Cellar Reviews (2021)

Nightshift Everweisse - bottled in August 2015



Several fingers of frothy white head which quickly dissipates to a thin collar. Tons of very active carbonation - the beer is simmering with activity. Translucent golden body. Some sediment at the bottom of the glass.

The nose bring overripe berries with slight underlying lactic tartness. Some ripe kiwi and peach layered in as well. A lot more fruit then I anticipated for the age.

The taste is dominated by tartness that intensifies with the finish, but there's still tons of fruit. Overripe strawberry and underripe kiwi. Some stone fruit as well. The finish is puckering - a mix of lemon flesh and chaulky smarties. Intense and not particularly well balanced. Tastes good, but I'm going to have killer heartburn.

Medium bodied. Sweeter and less prickly than I expected.

 

8/01/2018 date. Still holding out quite well. Wee heavies were my transition beers to Imperial Stouts which I just didn't like at first (long, mostly stupid, story predating craft beer) but that's been obviously rectified. Scottish ales have a certain molasses/licorice tinge which has always appealed to me and barrel aging tends to accentuate it. Plus they're just good. Anyway the aging hasn't sapped this of anything perceptible and it has a certain peat-y flavor which is attractive. So aging this to the current level hasn't ruined it. I've got one more in my cellar to consume sometime in the next 10 months. Or not.

 

Could you see my photo? I've had problems posting photos int he past, and I can't see mine (on the Black Albert) it just looks like a question mark.

 

This beer is memorable to me for both better and worse. Just getting into craft beer I stopped into a bottle shop and asked if I could only get one 4-pack what would they suggest. This was it and it was fresh. Drank one and it was soooo hot to me that I struggled to finish it so I gave two away and put the 4th one away in the cellar. Years later Worthy Burger in Vermont got a keg of 2 year old Backwoods Bastard and KBS so I decided to try it again and wow was it heavenly at that point. I know it was a combo of my matured palate as well as the mellowed out beer but it was delicious!

 

No.
I see IMG in brackets.

 

Tonight’s beer is a special one for another bittersweet moment; getting sick of these as this is the second time in about 10 weeks. My other dog passed away this weekend. Similar to my pup in Dec, this was very rapid and completely unexpected. Shit sucks. But trying to focus on the good times and celebrate her with one of the beers in my cellar I’ve been most looking forward to drinking, a 2019 BCB 2 Year Reserve.


Pours opaque black with 1/2 fingers width of dark mocha head which dissipates at a moderate rate. Aroma is bonkers on this thing, just insane barrel notes, so rich. Huge, huge bourbony goodness, charred oak, smokey, peat like. It’s just wonderful. Base beer characters of roasted malt and a boozy fusel alcohol character. If I have one complaint, which admittedly is nitpicking, it’s that the barrel notes are so strong they somewhat mute the base beer characters. Taste is also amazing, but more balanced. Rich chocolate both fudge and dark cocoa paired with roasted malts up front. Huge barrel notes on the back end with char, heavy oak, a touch nutty, big bourbony vanilla. It’s incredibly bourbon heavy yet so smooth. There’s a really great balancing sweetness here. Just phenomenal. Mouthfeel and drinkability as standard as per BCBS which is to say, not particularly thick with good carbonation and surpassingly

good drinkability. Overall just a killer beer, an appropriate tribute to my great pool and frisbee buddy.


4.75/4.75/4.75/4.5/4.75

(Original/fresh review: n/a)











Enjoy everyday you have with those that are important to you, whether it be family, friends, loved ones or pets. Don’t take anything for granted and celebrate life, cheers BAs!

 

Deepest condolences on a fine looking dog.

 

George Gale & Co. - Conquest Ale (Masterbrew) - 2001 vintage


20 years old

Corked 275ml bottle - poured into an Allagash tulip at 40°F.

The cork takes some serious muscle to work out of the bottle. Not rotten, crumbly, or compromised in any way. Good sign.

The ale pours a deep chestnut brown hue with some burnish amber highlights. Murky, but translucent. Absolutely no head or any sign of effervescence. A couple of small, ignorable floaties eventually sink. 3.75

Nose: Wow, this is going to be interesting. I expected vinegar. This is not vinegar. I'm greeted with a rich, sweet, malty aroma - warming, with notes of toffee, butterscotch, dates, figs, sultanas, and fruitcake, opening up to strawberry jam. A prominent pipe tobacco note lends pleasing depth, along with some mulling spice and oramge zest. There may be a touch of acidity, but more fruity than anything. Very pleasant. 4.25

Palate: Oh boy...20 year old ale...here we go.

