September 2016 Cellar Reviews

2010 Victory Storm King

Approaching 1 year past the 5 year best by date. It is past its peak but still a tasty beer. Dry, more roast than chocolate. A little herbal and earthy flavor too.

 

La Piccola Pepe di Sichuan, bottled 18 months ago. Nice-looking beer still, with a huge foamy head. Smell is sichuan peppers—anise, mint, black pepper—with berries in the background. Taste is much the same, with that somewhat bright sichuan pepper taste leading the way. Mild tartness, mild cherry/berry, with saison elements very minimal and no funk. Some mild sherry-like notes from oxidation are evident. Overall, good, but not great, and not markedly improved by age.

 

KBS, bottled 2/12/15. Black body; chocolate milk colored head which quickly disipates to a thin collar. No lacing. Smells of rich dark chocolate, slight vanilla, coconut - bourbon and some oak underlying. Taste follows the nose - chocolate, bourbon (but not boozy), touch of vanilla. Finish is assertive with coffee beans and chaulky, bitter dark chocolate. The bourbon notes carry through the finish
Low carbonation, medium feel.

Enjoyed this better fresh (no surprise), but a very enjoyable beer.

 

OSA 2012
Still looks and drinks great. Really no sense of oxidation. The spicing is subdued some but the blending with the malt flavors remains strong & enjoyable. A pleasant surprise.

 

SLOambic 2015 (olallieberries): cellar temp into a goblet, leaving behind sediment. Nice ruddy dusty red. Smell is big-time fruit. Taste is more delicious fruit, with a low to moderate amount of tartness and some nice fruit sweetness. The first beer that comes to mind in having such a distinct fruit character without being saccharine or artificial is Alexander; this isn't quite as good as that, but not too far off.

SLOambic 2016 (blackberries): same pour. Similar appearance, though the head is noticeably mauve instead of white. Smell is blackberry pie with blackberry preserves on top. Taste is definitely sweeter than 2015, and the fruit is identifiably different. Whereas 2015 has tartness up front that lingers throughout, if only in the background, the 2016's tartness only really asserts about halfway through, and is then drowned out by a secondary wave of sweetness. There's also a strange earthy minerality on the back end of the 2016.

Overall, I prefer the fruit flavor (taken on its own) of the 2016, but I prefer the complete taste profile of the 2015. The 2016 wins in aroma and appearance, and mouthfeel's a tie. The 2015 still wins narrowly based on its taste, but both are quite good. A santé!

 

Great Divide Yeti bottled on 8/10/15.



I don't think aging this for a year improved or took away from the beer at all. Maybe added a little complexity to it by throwing some dark fruit into the coffee/chocolate mix. Seems thicker and chewier to me than I remember too. It's still a great beer but I think I prefer it fresh.

 

Jacks Abby - Bride Maker

Almost no head. Muddy ruby body. No lacing or rention. Nose is intense brown sugar, toffee, dark fruits, and bourbon. Some vanilla. Very sweet, no booze. Taste follows the nose and is extremely sweet. In addition to brown sugar, toffee, dark fruit, and slight bourbon, there's also distinct notes of maple syrup. Super complex. Mouthful - low carbonation, sweet and sticky. This beer is outrageous, fresh or aged.

 

A little Gueuze/Geuze lunch in Stockholm.


Cantillon - 2015 on the left, 2001 on the right. 2015: Bright, slightly astringent, grapefruit rind. 2001: Oak, leather, old hay, a hint of forest/mushroom

3F - 2000 vs 2015. 2015: Apricot, asian pear, a hint of sungold tomato. 2000: Musty leather, like a dusty library.

 

12 fl oz bottle sealed with black pressure cap; aggressive hiss when the bottle is opened.

bottled on 09/24/2010; this bottle is 4 days shy of 6 years old.

poured into 2015 Bourbon County Speigelau Tulip; served at cellar temp.

