July 2015 Cellar Reviews

2010 Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. I Bought this bottle in Charleston during my honeymoon in June of 2010, back when I barely knew anything about craft beer or cellaring. I saved it at 53 degrees for this last 5 years to open after celebrating our 5 year anniversary. 12 oz bottle (label states 09-10 winter bottling) poured into a snifter on 07/08/2015. Knowing what I know now about aging beers, I would never have chosen a stout (except maybe Courage, but that wasn't made in 2010) to age for 5 years. Many imperial stouts can change in positive ways over 1-2 years, but very few can make it past 3-4 without developing off flavors that slowly erode anything positive about the flavor. Anyway, this was actually very good, although not as good as it would have been. The mouthfeel is really the highlight with good carbonation, thick and syrupy weight and just touch of sweetness left. Overall pretty impressive for being long pasts its "peak".

 

December 2010 Great Divide Yeti, so 4.5 years in the cellar

nice dark tan head, nice aroma of bitter chocolate. taste is incredibly smooth - yet complex - chocolate, a touch of coffee, maybe some vanilla bean, a shadow of hops. creamy smooth body, coats the mouth. Aged great.

 

2014 Le Terroir, bomber into a Perfect Pint glass at cellar temp. Had this fresh—at which time it was my first experience with a dry-hopped sour—and really enjoyed it (I've since had others that blew it away). Decided to see how it would age, with the knowledge that the hops would fade.

Pours a clear light yellow-orange with a fairly thick offwhite head. Smell is cider, mint, Juicy Fruit gum, grass clippings. Off smell clearly identifiable as hops that haven't aged gracefully (if such a thing is possible). Taste is faded hops up front (hint of tropical fruit, mint, plastic), with an unpleasant bitterness in the middle and tart cider at the end. When I make an effort to let those favors combine, it's greatly improved: the hops read mostly as funky/dank and melon notes that meld nicely with the tartness, which seems more balanced. Feel is medium bodied, a bit syrupy for the style, and juicy. Overall, once I figured out that I needed to give the flavors time to meld, this was on par with fresh, though with a fairly different character. Glad I took the risk.

 

The Bruery Cuir 2011

I had no idea this had been sitting in my cellar for 4 years already. It's Monday, so it's time.

Looking back at my notes I can't see that this has changed much. Still ninety-five-in-Atlanta hot, full of bourbon & honeyed sweetness. Caramel might be coming on even stronger & the sherry might have climbed up into being the defining characteristic of the beer. Five sips in & I can feel my brain starting to buzz happily already.

Wild. I've never tasted a beer that's changed so little in this time frame. It's my last one. Too bad. It's fantastic.

 

2012 Behemoth. Not cellared by me but I suspect it was cellared optimally.

This beer is drinking wonderfully. The hoppiness has begin to subside quite a bit with a weaker bitterness and some fruity notes. The maltiness has begun to show signs of oxidation as have the higher alcohols. Notes of amaretto has begun to emerge along with some additional fruitiness. Quite a bit of vanilla is present as is some light caramel malts. Light herbal to slight citrus hoppiness.

 

2014 Bourbon County Barleywine ...

I know, I know. This wasn't too "aged." The date on the bottle was September, 2014. Told a friend from San Diego that I wouldn't drink it without him. We drank it out of big wine glasses that our wives taunted us about. No heat from the bourbon, which is great. As much as I love bourbon on it's own, I'd rather it be an accent than a dominant player in my beer. Smooth and sweet, ended with a burnt sugar on the sides of the tongue. A terrific beer that immediately got me regretting I only bought one.

I had it on tap back around release time and thought it needed some time. Glad I got another chance.

 

2013 GI Lolita. Poured at fridge temp into a Burgundy glass, allowed to warm. Pours a burnt orange with a short-lived minimal white head. Cinnamon, strawberry, kiwi, nutmeg on the nose. Taste is very fruity: green apple, Fuji apple, strawberry, some black pepper, vanilla, sea salt, lime, something bitter. Feel is light and effervescent, with a juicy finish. Overall, decent, but not appreciably better than something like Almanac, despite a much higher price tag.

 

If you have any Mission St. Anniversary Ale 2014 around, NOW is the time to start drinking it! Cracked one open this weekend, and I'm regretting not laying more away. This beer takes a while to get good, but it's finally perfect!

 

Did Parabola 10-15 last night.



All tasted fantastic, and surprisingly none suffered from negative oxidative characteristics. 2010 was a bit one-note with a lot of biscuit and a touch of ashy roast, not much barrel character left, but still very tasty. '11 was much sweeter with more dark fruit. 12 and 13 were similar to the 10 but with more carb and fuller body, and a touch of barrel character. '14 was big milk chocolate and whiskey with no heat, very smooth and big mouthfeel. '15 had less chocolate than '14 and the most barrel character by far (not surprising), but also the only vintage with noticeable alcohol heat. Overall they were all great but I think my favorites were 14, for being the biggest and roundest, and 10, maybe just because it had smoothed out so much but not to the extent of becoming thin. I think I may have liked it simply for the fact that it wasn't over the hill as was my fear before opening. 12 and 13 were both fantastic but in comparison to the others personally both lagged a bit possibly for being so well integrated so nothing popped out like all the other vintages did. 11 was the most divisive as people in the tasting group either liked or didn't like how much more dark fruit was present in comparison to all the others. Everyone liked 15 but agreed that it could use at least a few more months for the booze to mellow.

 

That's a beautiful sight! Did you have each of those fresh? Wondering how much of the variation you got was due to differences in the vintages, or differences in the age.

 

I did have each fresh, but I wasn't taking notes back then so most of it is based on memory. I remember batch 1 (2010) being high on roast when it was fresh, so I wasn't surprised that that flavor still came through. I dont remember the particulars of 2011 when it was fresh unfortunately, so I dont know if that big dark fruit character was prominent early on, and I dont think I have had it since first buying a couple bottles (maybe opened one in 2012 but I cant remember off the top of my head). I opened a '13 a few months ago and just looked at my review again, and I noticed that in that review I mentioned dark fruit, and I wonder if in the 2012 and 2013 (which I found to be most similar) I didnt notice it just because it wasnt as prominent as in the '11, and didn't notice the barrel character as much as it wasnt as big as the '14 and '15.

 

'12 Bell's Black Note



This one is over the hill for sure. Barrel character is approaching gone, some muted cardboard flavor underlying what used to be great chocolate, vanilla and leather notes. At this point I'm prepared to conclude that two years is the limit on BN, at its best between one and two.

 

Couldn't agree more. I try to buy a case each year to lay down for a year or two. Super underrated imperial brown ale from FW as a TJ labelled beer for $4. Cheers!