Cellar Reviews (2020)

I love it. I described something as smelling high pitched the other day and my buddy gave me the kind if confused look I can usually only summon out of a toddler.

I have did definitely encountered thick smelling beers though (I mean, everyone knows what a thin smell is right?)

 

New to me brewery. Never had it fresh.

Ridgeway Brewing - Imperial Russian Stout 2018 batch.

Nice head that dissipates relatively slowly, prunes and figs and some bakers chocolate on the nose.
Taste was a wonderful mix of dark chocolate, tobacco/tobacco ash, some leather and some figs. Pleasantly bitter and a wonderful reprieve from the chewyness that is a growing preference in big US stouts.

This is a new discovery at my local refrigerated tomb of ancient European beer. I'm already planning to see about a deal on the rest of the year old schonramer pile. Might have to see of I can get a case break on these too. I wouldn't be surprised if it only had another year or two in it but I could do at least 10 of these over the next year.

 

I just happened to be searching around these threads for a bit this morning and saw this post.

In 2015, I randomly found a 2014 on the shelf at a store in Chicago for $2.99 I believe. I remember thoroughly enjoying it (I had just started getting into stouts at that point). I especially liked your point about the lack of chewyness. Totally agree.

Cheers!

 

That picture gives me a very “In The Bedroom” vibe. (It’s a movie.)

 

Tonight’s been is a 2016 Funky Buddha Iron and Barleywine. I did not love this one fresh, as it was an artificial grape flavor bomb (I actually described it as “a mix between super cheap wine and grape Four Loco). Probably my least favorite FB beer that I’ve ever had. Maybe 4 plus years in the bottle has mellowed it out.


Pours murky, rust in color, off white head with good rentention. The grape aromas have mellowed substantially so that you can actually get other aromas. Significant caramel, lots of dark fruits -yes grape- but also plum and dates. Some boozy ethanol to balance. Quite nice. Wow taste is really good. This is a COMPLETELY different beer than when fresh. Still not very English Barleywine like, but very much nice aged Belgium Quad like. Prominent quad-like spice, tons of dark fruits which are really nice, bit of bitterness which is more cracked pepper spice than it is hoppy, some lighter fruit phenols. Man, I am shocked but I really dig this. I believe this was only bottled once, but theoretically, if a fresh bottle was available no way would you be able to tell in a blind tasting that this was the same beer, except with age on it. Also if it was a blind taste testing I dont think many would guess English Barleywine and am certain the consensus would be that it’s a Quad. Regardless, I am really impressed with how this beer developed and now I kinda wish I had another bottle to age!


4/4/4.25/4.25/4.25

Original/Fresh (4.25/3/3.25/3.5/3)

 

I’ve only had this beer once and it was on tap, really enjoyed it. And I love the base beer, which is Black Albert right?

 

That sounds like a bizarre and wonderful beer for the cellar

 

I absolutely love this beer. I agree it’s best fresh, but I’ve drank one around 1 year old (perhaps a bit more) and was actually surprised that it was holding up as strong as it was. I have one more 2018 will probably drink it soon as I agree with you in that I don’t anticipating it developing much, moreso just flavors potentially fading.

 

Tonight’s beer is a 2015 Westbrook Brett and Mo Mices. This (I believe) one off is a Belgian Pale aged for a total of four years, mostly in red wine barrels. Four years is a long time. If my math is right, that would mean the base beer was brewed around 9 years ago, which would mean it was one of the very early beers brewed at Westbrook since I believed they opened in 2011. I was impressed with this beer fresh, didn’t love the base beer (Brett and No Mices), but thought the extended wine barrel aging did a lot for it. Although it was a bit funky for me fresh (I described it as a “Brett bomb”). Let’s see how time has treated it.


Pours an opaque rusty copper color, small off white head, not sure what the deal is with all the fizzy carbonation clinging to the side of the glass (seen in the photo). Aroma is very tart with tons of dark fruit notes. Oaky, a prominent sweet aroma, perhaps vanilla. Only subtle funk. Really great nose. Unfortunately taste doesn’t really follow. First off, it’s rather flat which is somewhat surprising based on the appearance, but less surprisingly based on the age. But even that aside the flavor profile just isn’t what I desire. Its fairly funky, with some pungent cheese-like characters, and there’s also a pretty prominent bitterness particularly on the finish. There are dark fruit/red wine characters but they aren’t particularly prominent and are for the most part dominated by the other two components i mentioned. Some oaky characters are present. But all and all, not a ton going on. It’s not bad by any means, but I expected more.


4/4.5/3.75/3.25/4

(Original/Fresh review: 4.25/4.75/4.25/4.25)

 

2018 North Coast Old Rasputin



01/25/2018 bottle. Still has plenty of carbonation producing a prodigious fluffy head. Smell is very malty with a hint of chocolate. Taste is creamy and rich with the before mentioned chocolate. Body is very rich and full. This has aged very nicely. Glad I still have one left.

 

Just figured out their date coding. can't wait to finally.be able to assess where I actually prefer this one

 

There were quite a few people complaining about the sweetness when it was fresh. Although I didn't completely agree with them I was looking forward to aging balancing it more.

 

I only had one fresh. It was way too sweet for me. I had one a couple months ago and thought it was much more balanced and enjoyable. I'll have another one in a year, which I think will be the sweet spot for me.