December Cellar Reviews

Revisiting 2014 Velvet Merkin; my last bottle made me worried this was going south, but no sign of anything amiss here. Flavor is dominated by an almost smoky roastiness and chocolate nougat/mousse at cellar temp. As it warms, the bourbon comes to the fore, and a lot of the balance is lost. Mouthfeel continues to be by far the weakest element of this beer. At cellar temp, I'd give this a 4.15, but 3.85 at room temp.

 

2009 Left Hand WIddershins Oak Aged (Brandy Barrel) Barleywine
Vey smooth if not a little bland with a lot of oak in the aroma but a lot less in the flavor with more light to medium caramel flavor and minimal alcohol character but a lot of earthy hoppiness and a little oak in the finish that rounds it out. It has lost the big character it had fresh, but it is still an enjoyable beer even at this ripe old age.

 

Just cracked open a Victory Storm King 2012 and it's drinking very smooth. Nice aroma too. With a best by date of 2/16, I'm wondering if I should drink my last 2 or whether they'll hold up fine beyond that date.

 

I have about half a dozen bottles left from a 2010 case, best by date of 12/15. I just had one and oxidation is starting to creep in, it's past it's peak. So the 5 year date is true, in my opinion. I'm gonna drink the rest of mine this winter.

 

Sahalie bottled Dec 16 2013. Musty, mandarin, pear, vanilla, boozey finish. Tasty.

 

One of my bottles of Old Horizontal hit ten years old on Dec. 9 so I figured that was a good reason to pop it open. The bottle was stored for probably 4-5 years in my basement (so between 60-75F), then the past 5-6 years in the fridge.

I enjoy Old Ho fresh but haven't had a bottle since they switched to bombers. When fresh, it is sweet with tootsie roll characteristics, but enough hops to keep the sweetness at bay.

After 10 years and 2 days:
Appearance: Brown, cloudy, chunks, surprisingly good head.
Smell: Raisin/caramel with lots of oxidation. Kind of overripe fruit on the edge of rotten.
Taste: Sweet raisin to start, then a kind of tannic/woody red wine-like flavor. Earthy, lasting finish. Further tastes remind me of a stout with prominent fruit. More caramel at the start as it warms.

This was a very interesting experiment, had all sorts of flavors that came through after the aging. Instead of just a barleywine, it was like a wine barrel aged, barleywine/dubbel/quad/stout.

I have a 2005 Bigfoot that I'll open soon and see how it compares to this (and a 2015 Bigfoot).

 

2010 Expedition Stout.

Smells like a mix of port with a little bit of soy. Sounds weird, but it's actually quite a good smell. The mouthfeel is quite slick with minimal carbonation. A little bit of sweetness form the malt to start and then mixed in with some sort of cola-type mineral flavor. Also definitely pick up some oxidation. Then there is a solid lingering bitterness from the hops in the finish. I'm surprised at how much bitterness is left in this one. Overall it has aged well, as expected, and can go for a few more years easily.

 

Just cracked my last Upright Anniversary Saison 2015. I know it's not even a year old but can't see this getting any better, so good!!! Bit of a slow gusher, keep an eye on it when opening.

 

Weyerbacher Insanity, bottled 12/16/13, into a Teku at cellar temp. The nose is pretty great, with tobacco, vanilla, candied dark fruit. Taste is very nice as well. Toffee, figs, powdered sugar, cherries, mild bitterness, oak. There are fleeting hints of something mindblowingly great, but it never quite sticks around. Maybe it would come out with more age (they suggest going up to five years), but this was my last bottle, so I suppose I'll never know. 4.15/5.

Edit: here's my review of it from 6mos ago.

 

Night Shift Funk'd Porter bottled 8.12.14. I was a little worried with this one as their quality at the time of release was a little less consistent, but this cellared well.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28609/133076/

 

I had an old bomber of Insanity two summers ago that my friend believed was six years old & it was mind-blowingly good. I've been meaning to stick some in the cellar ever since, but they never last long. I'm going to try to hide some of the next batch.

 

Local bottle shop just put out some '09 and '10 Stone Old Guardians. Had a bottle of the 2009 yesterday, and it was drinking juuuuust fiiiiine. Still very flavorful, with a lot of bright aromas, brown sugar, orange gumdrops, and surprisingly enough, still a fair amount of hoppy bitterness. The hops have evolved a bit from the piney, resinous flavours of fresh Old Guardian, to being more of a generic botanical, almost medicinal bitterness--or perhaps that was the impression I got from the hops melding with the sweet and citrus notes. Still quite American in style.

 

Sounds awesome! I have an 07 that I'm waiting for the ten year mark to open. Hopefully it holds up as well as your 09.

 

2014 Backwoods Bastard, did next to a 2015:

App: Red wine like, w/ slightly more transparency, barely any head.

Aroma: Tons of dark fruit and some wheaty, yeasty notes. Very little barrel.

Flavor: Tons of dark fruit with a slight wheaty flavor. Vanilla and some bourbon with sweet carmel. The barrel fades a bit, but in a good way. 2015 felt much more harsh.

Moutfeel: Liked how there was plenty of carmonation that coated your mouth while some how feeling a bit syrupy with nice viscosity that provided balance.

Overall: I preferred it aged. Liked the way the dark jammy fruits came out and the barrel was less pronounced. Enjoyed what felt liked increased viscosity as well.

 

Opened a 2013 bourbon county barleywine on friday. When it was fresh i didnt care for it as itwas much too boozy. Right now it is super smooth and full of sweet caramel. Hard to imagine it getting better than this. The only barleywine I've tried that is better would be kh

 

Sipping on a 2011 Devil Dancer, and I'm not sure if it needs a few more years or a few less years. Either way, this one is impressively bitter, sharply so, with some plum and dark stone fruit notes being overwhelmed by pomelo and grapefruit pith. There are a lot of fruit flavors dancing around on the tongue, but some of them are overly ripe. I've seen a few BA reviews that used "cat piss" as a positive descriptor, and it's somewhat close to the mark here, but not in as good of a way. The smell isn't so much of ammonia or uric acid, but that peculiar combination of piss and cat litter. It's subtle and dominated by fruity bitterness, but I definitely get some unpleasant, almost rotten undertones that are most likely from oxidation.

 

Digging into the cellar for the holidays.
2012(?) Kosmyk Charlie's Y2K Catastrophe Ale
Poured all but the last inch or so into the glass. Remainder was a mess of dead yeast. Aroma was promising, but taste was pretty standard American barleywine that's past its time. Very bitter, with hints of the rich malt poking through. Needs at least another year to get past this phase.

BCS Backyard Rye
Perfect melding of tart berries and rich chocolate from the stout. Just a kiss of barrel at the end. Very jammy; perfect dessert beer. Drink now; it's not getting better.

 

2009 Flying Dog Barley Wine

Decent finger size head on top this dark purple brownish beer. Nose was extremely nice with big fig, caramel and plum. Taste was equally nice but even more complex as it begins bitterly but opens up to raisin, a ton of molasses, carob, burnt toffee and black cherry. Overall the body was thin but that's likely more a product of age and not intent, so no marking down there. Finish has some heat in it as well as a tiny bit of tart on exit.