April 2018 Cellar Reviews

Had a draft 2016 Samichlaus earlier this week. Didn't take any tasting notes and I've never had any past experience with this beer...but I sure as hell enjoyed this one.

I will likely be purchasing some bottles in the future, maybe even enough for some long term experiments!

 

2016 central waters bourbon barrel stout is tasting nice. The dark fruit, barrel and coffee/chocolate flavors all play well off each other. The barrel is very present but not hot. Very enjoyable beer. I bought 2 packs of them, I'm tempted to go back for the third and last.

 

Founder's 2020 KBS
No gas escaping upon opening. Poured thick and almost syrupy with a small very dark smear of a head only showing after the bottle was completely empty.
Initial aroma hit was like chocolate and graham cracker. That was kinda nice. In time the vanilla and bourbon show. The bourbon has tempered a ton. In fact it's almost background to the rich dried fruit and soft roast of the malt for the initial takes- but in time bourbon appears and becomes the character of drink. The vanilla is softer in the flavor than the aroma. A much less intense drink overall. With almost no carbonation it loses some softness to the feel and it runs quickly through. Soft alcohol flavors.
Overall a more mellow version of the fresh one. Doesn't change it's overall profile all that much with aging.

 

I may avoid KBS in two years...

 

I had my last hopslam yesterday. Does a 3 month old ipa count as cellared?

 

to late to correct - 2010

 

2009 New Belgium Trippel
Surprised how well this held up. Still looked quite good. Full white head. Clear gold body. Aroma had faded some. This has certainly oxidized and in the aroma it was most noticed as that sort of card board quality was prominent.
In the flavor it had blended with the grain. As I tried to identify the interesting complexity the best I could come up with is a fruit filled pastry. Not sweet but still with a grain/dough foundation and a fruit, like plum filling mixed with a vanilla taste. Still little shots of cardboard showed taking away the fun. This was surprisingly enjoyable and interesting. Ended up being quite easy to drink. Smooth and full enough feel. Much better than I expected but still definitely past its prime.

 

Actually I have found some of the better DIPA's hold up well with some age including hopslam and abrasive. Not to diminish how good they are fresh - which is often outstanding.

 

My favorite for aging. I like it at any age, but every time I've compared, older is better.

 

Read one time somewhere in a land far far away that Myrcenary from Odell can be aged so I went ahead and tucked a few away...

This one was just over a year old. Didn’t seem like much changed- although the booze-y heat was a bit subdued compared to fresh. Hops might have been a little stale, but really I found the profile to be a nice combo of pine, citrus, and floral that still had some pop.

Overall my take away is that Odell’s canning line is otherworldly and there must have only been like 2 PPB of DO in this can. I will certainly not hold back on stashing these guys going forward.

 

Funny I don't usually come here now that I am not so into cellaring beer, but our annual stout tasting had 2011 - 2017 BCBS for this year's vertical and the 2011, which was so good fresh, and every year since, is on the way out. Sounds like yours fared better, but our experience was similar in the pour, had a greatly diminished nose, and a sort of muted and blended taste composed of the deep roasty and strong barrel notes, but shadows of former glory. Not much to add except there was no soy sauce and it was far from unpleasant.. Favorite of the night for me was the 15, and the 12 was second, holding up beyond well IMO.

 

2013 old stock ale

Pours much thinner, murkier and darker than I remember. Smells of the same dark fruit it always has, plums and cherries and even apricots.

Taste and feel are less potent and syrupy than when fresh. It almost seems to have lost flavor as it's not a cloying bomb that it was fresh. Zero oxidation detectable, this guy could have gone a lot, lot longer.

I have one more 2013 in the cellar. I was worried they were past their prime but couldn't be more wrong. The other one isn't going to be touched anytime soon. This is definitely an A+ candidate for cellaring, I'm definitely going to invest in some recent bottles to put away long term.

 

Cracked open a bottle of Raspberry Sundae, the Sierra Nevada's collaboration brew with Bruery.

As much as this was sweet fresh, that sweetness went away. This beer was much more copper like than reddish and looked like tea.

The smell was faint alcohol but a bit woody and fruity.

The taste was amazing, much better than fresh and a real treat for a night cap. The first sip is barrel wood, not so much like bourbon but more picking up wood barrel from where it was distilled. Raspberry flavors is there but very much in the background. Slight cocoa and vanilla but was more like tea mixed with vodka that was distilled in wooden barrels but really good vodka as it was super balanced and delicious.

If anything it reminded me of a sahti. I had one sahti before and this very much reminded me of it. There is also some hops that go on display but the real winner is the wood. I don't remember it having a woody flavor before but it's there now. If you have some lying around still I highly suggest cracking it open....truly wish I had another.

 

Wow, that Raspberry Sundae got roundly trashed on the Beercamp release thread (FTR I thought it was ok albeit a bit sweet, but not unexpected for a Bruery collab) so I'm glad for you that the aging had a positive impact. Again, as much as I like the concept of Beercamp, it's frustrating with results like this that it was a one-time offering.

 

Agree, I really wanted to have a few extra of the Fullers collab.

 

Have 2 Fullers and never touched them....vintage was the key word for me not to drink it fresh. I also have 1 Avery/SN barley wine. Had 2 of these fresh and really enjoyed them fresh but found a single 6 months later so I decided to age it.

 

2017 Great Lakes Brewing Co. Barrel Aged Tripel Dog Dare

3.65/5 rDev -9.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

I picked this pint and six ounces bottle, #1002, at the brewery last summer when it was offered with great fanfare. I'd had some barrel aged Rackhouse ale on tap which tasted great and I decided to ignore the people who said that Great Lakes barrel aged beers don't do well in bottles and cellared it for a night like tonight.

Welp those people were right. This isn't bad but it's just too thin for what I expect from a well done trippel. I'm not picking up any complex flavors and there's a disturbingly bitter aftertaste. Just not the experience I was hoping for.