Drinking Verticals...

eh...it's beer; made for drinking, not collecting.

 

My "cellar" is full - opening stuff means room for more trades! =)

Honestly - I know it's hard to do. I am going to crack an 07 - 12 BCBS vert that some awesome BA's helped me build. Will it suck thinking about it? Yes! Will it suck when they're all open and myself and a few friends are having a blast drinking them? No! Worth it in the end - you won't miss them sitting in the cellar, you'll miss drinking them!

 

True story, but, there's always more new stuff out there to replace it with.

 

Most people go oldest to youngest, right? To me it makes more sense to go youngest to oldest.

In theory, shouldn't the older beer have more depth and complexity, assuming the beer is actually meant for aging?

I would prefer to drink beer with gradually increasing complexity, to give you more to look forward to.

I did a JW Lees mini-vertical about a month ago with some people from here, and I think most of us agreed afterwards that we should have saved the oldest for last.

 

My biggest issue is always - should I open them all and "flight" them so we can move back and forth? Or 1 at a time till finish. What do you guys do?

 

i am doing the same vertical tasting as you are and should be excellent
i just drank a 5/5/5 couple months ago and it was good also last month drank 8/8/8 and 9/9/9/ and 10/10/10
all were excellent although i think the 10/10/10 was a little to grapey for me
it will be sad to see them go but will make some room in my cellar for new beers to start aging
enjoy for sure

 

We did this last week...Abyss, 07-11. I sipped back and forth on the different vintages and thought that was the way to go. Nice that we had a tasting at a bar, so they were able to provide 60 taster glasses at once.

http://instagram.com/p/PvLbrgHoOo/

Edit: look at the head on that '09...it was said that it smelled like somebody had pissed in a cup of coffee, and they were pretty much spot on.

 

I've never seen a T-shirt that reads "Collect good beer" and I've never invited anyone over to "see" some beer.

 

Id Probably Buy the ISO Glass like Jebediah used. Or they do sell like 2-3 oz brandy glasses

 

The verticals I've done at bars, like the He'Brew Jewbelation series, were always in small snifters and were poured all at once so we could move back and forth between beers to compare better. It gives you a chance to reflect on each one without forgetting any. With small pours you don't run the risk of them heating up too much either.
Now when I do my own verticals by myself at home it's harder to manage three or four bombers, but I've come to the point where I'm selfish with my rare stuff and don't like to share. And I agree, it's sad to see them go and often I'm left wanting to find more to replace them. I guess that's part of having a beer for a long time, you get used to it being there.

 

You do understand that the Stone VE series isn't a true vertical right? You will essentially be doing a Horizontal; beers of a "series" that are all different styles. It'd be like doing The Bruery's Black Tuesday, Chocolate Rain, and Grey Monday.

A vertical would be every year of a beer. For instance a Parabola Vertical would be all 3 batches that have been made.

A semi-vert is doing at least 3 years of a beer in a row, but not all the years; i.e. Abyss 09-11.

It is funny to me that Stone named this "Vertical Epic" when it in't even a true vertical. I mean, 02-02-02 is a Belgian Pale Ale or something like that. How is that supposed to age well?

 

Finally getting rid of the Vertical Epic Series is nothing to be upset about.

 

it's a right of passage. out with the old in with the new! just think of all the new stuff you can fill your cellar with!

 

If a vertical is a tasting down a number of different years for one brew and a horizontal is a tasting across a number of different brews in one year, does that make the Vertical Epic series a 'diagonal'?

 

I've always opened all beers and poured them at the same time (assuming you have enough glassware). I have become convinced it's the only way for me to detect subtle changes in the beer from one year to the next.

Also, the beers will warm at relatively the same rate, so as you move back in forth sipping you get a great opportunity to see how each vintage changes.

I have a pretty strong memory; however, opening and drinking one beer at a time there would be little chance of having the ability to pinpoint differences especially with a higher (4 to 6) number of vintages in play.

Some examples:

Pannepot


Pannepeut

 

Separation anxieties... you'll get over it and move on to bigger and better things