Cellar Reviews (2020)

2017 Yazoo! / Jackie O’s - Hail Fellow Well Met

Poured a dark burgundy with no head or lacing but a lot of fizzy carbonation noise. Sweet syrupy molasses aromas. Taste is mostly currants with no bourbon, but oaky dryness in the finish - with a tart aftertaste. Medium mouthfeel. Overall held up well - and I held onto this much longer than anticipated. Sour after a while and have some heartburn going. I have one bottle left.

 

2011 Samuel Smiths Yorkshire Stingo

Pours dark amber brown, cream colored head that fades. Aroma is a quite vinous, dom I nafes over the bready malt flavor. Similar with the taste, way too much red wine flavor, negative oxidation at this point I guess.

I am bummed because this beer is really good at younger ages, but I guess just way past its prime.

 

Hello Fellow Cellar Dwellers! First beer in about a week and a half. Tonight’s beer is yet another pretty special one, 2015 Westbrook Barrel Aged 4th Anniversary. This beer was a monster fresh. Lots of adjuncts, so let’s see how it has aged.

Pour is an opaque black, 1/2 fingers width of dark tan head dissipates quickly. Aroma is very bourbon heavy, and is fantastic. Strong oaky vanilla, big chocolate, unsweetened coconut, and a huge almond character. Taste is very sweet, tons of baker’s and milk chocolate. Equally huge bourbon. Coconut is barely noticeably at this point (it wasn’t particularly prominent fresh based off my notes), but the rest of the flavors holding up remarkably well including the almond that was present on the nose and also vanilla. Fairly prominent roasty notes and subtle bitterness to balance. Just fantastic.


Ratings: 4.5/4.5/4.75/4.75/4.75







Cheers!

 

I am a sucker for all of these ultra high ABV DFH beers. Love them all.

 

2017 Thomas Hardy? I thought you only drank TH at 20 years and above? haha

 

2010 Great Lakes Nosferatu tastes like a chocolate milkshake that's not too sweet and that also has some dark chocolate bitterness, which of course are the earthy hops notes. Has a very smooth, slightly creamy mouthfeel. Not what I was expecting, but quite enjoyable.

Eric

 

2016 Elder Brett - Epic Brewing Company

22 ounce Batch #9, 9.4%, brewed 11/23/2014, bottled 3/22/2016.

Found this in a bottle store and snagged it immediately. Poured into a tulip with a deep golden body capped with a small white head. Sour funk smell hits you immediately followed by a grape and grass pleasant aroma. Taste followed the smell with a nice wine tinge that I really like in a saison. I assume the wine taste comes from the barrels. Mouthfeel was very refreshing. Perfect farmhouse ale selection for an early summer night.

Too bad they don't make this anymore because this deserves to be tried by all fans of the style. The bottle place had one more left which I'll do my best to snag.

 

Worked all weekend, traveled all day, I deserve a big beer. So cracking this 2016 Westbrook Mexican Cake.


Pour is beautiful. Motor oil consistency, large very dense and very dark head with good retention. Aroma is a dream. Surprisingly the cinnamon has held up and is huge, along with chocolate, vanilla, and fairly big base beer characters including herbaceous oak and roasty notes. The heat has faded from what I remember, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing in my book and it’s definitely still noticeable on the nose. The taste, man is this good. Like the nose there’s still prominent cinnamon and chocolate hanging around. The pepper heat is much subdued but present, which again I don’t think is a bad thing it actually allowed more of the remainder of the flavors to come through. It’s not quite as sweet as my notes indicated it was when fresh, back then it seemed mostly sweet and spicy heat. In its current iteration it’s a nicely balanced stout with a great blend of roasty characters as well as some leather notes, to join the sweet heat. It’s noticeably more drinkable now as both the peppery spice and the flirting with cloying sweetness have mellowed. This has definitely evolved substantially with time, truthfully I’m not sure which one I like better. It’s definitely bolder fresh, but perhaps a bit over the top; with almost 4 years on it it’s more well rounded and probably caters to my personal palate preferences more. Regardless, it’s definitely stood the test of time in the bottle. I have several more of these, one dating back as far as 2013. May try to hold out for a 10 year reunion bottle popping of that one.


