Best barleywines for the cellar

It’s a seasonal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were still available in some shops. Pelican has multiple brewpubs on the coast, I’d suggest reaching out to them about off-season availability.

 

I noticed that my 2018 Old Stock Ale bottles say "Best by Feb 2034". I don't know why I found that amusing, but am curious about how it would taste if I actually sat on one for 15 years.

 

The oldest I have reviewed was a 2010 bottle in 2017.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/october-2017-cellar-reviews.539937/#post-5706073

I still have a couple bottles from that time period I plan to let at least go 10 years.

 

I opened 1 of 2 bottles I had of a 2010 Monster a couple months ago, and it was beyond phenomenal. I will probably open the 2nd soon as I don't think it will get any better and probably start to drop soon.

 

I second Weyerbacher Blithering and JW Lees Harvest Ale. I have a few vintages of JW Harvest, and when I first got into cellaring I would buy a 4 pack every year of Blithering Idiot.

Also, Rogue Double Chocolate Stout is the beer that got me into aging beers. At a bottle share years ago we tasted side by side a 1 year aged, and a 4 year aged, and the 4 year was mind blowing how it transformed. That's when my collecting/hoarding began. I've since tamed down. Beer is for drinking and sharing with friends. You may pass tomorrow and never get to try these beers.

 

[QUOTE="
Beer is for drinking and sharing with friends. You may pass tomorrow and never get to try these beers.[/QUOTE]
But your friends and family will get to have one hell (hopefully we end up in the other option) of a bottle share in your memory

 

Would agree with GI Barleywine, Pelican MOAS, and FW Sucaba. Another FW beer, if they make it this year, would be Helldorado. Although i never have held one long enough from the 2015 & 2017 bottlings, i would suspect this would be optimal 9-18 months after bottling like Sucaba. Cheers!

 

I purchased a case of Bell's Saturn when it released a few years back. It was initially very hop forward and not in a good way. It took three years for the hops to fade and this beer is drinking beautifully now.

 

Succaba may be the best barleywine I have had at 3 years. Jw Lee's harvest is tasty with over 10 years on it. I'm not a fan of American barleywines when they fade, old hops taste like shitty grapefruit to me.

 

You mean American style Barleywines, I presume?

 

We are probably all splitting hairs, but barleywines are often listed as “English BW” or “American BA,” not “English style BW” and “American Style BW.” I usually only see the word style included when someone asks “which is that,” or “what style.” This is analogous to writing “NE IPA” vs. “West Coast IPA.” You usually never see “NE Style IPA,” unless someone asks what style.

I suspect you might say, “Well, English is really just “BW,” and so if it is not English than it is an “American style.” -I hear that, and at one point that may well be true. Today, unless it is listed as English Style and American style formally, I think the correct way to say them is simply English BW and American BW.