April 2016 Cellar Reviews

2010 Pennepot Reserva poured with a fizzy effervescent head that dissipated quickly. The beer was nice brown color with a reddish hue. It smelled of stone fruit - plums and raisons. The taste was similar but stronger with plum/prune/raison flavors. Really delicious, so smooth and sweet. The mouthfeel was nice slightly sticky. This was an absolutely delicious beer.

 

Matt's Burning Rosids, bottled 12-31-13
Yet another beer from Stone that I wasnt a fan of initially. Not even sure how I ended up with a bottle in my cellar. Anyway, figured it would pair nicely with swordfish, so I pulled it for dinner. Fresh, the smoked malt dominated. A couple years has transformed this beer into a decadent, layered delight! Big notes include scotchy-smoke, bruleed honey, apricots and bananas. Beautiful color and aroma. Really blown away at how much I like this.....now if I could only remember where I saw more bottles for sale.

 

I drank my last bottle a couple months ago. I thought it was fantastic. Stone had a leap year sale and sold it by the case for dirt cheap, like 3 bucks a bottle....How I wished I was near San Diego.

 

Found a Sam Adams Longshot Double IPA from 2009 hidden behind a bunch of other stuff in my beer cellar last night and decided to crack it open today. How or why it got put back there in the first place I have no idea but I am actually glad it did. It is damn good! I can't believe a 7 year old Double IPA could still taste so hoppy! Its like the hop profile hasn't diminished at all here! Pours a medium to dark copper color. Apparently I gave this one a very rough pout because there are a shit ton of yeast chunks floating around in the beer. Has a nice white head that settles to a nice creamy surface layer and that has very good lacing. Has a nice malty backbone under the dominant hop presence.

Eric

 

I find that many of the FW Ltd. beers actually taste great on day 2. They seem to open up and I think taste even better. Specifically, Sucaba, Stickee Monkee and Parabola. The anniversary beers on the other hand are best in one sitting. I just pour half, put a cork in and drink the rest the next day.

 

2013 Matilda - 750ml bottle

About three fingers of fluffy off-white head. Excellent retention and lacing. Tons of active, cascading carbonation. Amber body. I did a poor job of decanting so there's a bunch of sediment floating throughout - if I had decanted properly, this would be a beautiful beer. Smells of honey and tart lemon upfront. A little pepper, slight biscuity malt, heavy dose of funk underlying. Sweet stone fruit throughout. Tastes of honey, pepper, some slight fruitiness (a mix of lemon and sweet pear) and leather. Finishes with some pithy bitterness and belgian yeast. Not tart and the barnyard notes a revery well integrated and subtle. Effervescent with a dry finish. This aged very, very well - to my surprise, I actually enjoy this far more aged than fresh. The funk and dryness that seem to develop with ages cut well through the bretty fruitiness that I found a bit unbalanced in fresh(er) Matilda, particular the draft version.

 

Great Lakes Blackout Stout / BA Blackout Stout 2013

Blackout Stout (Dated 4/28/13 - 12 oz. bottle)
Sweeter than fresh, with the dearly departed hops no longer in evidence, that almost leans into honey. Steady chocolate, lactose-laced roast, this is now a rich, hearty malt bomb. I tend to like the fresher version with the hops intact, but this is still very good. Could go longer. B+

Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout (January 2013 release - 12 oz. bottle)
Three years has always been my personal consensus on the sweet spot for BA Blackout & this bottle is no dissenter. Barrel has died back but wound it's way straight into the DNA of the beer. Bourbon, sweet malt, roast still kicking, light alcohol, aged Roman ceiling beams, but the real story is how all these base, standard parts blend into a greater whole. Awesome. Not quite the perfection of the some of the old bomber years (I still dream about the '08) but wonderful nonetheless. Would another year do this even more good? I'm going to find out. A

 

Pretty much all the sisters do very well. Really recommend you hold on to Sofie as well. If you can still find Peres Jaques, that beers does amazing with 3 years on it. Pumpernickel bread soaked in dates and rum.

 

Preferred a year on it to two when I had it at the release party this year. Was going to drink all my 1 year old ones, but may have to let one ride now!

 

2014 / 2015 Lagunitas Brown Shugga side-by-side

This beer has always been too sweet and hot for my liking. I saved a bottle of 2014 for science, so I figured Id throw a 15 in the mix too.
Appearance is the same on both. Beautiful copper brown color with plenty of head.
After that, these beers are nothing alike.
2014 - the smell on this one is what I would describe as deep and layered. Earthy fig, leather and caramel dominate. The finish is dry and bitter, with plenty of hops still present. overall, pleasant drinking.
2015 - completely one noted. aroma and taste are both muted and hot compared to the 14. The finish is similar to the 14, being bitter and dry.
Overall, 2 completely different beers. While the 14 was pleasant and benefited from aging, I dont think Ill be putting any of these away again.

 

Opened up a couple of Jack's Abby beers yesterday.

First up was Baby Maker (released sometime around late 2013/early 2014 I believe.) I enjoyed this beer fresh quite a bit and it was at least as good with some age. Fresh I got strong butterscotch/sweet bourbon all the way through. Quite a bit of booze to it as well. With some age, the butterscotch to sweet bourbon flavor is still there but it has developed a really nice dark fruit flavor along with some light maple syrup qualities. The plum to fig flavor was not there before or was very subtle and it compliments the other flavors very nicely. I can imagine this still going longer (maybe the fruits will get even stronger) but it is tasting very good now.

Second up was Saxonator (Feb 2014 release.) Fresh I thought this beer was pretty good but could have been a bit sweeter for my tastes. I actually got a very similar dark fruit character to Baby Maker, but with a much different flavor profile otherwise. It had a strong maltiness without getting chocolatey or roasty. The plum to prune flavor also was absent in this beer fresh (it had more a dried dark fruit flavor.) I preferred the aged version although it is hard to say by how much since I haven't drank it in 2 years.

2 great experiences cellaring Jack's Abby. I even checked back in with their beers to see if there was anything else I'd like to try aging from them. I just may have to set up a trade for some more. I really enjoyed the flavors that developed in both these beers.

 

2013 Central Waters Peruvian Morning: I thought I only had uninfected bottles left but the one I opened a few months ago proved me wrong. I'm worried this will be more of the same but instead the smell comes off clean, not much there to be honest but at least it doesn't smell infected. Carbonation is weirdly soda like, especially when compared to the '16 Cassian I'm drinking next to it. Coffee is pretty much non-existent at this point both in smell and taste but the bourbon and stout flavors are also really mild too. Honestly, just devoid of much flavor or character at this point even without any significant oxidation making itself known. No reason to keep these this long but I already knew that...

 

Nice post. I have all three years (just received 2 '16's from my CA trading buddy) and hope to do something similar. This is "hands down" my favorite beer of all.

 

Well no pictures to show, and not technically a personal cellaring, but I'll post here anyways...

Grabbed a Jah-va from Southern Tier a month ago and forgot it at my parent's house. I picked it up because I had never seen it in my neck of the woods. Came down yesterday and looked at the bottling date. 3-26-12. Drank insanely good. Still strong coffee flavors, which was the biggest surprise. Praying that they still have some bottles at the place I found it at when I drive home tomorrow. Nothing better than having someone else age your beer for 4 years and not charge extra.