Cellar Reviews (2021)

Well, that means I'll have to hold my.last '18 for 2 more years!

Happy new year everyone. Cheers to another round of bottled patience for this spin round our star.

I did pop a 3F cuvee Armand & Gaston tonight, packaged summer 2018. Lovely as always, the tang that I get from 3F went really well with the rich cheeses we were snacking on. Hope you all have a wonderful year ahead

 

Pulled one out of the cellar to start the morning and 2021 right. I really loved this beer when it was released two winters ago, and returned to by more after loving my first one. Today we see how it has aged over two years.

Spiteful Brewing Hostile Harry Black & Blue



Background: This is a variant of their regular Hostile Harry, with blackberries and blueberries.12 ounces, canned 12/14/18, 11.5% ABV.

Original Review:

4.51/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

5/5/19 (Chicago): $5.50 12 oz canned 12/14/18 purchased 1/9/19 at Spiteful Brewing, poured into snifter.

Dark black pour, generous tan creamy rich head, slowly descends leaving rich creamy lacing. Sweet blueberry and blackberry aroma, backed by roasted malt and chocolate. Creamy rich hop, chocolate and roasted malt taste, balanced, backed by nice blueberry and blackberry taste. Balanced, not sweet or bitter. Rich creamy mouth feel, carbonation if any fades quickly very smooth east drinking. Excellent after meal / desert offering. Overall another outstanding Spiteful Brewing pour, well done!

I let this warm up for 20 minutes before diving in. Today's pour looks even richer, pitch black base, a full beautiful head, I believe the darkest tan colour I've seen. This lingered for a few minutes before leaving clumpy lacing. The aroma is consistent with the fresh version, the taste is incredible still, a bit more mellow, this may be the creamiest beers I've ever had. Chocolate and roast malt vibrant, the fruit hanging, both berries distinct and adding balance to a the roast malt. Thick, creamy, wonderful mouthfeel. Slightly dry, balanced perfectly.

Score changes would bump the look and feel to a 5.00, and overall to 4.75 / borderline 5.0. Not sure if the age actually improved it, or just my perception today is slightly different, but overall this is a great beer, I appreciate it even more today, and I am stoked to start the new beer year off right today with this amazing stout from an amazing brewery, Spiteful.

Happy New Year to each and everyone of you, looking forward to many great pours and reviews throughout 2021!

 

Damnit @ManBearPat photos, gotta get you to start posting photos!

 

Likewise USP, your 2021 New Years resolution should be to include photos in your cellar review posts!

 

Just a few hours into the new year and four cellar review posts already. Love it!

 

@zac16125 , I'll try, I'll try.

And I would be super into trying for some semi directed tastings, I don't have anything older than 2017 or 2018 so that's all I could shoot for.

Also, to @Beersnake1 s tip about driving attention here, the barleywine tasting thread that should happen later this month will be a good venue to tip off other older beer appreciators. 20 pages was great last year, love the motivation to stay patient!

I'm going to try to shift even more of my beer budget to buying things that should age well this year and cut back on my daily intake of "filler" type beers.

 

2018 Backwoods Bastard



08/01/2018 bottle. This has aged nicely. Still has the boozy malty licorice smell and taste to it like you're sitting around a peat fire about to chow down on some haggis. I agree with @Beersnake1 that this doesn't age as well as other styles but I don't think anything negative occurred here.

 

My first cellar review of 2021 is a 2018 Funky Buddha Last Buffalo in the Park. I remember being absolutely blown away by this beer when it was first released, back then it was called Bourbon Barrel Aged Snowed In. It was one of my highest rated beers at the time and actually remains my fourth highest rated beer ever on BA with a whopping 4.89 overall rating. Unfortunately like many of the FB offerings it lost some of its luster as they continued to expand and began producing in much higher quantities. These newer Last Buffalos are still excellent but not the glory of the original BA Snowed In (I think I may still actually have 1 of those in the cellar, will be an experiment for another day). Anyways, as discussed here many times already, adjunct heavy BA stouts not ideal brews for aging, but I’ve actually been very impressed with how other FBs adjunct beers have held up with time. Let’s see how this one is drinking.

Pours opaque black with a nice fingers width of tan head; decent retention. Aroma is rich cocoa, moderate coconut, and huge vanilla. It’s a sweet and luscious aroma, although not overpowering. Definitely smells like a Girl Scout Samoa cookie. Some more subtle roasted malt notes provide some balance. Barrel notes are present but are fairly subtle. Slight booze adds to the balancing characters. Great nose. Taste isn’t as good as the nose, more of an artificial syrupy sweetness, roasted coffee on the back end to balance. Coconut is mild to moderate, some bitter dark cocoa on the finish. Barrel notes have faded. Mouthfeel and drinkability are average, not much to speak of positively or negatively. Overall, this is a shell of what the old BA Snowed In was, not sure to what extent that’s characters fading with time, or the aforementioned decrease in quality with increased production (I suspect a combination of both). Regardless, a good brew but far from the elite masterpiece of the OG.

