Lagunitas Red
Maybe a tad small for aging but seems to have held up okay. Some oxidation in aroma and flavor (slight cardboard). Still a nice stream of hop flavor (but the bitterness is pretty much gone) otherwise the malt backing more resembles an old ale now. Still a little sweetness, which is nice.
Glad I drank it now, as I don't think it would have held up much longer.

 

Did a 3 Philosophers Vertical

2014: Dark fruits (raisin, slight dark cherry & apple) Coca-Cola, brown sugar, quite smooth as alcohol detection is light.

2013: Smell is still the same, soda/brown sugar becomes more prominent as there isn't as much fruit detention. A spice mouthfeel develops that wasn't at all in the 2014.

2012: Similar to 2013, but with little carbonation and a stronger malt taste.
2011: No different than last years, other than a brown ale taste developing with a higher alcohol burn in the finish.
2010: Mouthfeel got way more smoother, while the brown ale/malt taste notes have become more muted.
2009: Zero carbonation, smooth as hell mouthfeel, all that remains is a sweet, sugar cane-like, malt taste & smell that was unlike the other vintages.

New Glarus Thumbprint Barleywine, January 2012 release:

I get an aroma of sweet orange, spice (orange zest perhaps), and sting from the alcohol. There was a great bit of heat from the alcohol that was so overwhelming that it prevented me from enjoying other flavors. Amazing how the hop flavors completely faded away as I remember it tasting like an DIPA fresh.

Hopefully, the sting from the booze will fade overtime

 

Had a 2013 Terrapin Wake n Bake, so a little over a year old. No carbonation, no coffee, taste was horrible when compared to fresh. I would not age WnB, does not hold up.

 

North coast 2009 cellar reserve is tasting amazing

 

2010 Bigfoot
I'll tell you what this is still a hoppy beer, not so much in the in your face hop flavor, although there is still aplenty, but in the bitterness that takes over and goes on seemingly forever. This seems the perfect time, for me.

 

cellar reserve BA old ales are always tasting amazing! Is it still hot and boozy?

 

I totally agree. I just had one earlier this month. I think the 4-5 year mark is my sweet spot with this beer (although fresh is quite tasty as well!)

 

2009 De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva (bottled 2010). Shows almost no negative signs of aging in any sense since the last one I tried in 2011. Rich, crystal clear tawny crimson body. I still can't believe this is 13% ABV, it could be 6% it is so drinkable and smooth. The tartness and touch of sour is poised almost perfectly, with layers of wine-like flavors shimmering below the smooth mouthfeel. Full carbonation, enough to produce about two fingers of head. I ended up swirling it a fair amount to reduce the carbonation. Looking at my notes from 2011, it appears that the only negative change in the last 3-4 years in the bottle is that the head retention has diminished. I would gladly take a case of this vintage at this age. Truly a privilege to drink. Thank you @beandip for trading me a few of these back in the day. I have never been able to find this beer in CO.

 

2011 Evil Twin Soft DK was chocolate covered cherries last week! Delicious! Drink now if you have one! Tasted almost like barrel aged beers I have had. It was so smooth!