Cellar Reviews (2020)

This early evening’s beer is a 2017 Bourbon County Brand Reserve Stout (aged in 11 year Knob Creek barrels). Fun fact, this beer was bottled exactly 3 years ago today as you can (barely) see on the rather faded born on date. Even though this is a 3 year old vintage, this beer is new to me, so no fresh rating to compare. Let’s see how this one is drinking.


Pour is jet black, barely a sliver of mocha colored head which dissipates immediately and leaves no lacing. Aroma is huge, massive massive bourbon notes. Some base beer characters including nice roasty notes, chocolate, subtle vanilla. But man, just a bourbon bomb. Taste is incredibly rich, huge chocolate with both sweet fudge and semi-sweet bakers cocoa. Hugely sweet, a syrup like sweetness, balanced by nearly equally huge roasty notes. And I haven’t even mentioned the barrel characters, which are also huge with rich bourbony notes of charred oak and vanilla. This is a near perfect tasting beer. Mouthfeel is full bodied, ABV is noticeable and is bordering on having some heat from the fusel alcohol, but keeps it restrained just enough that it remains quite drinkable all things considered. Overall, this is an absolutely elite beer. Not sure how it was fresh, but hard to imagine it being much better than it is now. Even if I am late to the party, I’m glad I finally decided to seek out a couple of bottles of this.


4/4.5/5/4.75/4.75

(Original/fresh rating: n/a)

 

One of my favorite side by side (by sides) to do. I’ve done this fresh, at 2 years, and at 5 years. Rochefort consistently and substantially lags behind the other two in my experience, although of course there is personal palate preference differences.

I think you hit these at the perfect time, love these quads around 2 years. 2 year old Westy remains one of the best beers on the planet in my humble opinion.

 

I know this is definitely not a typical cellar beer, but a friend of mine found this old can of TsingTao in his closet. The code on the bottom is 98022616, which I take to mean 6:16am, January 22, 1998.

So, a 22.5 year old TsingTao Lager.

Appearance: Clear gold, some particles but no chunks, ok head at first, but fades out.

Smell: Honey, maybe a little oxidation-cardboard. Doesn't really smell bad at all. The honey smell is extremely surprising.

Taste: Surprised again, somewhat sweet, the honey comes through on the taste too. A slight chemical undertone though. Full bodied.

Overall: I was amazed that this was not a cardboard bomb or super metallic. Other than the chemical undertone it basically tasted like a mediocre sweet lager.

 

That can is awesome

 

It had a removable pull tab, you don't see them like that anymore!

 

2018 Rodenbach Grand Cru

4.24/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

8/31/2018 750 ml bottle poured into a DFH tulip. The cork released easily but without as much pressure as I expected. As a brief aside, I stored this at my cellar fridge temperature of 55 which is warmer than the recommended temperature of 6-8 celsius on the bottle; I put the bottle in the regular fridge to cool it down more for the following pour and will report any significant changes if any. A small quickly disappearing head over a reddish mahogany body. Smell is intriguingly sweetly sour with hints of berries. Taste is very tart with the sweetness not being as prominent as I was expecting; maybe I need a fresh bottle to experience that to the max. Not tasting much oak either; maybe further aging brings that out. Still the taste was quite appropriate after a hot summer day. Likewise the zesty feel. This was a good initial experience.

Edit: the second pour at the suggested serving temperature (or closer to it) muted the sourness and accentuated the sweetness more. I'm not going to change the ratings because while the experience is different the quality level stays constant.

 

I was a little underwhelmed when I drank a relatively fresh Westy 12 bottle at a bar in Brugge, but at this age the Westy was a slight favorite among the three. I think St. Bernardus is best in the 3-5 year range.

 

That's gotta.be the most head I've ever seen on Adam. Must be all proud in its proper glassware

 

Saint Arnold Divine Reserve No. 18, bottled on Jan. 31, 2018 and cellaring in my fridge for two years plus:

13.4% ABV with vanilla beans added

I originally found this one in March 2018 to be a bit too "dark" and hot for me ... raisins and licorice led the notes with a little heat from the alcohol and menthol buildup in the aftertaste.

My original review FWIW:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/328949/?ba=Premo88#review
4.01 rating (-3.6% rDev)

It's obviously still full of darker roasted notes, but the two years have done it some good. The raisin/licorice has become more like coffee/espresso; there's a lot more baker's chocolate overall; and the alcohol heat and menthol buildup are completely gone. I'd rate it higher, maybe in the 4.10-4.15 range or so, but it still trails some of my favorite big stouts. In fact, I'd love to sip it side-by-side an aged Narwhal, but tonight I'm not quite prepared for 24 oz. of that much ABV (especially considering I paired this beer with a wee dram):


I've got one more bottle of the Divine Reserve 18 and for experimental purposes I may try to age it another year or two, just to see how well a Saint Arnold beer holds up over that much time. Honestly, I don't see the flavor improving much, and I've got a feeling past 5 years the carbonation will fall off, but that's just a guess.

Cheers!

 

Today’s beer is a 2015 Maggie’s Blackberry Cobbler. An “imperial farmhouse ale” brewered with graham crackers and blackberries. I didn’t love this beer fresh, never really intended to age it, but here we are. Let’s see how this has developed.

Pours an opaque dark golden amber with one fingers width tan head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is decent amount of berries, pretty sweet with caramel and candied sugar, some musty and floral notes. Taste wise, it’s sweet upfront with lots of berry notes , then a huge musty farmhouse funk on the finish. There’s also touches of caramel, and some floral notes. But man this is funky. Full bodied, pretty filling, it’s a dense beer for the moderately high ABV, drinkability is ok. Overall, this is surprisingly good, albeit I had low expectations. From reviewing my notes and rating it seems like this one has developed pretty nicely and improved with time. It actually seems sweeter now; i’m not hugely into the farmhouse/saison floral funkiness but if you are someone who enjoys such things this could be an aged beer you would really dig.