Let me be amongst the last to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

4.5/4.5/4.25/4.25/4.25
(Original/fresh review: 4.75/5/4.75/5/5; of note initial review was BA Snowed In)

 

I’m gonna scale my beer drinking down in 2021. These past many months of cellar diving have been fun, but they have not been kind to my body habitus. Time to shed a few pounds and cutting back the beer drinking to once or twice a week will certainly help that. But I can start that ambitious plan tomorrow, so I think it’s time for another beer today.

My second cellar beer of the day is a Hair of the Dog/ De Proef collaboration called Flanders Fred. Surprisingly, not a Flanders Red style, but rather a blend of Belgian lambic and Hair of the Dog Fred; which seems like an interesting combo. This bottle was received as an extra from a generous BA. No bottling dates but the label indicates this was the second release, so from what I can gather this was likely bottled and released in 2016. Label says it is expected to age well for years, so let’s give it a whirl.

Pour is a rather, let’s just say unappealing greyish brown, it’s very murky to the point of being opaque, does have a nice bright white head that has great retention. Certainly not a looker. Aroma is mostly strong ale / American barleywine notes upfront with lots of apple, caramel/toffee. I also get fairly prominent fruity phenols. Next comes some some tart sour characters, lemon zest, a bit of musty funk and some barnyard notes. There’s a ton going on on the nose, although I’m not sure I love it all. Taste is, unique. Kind of like a fruity, heavy, saison. Floral, phenols, some musty funk and wet barn notes. Subtle tartness with lemon zest and a bit of orange. The american strong ale notes are there with some caramel, apple, and a bit of hoppy bitterness. It’s complex, there’s a ton going on, I don’t hate it but I don’t love it. Mouthfeel is full bodied, carbonation on the lower end, it’s quite heavy with a limited drinkability. Overall, an interesting beer but it just did not do it for me.

3.25/4/3.75/3.5/3.75
(Original/fresh review: n/a)

 

What a weird concept for a beer. I know those brewers are clearly friends but that just seems like an idea that arose, and should have died, at the end of a long night of checking each others work

 

Haha I agree. Although it’s generally quite well reviewed on BA so must have been a hit with some people!

 

Opened a 2018 bcbs vanilla yesterday and really enjoyed it. the Vanilla has held up well. i did open one a few months back and it was bad so was glad to see this one was much better

 

I am very jealous of your snifter. What a great piece of glassware.

 

I too have seen that glad for a while and wanted it. Searched around on the net a bit and found nothing. A couple days ago I walked into a local liquor store and they had that glass in a box set with a 2018 vintage bottle. Can't wait to use it

 

Broke out a 2017 Lagunitas Willetized stout tonight. I dont remember this vintage fresh but I've had a couple of this year's bottles over the last few weeks.

The aged one was much softer and less aggressive. Nose had a very earthy/woody character with some spicy rye notes. Taste was rich chocolate, some soft vanilla, bit of charcoal bite. Super smooth and cohesive.

The beer is very much still enjoyable and drinking lovely right now. That said, there was the first hints of wet cardboard and the flattening compared to the fresh batches flavor makes me think that it is at a plateau and is going to be heading south soon. I could imagine it staying steady for another year or so but I will probably drink the last 2017 I have before spring

 

Getting a little wild on a Wednesday (its my Saturday) and opening a 2019 willetized.

Right when a pop it the big boozy, oaky nose greets me with a bear hug. An aggressive pour yields some bit of head and the thin ring of mocha foam hangs around and clings to the glass as the liquid dips lower.
As the nose opens up there's a rich sweet raisin rum bread vibe that is just too decadent.
The flavor delivers on the promise of the nose with a rich rum raisin character, complimented by date and char.
Super smooth and full bodied. Just a damn fine beer. I will definitely be going back to the store to see if I can get a few more bottles of this. It also confirms my sense that the '17 is on its way out

 

Thanks to @Beersnake1 for pointing me to this thread!

Tonight I enjoyed a 2011 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.



Still tasty, though perhaps starting to show its age a bit. Anyone else have experience with similarly aged Bigfoots?

Copy/paste of my review below if anyone is interested:

Look: Pours a dark copper with decent head and lacing.
Smell: Smell is dominated by heaps of malts and hops. Caramel, fig, dark fruits.
Taste: Similar to the nose, big on hops and caramel malts. Quite sweet with a big hop presence to "balance" the heavy malt bill as you'd expect from a Sierra Nevada barleywine, though it's understandable that this is not everyone's preference.
Feel: This 2011 bottle is still a thick beer, though I think a fresher bottle would score better here.
Overall: For a 10-year-old beer it's still delicious all things considered, but I do think it would have been better if enjoyed a few years sooner. In terms of the beer itself, it's a big beer that can certainly be polarizing particularly to those who prefer milder versions of the American barleywine style, but it's one that I personally find quite enjoyable from time to time.

Cheers fellow beer hoarders agers!