Appearance: black body that pours a dark brown head almost two fingers tall. Head drops down to thick cap. Substantial booze legs cling to the glass after each sip. (Score: 4.25)

Smell: Huge oak barrel and charred wood. Spicy bourbon, dark fruits, bakers cocoa, and a hint of fusel alcohol. The nose is a bit sharp and aggressive. (Score: 3.75)

Taste: Bourbon and charred oak and seamlessly blended together. Sweet notes of fudge and vanilla. Dark fruit, graham cracker, tobacco, and sherry wine. This is nicely layered and well integrated. (Score: 4.5)

Mouthfeel: medium bodied beer with low carbonation. Smooth drinking and perfect carbonation. Nice thick motor oil feel and mouth coating body. No booze in the flavor or the mouthfeel. (Score: 4.5)

Overall: 2010 BCBS is in a great spot right now! The nose is sharp and harsh, but the flavor and mouthfeel have really held up well. I remember drinking my fair share of 2010 Bourbon County when it was fresh back in 2010 and I really liked this beer fresh. It is really cool to crack open a bottle nearly 6 years later and see that it is still doing quite well. It impresses me that this vintage of BCBS has surpassed the "develops for up to 5 years in the bottle" claim that Goose Island has placed on the bottle label of this beer by a full year. I think that under proper cellar conditions; 2010 BCBS will still be delicious for at least 6 months and might even last another year. (Score: 4.5)

 

Good to hear it holds up that long, I just bought a 09-11 13 vertical I'm excited to crack into.

 

Had a 2009 BCBS last month and the 2009 was even better than this 2010 I opened last night. As a side note, 2009 has been my favorite year of BCBS above all other years from fresh to the last bottle I had last month; so there might be a little bit of personal bias in this statement...

So you have alot to look forward to with that vertical!

 

It'll be a fun one, as soon as I get a 2012 I'll have an 09-14, I might have to do that one in a few different sessions. I have a feeling 6 13+% stouts might be a bit much.

 

Did a side by side with a friend last weekend.

Bells Black Note 2016 - roasted barley, coffee, tobacco, hints of bourbon in the finish.

Bells Black Note 2014 - the coffee and bourbon notes have faded and all the other flavors have become more rounded and smooth. Tastes similar to aged Expedition.

BCBS 2015 - Fudge, caramel, toffee, with a smooth bourbon finish

BCBS 2014 - Big bourbon booziness when compared to 2015. The fudge and toffee flavors have mellowed nicely together.

Overall we both preferred BCBS 2015 and Black Note 2016, with BCBS 2015 being the favorite of the bunch.

 

Had some 2009 Smuttynose Imperial Stout on draft the other night. More full-bodied than I remember it when fresh, and still plenty of roast and bitter dark chocolate, but oxidation was starting to get the better of it, just starting to add some paper pulp and orange gumdrop notes. Probably a year or two past its prime.

 

I had a 2014 Founders Imperial stout to see how it was aging, it is doing really well. It still has a little heat, but is starting to mellow out some, but the flavors are coming together really well. I love this stuff fresh, but really enjoy it with 2-3 years on her.

I know this isn't much of a cellar beer, whale, per say. But I'm only 18-24 months into cellaring beers, so I will have a lot more to share in the coming months and years .

 

June 2014 bottle of Clown Shoes' Ride the Lion, and I have low expectations relative to when I had it fresher. Now pours a murky light brown, with a smidgeon of light foam that quickly dissipates. Smells a bit tangy from oxidation and barrel oak, along with brown sugar, spiced apple cider, and amaretto. The taste still has a nice malt backbone but also has a hint of tartness to it, suggesting it has passed its prime.

I still have one more bottle, which I'm planning to open alongside bottles of the base beer, Royal Standard, and the cognac barrel-aged version, Ride the Wendigo. Shame that they can't all be fresh at the same time, but it should make for an interesting tasting.

 

2015 Madagascar

perfect carbonation khaki head. vanilla nose. Little thin, no barrel, vanilla fell off. shell of what it used to be.

 

Had a 2015 FIS. It was tasty. Mellowed in terms of robustness. Chocolate malts came forth more. But not all muddled and sweet. Still dry and toasty. Got a little syrupy towards the end. If it went longer, i could see it getting somewhat of an oxidized backdrop. It was almost on its way.

Have one more, but waiting to mix it with some BWB in a few weeks.