3.5/4/4.25/3.75/4
(Original/Fresh rating: 4/3.75/3.75/3.5/3.75)



russian image host

 

I apologize for the technical difficulties on my end today resulting in no picture.

Founders KBS Espresso - 12 oz bottled 11/13/19, cellar kept in basement until this week, placed in refrigerator. I had my first pour from this batch in January, and compare against the pour today below.

Appearance: Consistent for both pours, creamy tan head, pitch black pour, good looking pour.

Aroma: Bourbon led with chocolate fudge backing back in January. The bourbon was replaced by a slight peppery aroma today, chocolate backed.

Taste: Chocolate and espresso led when fresh, espresso gone now (partially expected), chocolate still leads, light pepper creep at this point. Bourbon in the background, emerges as the pour warms in both cases though very smooth / light in both instances.

Mouthfeel: Texture consistent, had a slight bitter finish original, pour more smooth today, 12% ABV well masked in both instances.

Overall: Expected the fresher pour to be better, beer regressed primarily swiping the nice espresso to a slow emergence of pepper over time. Will drink the remaining bottles soon, and drink all fresh in the future.

 

Bittersweet moment as I crack my last bottle of Nothing Special - Ryewine style ale aged in Bourbon Barrels from Against the Grain out of Louisville. This one knocked my socks off when I first tried it and I grabbed a couple bottles.

At this point I suspect its 18-24 months old. I bought the bottles a little over a year ago but I'm quite positive they weren't fresh when I bought them.

This one is probably at/passing it's peak. The nose remains muted but the flavor has melted into this wonderful cohesive place with rich dark bread, caramel, dark sweet berries, faint vanilla, and a sort of spiciness I associate with dark Belgians.
The mouthfeel has gotten a little more syrupy and I suspect the flavors are not going to improve.

These fellas do great stuff with rye and are incredibly efficient in their use of spirit barrels (I suspect being in the middle if Bourbon land doesnt hurt). Nice beer and I'm glad to have one last go round

 

Had a Firestone 21. My last bottle.
Great aroma of figs, plums, vanilla, and a little barrel. A lot of caramel in the taste and dark fruits. The barrel comes through on the end. Such a phenomenal beer and really sad they won't be distributing in MA. Looking over my notes, I had one Jan 2018, July 2018, Nov 2018 and lastly July 2020. I gave it a 4.75 overall every time. I'm not sure if aging improved on the beer, but it certainly didn't detract from it. I think its all about different flavors shining at different times.

 

Greetings, cellar dwellers. Tonight’s beer is a 2015 Can Can Cerise. This one off from Westbrook is self described as a “strong dark sour ale” that was aged for a whopping 4 years in red wine barrels. I absolutely loved this beer fresh, giving it a 4.81 and to quote my review notes, “In the conversation with the best beer’s I’ve ever had”; I had reviewed around 800 or so beers at that time. To this date, I have still only ranked 12 beers greater than 4.80, this being one of them. So, pretty high praise. Interestingly, it appears it was not as well received by the greater BA community, or perhaps not received at all. It’s overall BA ranking is only 4.18, although my single review is the only full review of the beer and the rest were just ticker ratings without text. Anyways, let’s see how this has developed after 5 years.


Pours dark mahogany, completely opaque, just under 1 fingers width of fizzy tan head. Aroma is just fantastic. Very sweet, yet quite tart. Big oaky notes. Candied sugar and caramel/toffee, lots of dark fruits both tart berry and rich semi-sweetness like dates. Taste remains MASSIVELY sour, this is lip puckering tartness and I love it. The level of tartness compares with the most sour beers I have ever had, think Beatification. But that’s not all there is on the palate profile, there’s also a wonder dark fruit profile including but not limited to big cherry notes. Drying oaky barrel notes on the finish leaving you longing for the next sip. Drinkability is dangerous for a 10% ABV beer. Overall, this beer is elite, and the quote from my original review stands. I have two more of these and may take them out deep (like 10 years or more) as this is showing zero signs of being worse for wear with age.

4/4.5/5/5/5
(Original/Fresh: 4.25/4.5/5/4.75/5)

 

Tonight’s been is a 2017 Foothills Sexual Chocolate. I first had this beer way back in 2012 when I accidentally stumbled upon the brewery release party for this beer. It was my first, and only, time in Winston Salem and I didn’t know it was the SC release party. I remember showing up at the brewery and thinking DAMN is this a super popular little brew pub. I later realized it was a special event, and back then if I remember right this beer was pretty hard to get. Anyways, I thought it was good at the time but wasn’t blown away. I have had it several times since, but never with substantial age on it, so let’s see how this one is around 3.5 years old.


Pours jet black with a huge 2.5 fingers width of dense mocha colored head with great retention and lacing. It sure does look the part. Aroma is huge leather and fine tobacco notes up front, with fairly big bakers chocolate and some herbaceous malty characters on the finish. It also has big roasty notes with a hint of char. Taste is huge roasted malt and leather characters. Not very sweet, although there are some bakers chocolate notes then a subtle molasses on the finish. Mouthfeel is silky smooth, maybe a touch thin but not troublingly so. ABV unnoticeable, drinkability pretty good. Overall, this beer hit the spot. I’m not sure if there are any adjuncts in it, I believe cocoa nibs maybe, if so they are never particularly strong even when fresh, and they are not really noticeable now. This comes off as a fairly standard but very well down RIS, and it seems to have gotten better with age.


4.75/4.25/4/4.25/4.25
(Original/fresh: 4.5/4/4/3.5/4)