May 2015 Cellar Reviews

2011 Abacus is almost as good as the first 2010 run I had draft at the Paso brewery. Big vanilla and coconut with zero sign of slow down. I'll say it is priming. I can't see it getting better.

 

That is true. Different nights though!

 

I opened one of my batch 1 2006 Avery Mephistopheles. I hated every minute of it because I only have one more. The beer was glorious but the only thing I was thinking was that I should have cellared more.

 

Continuing the general theme of FW dominance in this thread (side note: love it, and glad to see I probably don't need to worry about my '12 §ucaba, DDBA, or Parabola being too far over the hill), broke out a Stickee Monkee with almost exactly a year on it. Pours a robust brown with garnet accents and no head (or lacing of any kind) to speak of. Smell is standard FW barleywine, but heavily favoring sweet notes. Also some red wine or port notes. As it warms, the alcohol burn asserts. The taste follows the nose, and in comparison to fresh, strikes me as being a tad less sweet (though still quite sweet), with more of a red wine / fruit character compared to the pure confectioners sugar sweetness I remember originally. Also a savory element, almost like high-quality bacon. Feel is fairly syrupy but still light to medium, somehow. Overall, this is clearly in a second tier behind FW's aforementioned barleywines. No evidence that this vintage doesn't have another few good years left, though, so it might put up a fight yet.

 

2013 Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine

Yes, as a matter of fact, I have been cleaning up/re-organizing my cellar this week, & what's a re-org without a little drinking? I pulled out a four pack of this beauty, the first year of the new (& bloody boring; bring back the old!) labels. Pours like liquefied clay & tastes like an impending orgasm feels. The bourbon is still hot & aggressive, but the malts have melted into a caramel/toffee puddle cut with vanilla. My favorite thing about aging this beer is how much the malts come out, while the barrel stays as aggressive as ever. The oldest I've had it is five years; can't wait to see how long it'll still be a top-notch beer.

 

Black Butte XXI - '09

A - Dark mahogany brown. Still had decent head, actually just as much as the XXV we opened next to it. 4/5
S - Pretty strong Green coffee bean smell/green veg. As it warms, more brown sugar/vanilla comes through. 2.5/5
T - Green coffee bean was strong when cold. Finishes with pleasant cocoa powder and dusty bakers chocolate. Same as the nose, as it warmed picking up less green coffee and more cocoa and sweet brown sugars come in. 3.75/5
M - Medium carbonation, lighter side of medium body, finishes with a little bit of that dry cocoa makes you want to take another sip. 4/5
O - Other than the green coffee, i was pretty impressed with how it held up. I didnt have this one fresh but i bet it was much better. Probably past its prime, but it was a very cool to give this a shot now. Green flavors weren't even that off putting.

 

Came here looking for experiences with cellaring Hop Savant... I have an Amarillo Hop Savant that I am considering cellaring but wanted to see what others' experiences with the beer were. Would you say the ~2 years that your beer was aged was just right? Do you think the beer would have improved after more time in the cellar?

Cheers!

 

Hi, I drank my last bottle within a week of the one reviewed because it was near perfect in my view. If I had to guess, more age would have increased the acids more which at some point become a nuisance.