After taking the tiniest little sip to make sure it's safe, the next full sip greets the palate with a very unique flavour. It's quite dry, and hard to describe. It's vinous. In fact, incredibly vinous. There's a bright grapey acidity, and the base flavour is actually very wine-like. Something between dry red and a medium sherry. A big nuttiness emerges, with notes of toffee (sans sweetness), peanut, walnut, and dried fig. Some tangy dried fruit lend a final pop, before the dusty, nutty character takes over into the finish, concluding with some dry barley. 2.75

Mouthfeel/Body: As one could expect, having spent 20 years in a corked bottle, it is entirely devoid of any trace of effervescence. Every still ale I've had has been more lively than this. It essentially has the feel of juice. 2.75

Overall: Unfortunately, I've never tried this before, so I haven't the slightest idea of what this was like when it wasn't ancient. Is it nasty? Not at all. Nothing about this is putrid, rotten, funky, or gross. Is it good? Not really. All the sugar has been eaten away, leaving behind something extremely similar to a very dry sherry, but with a fruity tartness. I like sherry. I'd even go as far to say, had this not taken on that tart quality, and retained some sweetness, it may be very good. As it stands, it's a fun example of a 20 year old ale, and it's certainly drinkable, but it hasn't become something wonderful. It's just an old, tart ale. 2.75

3.17/5

 

Why does it seem like a lot of corked ales go the route of being vinous? Some years of Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout also went that way. When they don't, they are incredible.

 

I'm no brewmaster, but I will say this - the vinous, slightly tart element here didn't seem bacterial in any way, nor did it seem like it was yeast-derived. My guess, with how dry this was, is that over all those years, whatever sugars were there just got munched away, exposing characteristics that were there, just normally masked by the malty sugars. Purely speculation based on what this tasted like, but it's certainly a serious transformation. Cork was in excellent shape too.

Had someone given this to me completely blind, I'd say, "That's an odd sherry, what is it?". Unbelievably wine-like.

 

Good speculation on your part, me thinks. Seems to be more of a British thing than any other country's offerings. Going down the vinous route. The one bottle of King's Ale had that going on and the cork was not in primo shape. None of the many Thomas Hardys ever went that way...

 

Finally figured it out (with some help!).

 

Pretty new to this forum despite being a member for quite along time. Just getting involved on a few threads. I saw the porter tasting coming up and started digging in my cellar for a couple on my list. I can play this game for years!

Yesterday I pulled couple out as I'm pretty much out of session beer and my latest batch of home-brew isn't quite ready. Looking for my porters had me seeing lots of forgotten beers so I started pulling those out too.

From my first post in "my beers"


This beer is a pre release bottle from 2017. It held well in the cellar and the attack was strong apple with the finish tapering off to spiced fruit. We'll see what it does in a couple more years.

I typically do not write a whole lot for tasting notes.

 

Another one well past its prime. I get lazy and don't bother changing glasses more than a rinse.



This beer was never made to cellar but after 7 years down there it is surprisingly ok. A slightly musty malt flavour on the front. Middle is light and the finish tapers off to a little bit bready.

 

Sorry, I forgot to add the years of the first 2 beers. The Ze Blene was a 2017. The Baden Baden was a 2013 and the Binkie Claws is a 2015.

Today is a new day and new beers are necessary, thankfully my weight does not change no matter how much I drink. I need to be careful how many I pull out as our local liquor corporation does not bring in very many beers worth cellaring with a few exceptions that keep turning up.

I was very disappointed when Beer Cellar List had to shut down as he didn't get as many paying members as he needed to keep it going. I'm bereft from first losing Brew Vault then losing Beer Cellar list. It takes a lot of time to enter all of my cellar into a new app. For now I'm making do with the spreadsheet printed from Beer Cellar List. If a new decent app comes out all of you should get on board to support it.



This is a 2015, we brought them in for a beer fest we did. Smell is a touch of cardboard and fruit. Attack is dark cherry followed by a touch of alcohol bite. Finish settles out with some apple. This beer is still cold, I'm expecting some change as it warms.