Advice on trading for BBT

All of Cory King's blended barrel-aged stouts taste similar. There is only a marginal difference in quality and taste between the varying tiers of whale status beers. This is based on my experience over the past few years, having tried various vintages of Perennial and Side Project stouts, including Maman, BBT, and Derivation Blend #7.

My advice would be to track down a bottle of Maman* to get a sense of what Cory's straight barrel-aged stouts are all about. In general, his beers get boozier as the bottle count drops and the secondary value rises, so the rarer the beer, the stronger the heat will be on the palate. Using Maman as a point of reference, you can then extrapolate what beers like BBT and Derivation might taste like based on my formula.

*Avoid Maman (2016). There were issues with infected bottles that year.

I might also suggest that if you are, in fact, willing to move rare lambic for your quest, you might be better off acquiring a mix of barrel-aged stouts (like better vintages of Assassin, Black Magick, Damon, etc.) along with a Maman, instead of trading for just one big bottle, so you can compare regional differences in barrel-aged stouts.

I hope this helps.

 

'Best one' will depend on preference, but I think the general opinion over the last 5 years over which Assassin was released would be probably:

Assassin '14 (Gold wax)
Assassin '16 (Purple wax) or '19 (Silver wax)
Assassin '18 (Orange wax)

In my opinion they are all solid, but I do prefer the '14 when I had it (back in 2017). At this point that vintage is reaching 5 years and is also the most difficult to trade for (probably every bit as challenging as BBT b2). I'm sure Assassin '12 (Yellow wax) and Assassin '13 (Red wax) were also quite good but a lot of feedback lately has been that those have been starting to fall off.

Again, they are all quality in my opinion. '18 is probably the easiest to trade for, but '19 would be the one I would seek the most from the last 3 releases.

 

My buddies and I did a beer battle with Maman 17 and BBT b1. It was close.

I agree going after Maman and or BBT b1

 

I would think Blabear 750 would be able to get both Maman + Assassin '19 but you might want to check also with in the Trade Value Thread by posting there ( https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/trade-value-tuesday-tvt-2019.601795/page-21 ). Having said that Maman '17 does trade for more than Maman '18. I liked both Maman '17 and '18, but '18 had more of a barrel boozy presence (which I enjoy).

 

Part of the reason BBTb2 is so highly valued is because it's a blend of the brewer's most famous recipes, and that only a couple people own a good amount of the bottles out there. It might be my favorite non-adjunct BA stout, but that being said, I agree with everyone's advice to go for Maman '18, as it's pretty much just as good (just keep in mind the '18 is aged exclusively in rye barrels while the '17 is a blend of rye and bourbon barrels).


I'd personally recommend going for Black Magicks for another BA stout on the same level as the other top tier BA stouts in addition to the Maman. They're aged much longer than most BA stouts so there's a lot of barrel character. Red wax (4 Roses, aged ~20 months) and silver wax (Willet, aged ~28 months) are my favorite ones. The only negative with those are that they're 12oz bottles, but they're on the order of 2 BMs to 1 Maman in terms of value.

 

I do think a 75cl blaeber 19 would be short of landing both. Somthing in the range of a 18 fou foune should get you there.

Assassin 19 and blaeber 19 have been tapering off, and the maman 18 has been going up in value the last couple months

 

The consensus on which vintage of Assassin is "the best" seems to vary based on personal preference.

Assassin (2013 - Yellow Wax) has fallen off considerably. I would avoid this vintage.
Assassin (2016 - Purple Wax) has a rich, chocolate/bourbon flavor with raisin/dark fruit notes. This is a really good vintage if you enjoy a sweet raisin flavor in your barrel-aged stout.
Assassin (2018 - Orange Wax) has a simpler chocolate/bourbon flavor profile (without the dark fruit) with a stronger, woodier barrel characteristic on the palate. The flavor is not as complex or balanced as previous vintages, but still good. This vintage lacked the "wow factor" I expect from Assassin.

I have not had Assassin (2019 - Silver Wax), but it is my understanding that this vintage is "better" than Assassin (2018 - Orange Wax).

Good luck, OP.

 

I totally respect the love present in this thread, I just feel the need to say that I didn't realize this level of attention was paid to vintages and variants.
I personally can't fathom posting more than 40 for a 750 but I would be glad to see what strata of stoutdom I'm missing.
And I'm genuinely impressed at the collective memory

 

Great reading and advice!

Had the Gold Wax Assassin and BBT b1 in January. Assassin showed clearly signs of age but was still very impressive with beautiful barrel character and BBT had a much smokier flavour than expected. Both were great "old school" style of bourbon BA stouts which reminded of how great big stouts tasted years before the newer hyped breweries (no disrespect) came up Very enjoyable ones!

 

I think I may also heed the advice given. I have been enamored with the status symbol of a BBTb2 and have been building up an arsenal to try and land one. I may just temporarily settle with the Maman '18 I have and the couple different Assassin vintages before I decide to pull the trigger.

 

‘19 is straight fudge and decent amount of barrel, little to no dark fruits.
I do have to disagree on no dark fruits in ‘18 though. Had a couple different bottles recently and it’s actually a nice balance of dark fruit and chocolate. Kind of a balance between ‘16 and ‘19 assassin, just missing that wow factor