March 2018 Cellar Reviews

Clown Shoes Flight of the Angry Beast, from October 2015. A blend of Undead Party Crasher (stout) aged in bourbon, Blaecorn Unidragon (RIS) aged in scotch, and Billionaire (English barleywine) aged in scotch. When fresh, I really loved this blending experiment but noted in my review that many people would call it a hot mess: it was full of Clown Shoes unapologetic booziness and a jumble of flavors that changed over time as the beer breathes and warms up.

Now, I get a much more coherent impression from it, but one that is consequently less interesting. Much more forward on the barleywine side, and with much more dominant notes from the peated scotch barrels and the normally-mild iodine notes in Blaecorn Unidragon. I also get significantly less heat and boozy character, but more actual oak and barrel in trade. It's definitely a change in overall personality, but I preferred what it was doing a year ago to what it's doing now. Not much in the way of additional oxidation, and still quite enjoyable to my tastes, but I think it may have peaked when I wasn't looking.

 

One of my favorite barleywines.

 

That shit is so good. Had the pleasure of trying it on draft; and it was in 2013 so I had that vintage fresh.

 

17 year old bottle
Pours with zero head. Carbonation is totally gone.
Aroma is cherries and sherry.
Taste of toffee, raisins, figs. A little sherry. Sweet deliciousness.
5/5

 

Transient Kentuckley batch 1

Appearance: Black body with two finger of dark brown head.

Smell: Bourbon is huge; smooth and rich bourbon with plenty of earthy dry oak barrel. So much vanilla, a nice dose of chocolate with a hint of maple. I don't smell much coffee, but I do get a roasty profile from the stout. Not sure if its malts or the Tugboat coffee beans.

Taste: Well balanced barrel aged stout; coffee bitterness, bourbon/vanilla/maple which imparts richness and sweetness. The tugboat coffee really balances out the sweetness/richness of this stout. The barrel flavors are still really big. The coffee is not quite as big as the last time I drank this(back in August of 2016).

Mouthfeel: medium bodied beer. This still drinks at its ABV. It does not hide the fact that it is a 13% stout. It is a flavorful and bold stout; without being too over the top. Its big and rich in the best possible ways. Carbonation is still very much on point.

Overall: This is still a sipper stout for sure! I am impressed at how this beer has not lost much of its gusto from when it was a fresh bottle. This still has a lot of time left on the bottle. You might be loosing the maple flavors, but the barrel aged flavors here are without a doubt world class.

 

One of my old favourites! Glad to hear it's holding up well.

 

2011 Goose Island Fleur

look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

This 4/8/2011 5.2% bottle was a gift from a dog walking friend. The label recommended bottle conditioning for up to five years so I figured I'd better get cracking.

Poured from a 650 ml bottle into a DFH tulip, there was still an abundant thick white head over a clear dark yellow body. Smell contained some of the winey hints present in some Belgian pale ales and maybe a hint of the flowery hop smells but I'm afraid most of them have faded. Taste was slightly more intense but I have a feeling the label advice was spot on. Mouthfeel was just fine per the style. Sorry I didn't drink this earlier but free craft beer FTW!