Mott the Lesser (b.11 - Curbside)

Thanks for my invite you SOB!

 

I’m an invitee, but I’m sure you can head up!

 

My wife and I were lucky enough to have scored 4 bottles. Three of them we've passed on to fellow beer lovers. That leaves us one for us to stash and forget about for a while. Question: for how long? Is it simple "the longer the better?"

 

Why would you “stash and forget about” it? You haven’t had it (unless I’m reading this wrong). Why would you age a beer you haven’t had? Aging doesn’t make a beer better. It makes it different. There’s no way Tod Mott would release a beer that needed a “the longer the better” window for drinking. No. Drink it now.

 

100%. drink it now

 

So has anyone had this batch of Mott? How's it compare to past. For the record, I thought last fall's, so B10, was the best it's been, and I've had probably 7 of the 10.
I set mine for pickup later, so it'll be a while before I get up there for my B11.

 

I don’t see much talk about Bunker Brewing on BA, but they put out a port barrel-aged RIS with a 9% ABV that was stupid good. All the notes came together well, wonderfully balanced. I believe the beer was called Trashmaster, and I think they make a few different versions of it. It was very nice, and I’d get more if it’s available again (and if I ever get to Maine again).

 

I've found that cellaring is generally a great idea in theory but almost always turns into "I kind of wish I drank it sooner". The novelty of drinking a beer that very few other people currently have might be the best part. I recently had a Founders RIS from the final regular batch they made around 2017 (prior to this winter's release). Of the original 4 pack, it was the worst tasting one but it was interesting to have a beer that was 3 years old (it wasn't bad but definitely not better). I have a friend that has been drinking beers from his cellar every day during quarantine. I think it might be at most 1 in 4 or 5 that he thinks actually aged well.

I will be picking up 2 bottles once Tributary opens back up and will likely drink one and cellar one. I probably won't hold on to the 2nd bottle for more than a year. I always think about doing verticals but given the ABV of every beer I cellar it pretty much impossible without passing out. I have a 4 pack of CBS that I will likely hold on to the last bottle for a long time just because its fun to pull out in a few years (and then say "Gee I wish I drank this sooner" ).

 

I remember something Jason Alstrom wrote some years ago about cellaring beers. His position: (generally) don’t do it. IIRC, he said it almost always makes the beer worse.

 

Yup, I stopped aging awhile ago, and I'm finally almost done drinking down my cellar.

I've found this to be the conclusion many long term beer geeks come to over time. For a recent example, see what Todd had to say in his recent "Beer Me Anything".

I think Founders recommends drinking their stouts fresh, but say you "can" age it. Ken Grossman I've heard prefers Bigfoot fresh.

I used to prefer Bigfoot around 5 years, but have found it's better fresh in recent years. Plus, you can only drink so much cellared beer at once, it's very easy for stuff to become too old over time because you simply can't get to it.

I was talking with Terrance from Sierra Nevada because when I do Bigfoot verticals I usually have a group of people. Now that I'm restricted to just my roommate and myself, I had to get creative.

He suggested splitting up the verticals over a few days. You can do this in whichever manner makes it feasible for you.

You could do just two different years on one day, then another two the following day...etc.

Probably better this way overall actually, because if you have a 5 year vertical palate fatigue can set in.

 

Tod Mott used to say the same thing about Kate the Great. Gonna guess he suggests the same here. I don't mind the idea of aging, but only if it's done properly and you have a bottle or two to drink fresh for reference. If you have 1 bottle, why would you sit on it? You'll never know what you're missing.

 

I've done the multi day once or twice. I drank one of my Lagunitas Willetized Stout's last night from 2017. It was still quite good, I originally bought a 6 pack with the thought I'd buy a new 6 pack each year so I could do increasingly longer verticals over 6 years, but they switched to large format I think for 2018 then back to both formats I think recently. So best laid plans don't always work out.

Anyhow while it was still good my biggest takeaway was to start drinking them fairly soon because they won't get any better. The Lagunitas is a good example since its a coffee stout, the coffee flavor has faded a bit so the barrel comes out a bit more. So different but not necessarily better and most importantly, as others have said, that difference is only important because I've drank it fresh as well. For the most part I just toy with cellaring a bit, sometimes its more about buying a 6 pack of big beers and drinking it over time and sometimes that time becomes long (like the 4 pack of Allagash Curieux from a few years back that I still have one or two from that's sitting in my fridge).

 

What happens sometimes with me is that I'll buy a "big beer" (good example, actually, is that I have a couple bourbon counties) and then it turns into May and I think, "Well, I don't want to drink 15% beers alone or in the summer months." Then they're just sitting there in a box.

 

Or, "Well, it's May and we're in the middle of a pandemic..."

 

As we get further into the pandemic and I drink more beer from the Cellar I am realizing it really doesn't improve any beer that much. Anyone had a Spring 2016 lately? Think it was batch 4. Have 1 left and will probably have it this weekend.

 

I have one in my cellar as well that I've been eyeing...

Post back and report if you crack it.

 

Had it tonight. Was good but getting past it’s prime.

 

Not MtL-related, but can anyone tell me about the German Pilsner they have on right now? I’m picking up my MtL bottles and figured I’d throw another beer onto the order.

 

I know I had it last summer and enjoyed it, but I can't remember much of any of the specifics. I would like to try the Helles. Pick up some of that with your MtL and Pilsner.

 

I didn’t particularly care for the Helles, haven’t had the Pils though.