Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout...now or later?

Had one yesterday at The Flying Saucer and it was simply delicious. Ended up sharing a bottle of this potent brew. Not sure how much age would impact it.

 

Already great and will only get better.

 

Yea, it is a great brew. I can see it being amazing in a few years.

 

I was unimpressed by the Bourbon flavor on this one. Only because it was too much right now. Maybe 6-12 months would help things mellow out together.

I still managed to drink the whole bottle down easily (gave it a 4...only doing simple "Had" reviews this year). BB Human Blockhead is excellent fresh and Rahr's BBWW is drinking perfect if you want to get some Aged taste now and keep the Uncle Jacob's for colder weather.

 

From my experience, stouts of that abv take a minumum of two years to show any significant change. One of the best high-abv stouts I've ever had was an 11 year-old World Wide Stout. I was only able to afford one bottle of Uncle Jacobs, and I don't plan on opening it anytime soon.

 

I was just about to say this. Two to three years is my sweet spot for big stouts, with plenty of room for drinking them later on. I could see wanting to try it fresh though, BUT....I have three bottles and they are all being cellared.

 

Are there any places left selling bottes in San Antonio?

 

You know I generally advocate aging big imperial stouts, but I'm not sold on the concept of aging bourbon-barrel aged beers with a couple of exceptions.

For me when fresh, most non-barrel aged imperial stouts are either too bitter from too many hops (like fresh Yeti) or too roasty for reasons unknown (my lack of brewing experience shows here).

When brewers start bourbon-barrel aging beers, many things can go wrong. The bourbon-barrel aging process for me though, really smooths out all the issues I mentioned above, plus they generally will age it in the barrel for a year already. The fact that it's aging in a vessel that's not sealed like a bottle, makes one year of age in a barrel different than 1 year in a bottle. For these reasons I think most bourbon-barrel aged beers are best when fairly fresh, and if you do keep them, plan to refrigerate or cellar them at real temps (below 60*F).

I know Freetail won't even bourbon barrel age anything anymore due to infection issues and feeling like they just couldn't control it. Here are a few other issues with bourbon-barrel aged beers:

* 512 Whiskey barrel double pecan (1st bottled batch had fairly-widespread reports of bottle infection)
* Avery Black Tot (fairly widespread reports of infection issues)
* 2009 Abyss (About half of these, maybe more, have been reported as infected)
* Churchill's Finest Hour (the first bottled batch, had reports of about 100% infection)
* Foothills / Duck-Rabbit / Olde Hickory Olde Rabbit’s Foot (first bottled batch had reports of infection)
* Freetail BA Old Bat Rastard
* Freetail BA La Muerta

There are lots more, but I suppose the bottom-line point I'm trying to make, is that if you DO decide to age a bourbon-barrel aged beer, drink at least one now because it's probably good, and keep the others in really controlled cool environments. I'm a lot more cautious these days on what I will age though on BA beers.

Cheers,
Chad

 

I agree, Chad. Most BBA stouts I've had didn't taste any better aged than fresh. Personally though, I would make an exception for Uncle Jacob's due to the high abv. I've heard very good things about it, but the general consensus points to it being rather boozy, something I don't care for in big stouts. I know that beers like World Wide Stout and Mephistopheles calm down after a few years, and I'm sure that Uncle Jacobs will also.

 

As of the 12th, both Specs locations had it. I'd call them to see if it's still available. The Saucer still has it listed on their online beer list, and they're usually pretty good at keeping that up to date. Just keep in mind that you'll be paying bar prices for it there.

 

What intrigued me about fresh UJS is that it really wasn't boozy. Sure it was strong as hell, but alcohol was not a main component. I really only noticed it after taking a sip. I think this beer is ready to drink fresh, but could use some age to really come together. Happy I still have 3 bottles left to experiment with!

 

I'd agree, given that it's 17% ABV, it certainly didn't drink like it. It tasted more like 12-13% ABV, and I didn't get fusel alcohol or really much "heat" so to speak. It was really smooth.

 

Can't take it to-go either.

 

Freetail will be having their Christmas in July party this saturday and they will be featuring a Whiskey barrel aged OBR and a Single Malt Whisky OBR. just fyi

Cheers
Mike

 

Interesting, maybe Scott changed his mind on this then. Where did you find info on their Christmas in July party? I don't have an email newsletter from them with it, couldn't find info for it on their website, can't find it on their Facebook either.

 

As far as I know, they haven't made an online announcement of the tap list, but they put up flyers at the pub with the tap list. Whiskey (Balcones Rumble if I'm not mistaken) BA OBR is on there. They tapped it at the Ananke bottle release as well, and it was fantastic.

You're right about Scott and Jason saying that they wouldn't use whiskey/bourbon barrels again after the first attempt resulted in infection. I'm not sure what changed their minds.

 

Actually their first 2 attempts resulted in infected beers. BA OBR and BA La Muerta both got infected after using whiskey barrels.

 

Correct. I lumped them together since they were aged back-to-back in the same barrel.

 

I'm pretty sure it boils down to the good rapport between Jason and the distillers at Balcones (who are awesome by the way)