Ratings: 4.75/4.5/4.5/4.75/4.5








Cheers lovers of old beer!

 

Enjoying, Peoples Pint Imperial Stout 2013.
Lovely texture, cola, meets bakers chocolate, add some blackberry (english ale yeast, i suspect)
Aromatics have a nice Anise thread. I would not go much further with this delightful offering.
I have 1 more in the basement.
Thinking sip by the, camp fire this summer for the last bottle, in celebration of this delight
Cheers

 

Now that is how you cellar beer. Congratulations

 

Bottled April of 2017. I enjoyed this beer when it was originally released and decided to see how it would develop with some age. Looks a murky dark orange in the glass, head faded somewhat quickly. Aroma is bourbon, caramel, vanilla, and pine. Really smells amazing. Taste is bourbon, vanilla, piney hop bitterness, citrus and caramel notes, maybe even a little peppery. Still has some boozy heat even with some years on it but not in a bad way. I remember I hadn't had anything quite like it when it first came out and still feel the same. I would buy if Founders re-released but not something you'd want everyday. Cheers!

 

https://imgur.com/a/Vj8KMJM

Founders Imperial Stout - 2010
Imgur imaging hasn't been working on my old laptop for a while. I'm probably just doing something basic stupidly wrong, but it doesn't seem that hard.

Always wondered how one of my first loves in stouts would do long, long-term. At ten years this has only a hint of carbonation left & what's visible vanishes quickly. What's left of the beer is mostly acrid roast, cut only slightly by a little sweet malt & chocolate & a wisp of fruitiness. Hasn't lost any thickness.

I'd take this fresh any day, but an interesting experiment has come to an end. Still perfectly drinkable.

 

Sierra Nevada Narwhal, 8/22/19 - just about 46 weeks in the bottle.

Deep black beer sports a dark coffee colored head that dissipates down to a thing ring and island of coffee colored foam quickly
The aroma is strong, noticeable as soon as you start to pour, raisins and dates lead the way with a nice little dutch chocolate hint in the background. It all comes together with the malty base to create a sort of craham cracker pie crust sensation. Reminds me of the holidays honestly
Flavor is a little bit of a let down from the aroma but it's got some of the same notes. Date and bakers chocolate, along with a sort of cold coffee from this morning thing. Not terrible by any means but a bit dull.
Overall still a nice beer but I'm withholding judgement until I crack a 2018 in another 4 months or so to check on this rumored upswing around two years. so far, between fresh and 18 months, I am taking 0-6 months over anything older.

 

A 2012 or 2013 vintage Founders Imperial Stout:

Look: Standard black-and-tan pour with a small head of tan foam that's little more than a full skin. (4/4.25)

Aroma: Muted red wine, sweet dark and semi-sweet dark chocolate, coffee, musty old sacks of mostly dead hops with a few still-green hops in the middle (?something like that?), loads of generic roasted malt and molasses. (4.25)

Flavor: Similar to the nose but much darker and drier, baker's chocolate and dark chocolate, espresso, a wee bite of bitter hops/burnt malt. (4)

Mouthfeel: Medium thick and lightly crispy; it's lost some carbonation but not 100% with enough to keep it from feeling overly syrupy. (3.75/4)

Overall: This is the third of three bottles sent to me by the great @cavedave (thanks again, Dave!) around fall 2017, and I enjoyed the first two bottles a tick more. This one is still very good, but I think these 2012/13 vintage bottles (the born-on date was hard to read) may have peaked at 5 years old. (4)

This bottle started very cold when I poured it, so we'll see how it opens up as it warms. Just sitting here for 10 minutes, the aroma already is starting to sweeten and the chocolate is sliding from dark chocolate to sweeter, lighter milk chocolate.

Founders was supposedly discontinuing this beer around the time Dave sent me the three bottles in late 2017. Does anybody know if that's still the case? The website doesn't show it, so I assume it's still retired.

Cheers!

 

It's on draft now, I purchased bottles either a year or two ago.

https://foundersbrewing.com/our-beer/imperial-stout/

It's not on their schedule for release later this year, but the beer is not discontinued, it's just out of distribution beyond the taproom at this time.

 

There are still bottles on the shelves around here from a late 2019 bottling