November 2018 Cellar Reviews

Bottled 09/26/16 this is Short’s Black Cherry Porter. It’s been one of my favorites from Short’s, not bottled in 2017 or ‘18 (yet?).
Sorry for the bad picture.

Pours a generous black with finely bubbled bead of flat tan. Leaves a good amount of lacing. Tart cherry and pits, leather and tobacco, some ash on the nose. Tart cherry first leads to ash, a bit of roast, and smoke. Bitter chocolate when I breathe out. Smoothly carbonated, lingering tart cherry. I think I like it better with less age but still drinking very nice. Hope it makes it into a bottle for 2019.

 

North Coast Old Stock Ale 2013 Cellar Reserve Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Revisiting this bad boy plus another year. Poured into a DFH tulip, the carbonation is greatly reduced with a very small head over a light mahogany body. It doesn't taste flat though. It still smells and tastes great, with maybe more molasses and dark fruit coming forward while the booze and barrel are still there although diminished to a more reasonable level. Maybe I've been spoiled since the last time I've had this but the mouthfeel is less substantial than what I was expecting. There's a local bottle shop with a 2012 for sale; I'm not sure how much they're charging but I'm guessing it's more than I want to pay. I've got 3 non barrel aged from 2012 in my cellar, and lots of subsequent years, so I'll probably stick with those. But that doesn't take away from this being a great experience.

 

Getting into a 2011 DFH olde school BW which was generously gifted to me, with other vintage BW, by @Ahonky.

Very smooth at this point with little to no fusel alcohol characteristics remaining. Feel is perfect for style, carbonation is low but still lively enough to give this a surprisingly deft and nimble feel on the tongue. Medium body falling just a hair on the lighter side, which also helps drinkability. A few chunky floaties here and there. Not the deepest flavor, but extremely enjoyable, bringing raisin, date, brown sugar and a hint of bitter hops just barely perceptible in the finish. Worlds away from fresher bottles, definitely the kind of beer to grab a bunch of and forget for a looong time.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Not the deepest most profound barleywine you'll come across but a perfect cellar candidate. Feels like this could have gone a decade without a problem, easily.

 

Drinking a Deschutes Black Butte XXVI from 2014 that was a random find in cold storage at a shop in Michiana. Very little oxidation evident, only a slight hint of cardboard on the early palate. Still pours as I remember it fresh, with a full finger of head on a dark brown but translucent body. The pomegranate molasses and cranberry are still also pretty evident, which was a pleasant surprise to me. The nibs and vanilla, less so. Not much barrel or bourbon character, either. All in all, though, still very nicely balanced after four years.

 

2016 Surly Darkness - 09/09/16

Waxed bottle with cerberus label. Poured into a snifter. Thick tan head to start, faded into slight ring with residual lacing. Roast malt aromas. Great roasty sweet chocolatey taste and slightly bitter finish. Great mouthfeel - not overly thick, and certainly not thin. This is an incredible stout and holding up remarkably well after two years. Would definitely seek this out - still a classic!

 

2017 Bell's Third Coast Old Ale

4.02/5 rDev -2.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12 ounce bottled on 10/11/2017 into a DFH tulip. Small head over a cherry mahogany body which dissipated quickly with little lacing. Smell got much more pronounced as it warmed up since I started this in a very cold attic before moving to a warmer setting. Smell was of nicely sweet fruit with a slight, not overpowering, booze tinge. Taste was more hoppy than the smell but it in no way detracted from the sweet flavors. Absolutely no alcohol burn. Mouthfeel was fine albeit slightly thin.

Overall this was a bit of a letdown because my hopes maybe were higher than was reasonable. Then again, maybe additional aging will get this to the point I wanted it to be since this is still young. Will revisit this in a year.

 

Dogfish Head Oak Aged Siracusa Nera 10/11/2017

The positive changes I noted on 7/7 continue in place: there has been no reduction in the carbonation when poured into a DFH tulip. Smell was still lacking for a big stout just after the pour after being stored at 50 degrees, but as it warmed up I got a nice wine aroma over the stout malts. The taste is still not at the level of the top tier RISs but it seems like a typical DFH experiment, which is not meant as a slam because imo they do things with a lot of integrity. I still don't detect much barrel per se so I guess the wine smell and taste is what it is. Mouthfeel is fine for this sipper. I still have one left that I'll crack open at some point in the future because there's been no deterioration that I can detect.

 

Had my last bottle of '13 in September. One of my favorites of all time and consistently excellent through out the last 5 years - really enjoyable aging experience.

 

2014 Americano Stout: Stone Brewing Co.

4.34/5 rDev +5.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

This 10/16/2014 bottle was a gift from a friend who relocated and had to empty her beer fridge; lucky me! Since I'm not aware of what this tastes like fresh, I'm guessing that it was hoppier fresh but that's the extent of my assumptions.

Poured into a DFH tulip, it's a black body with a finger sized tan head. Even straight from a 50 degree fridge the coffee smell dominates everything. As it warms you get chocolate and vanilla and even a boozy aroma. The taste is flat out coffee with some stout malt char. Mouthfeel is very creamy and pleasant. For a not big alc stout this was a very positive experience. Even though I don't know what this tasted like fresh there's no sign that four years has had any obvious negative impact. Based on my grade compared to the average, maybe aging has been positive.

 

2017 Founders KBS

Poured in an Abbey long stemmed tulip. I think this is very balanced now and am thinking of gradually finishing the 2017s between now and late spring 2019 to ward off any off tastes or the barrel tastes disappearing and it becoming something less pleasing than it currently is. Then again, further aging might do something unexpectedly pleasant.

Help me out, guys; what do you recommend?

 

If ya can’t see it, that’s Expedition bottled 7/26/13. I love this beer with at least a year on it to mellow out some of the heat and bitterness. At just over 5 years here, not sure what to expect but hoping for great things.
Poured into tulip at 40 or so degrees, letting it warm up to cellar temp.
Just as fresh, pours a thick black. Here just a minimal head of mocha foam. Molasses, baker’s chocolate, black licorice nose.
Rich bittersweet chocolate, decent amount of roast, charred marshmallow (mostly char, not so much ‘mallow). Still has that velvety smooth mouthfeel that I love. Low carbonated which is where it needs to be. Turned out to be a great bottle. That said, I have a 2010 bottle that I’ll open in 2020. Really optimistic on that one now.

 

As I remember 2017 was really coffee heavy. IMO, fresh was best for that one, although I have 8 or so left too that I’ve been slowly drinking. The oldest KBS I’ve had was 5 years old. At that point, for me, it’s a completely different beer but still one that is enjoyable and not a failed experiment. Only one way to find out for your personal tastes!

 

AVBC Huge Arker (2014 or 2015)
**Note: Just saw this thread, and I drank this last week during my weekly beer & cigars hangout. There never was a date on the bottle, but I know I've been sitting on this bottle somewhere between 3-4 years at this point.**
Carbonation has dropped of quite a bit and while there is still a hint of the bourbon, it has fallen off significantly compared to the 2 year old bottle I had 18 months ago. More of the oak has come out and given it a slight bit more vanilla, which was nice, but the beer also lost some body/mouthfeel. 4.0/5.0 for this bottle, whereas the fresh to 2 year old bottles I would still give a 4.75/5.0