Cellar Reviews (2021)

Tonight’s beer is a 2019 Origin of Darkness-Siren. This new to me beer has been sitting in the beer fridge for probably close to a year at this point, and is a Rum Barrel Aged Baltic Porter with raisins, dates and prunes.

Pours jet black and completely opaque with one plus fingers width of tan colored head. Some nice lacing. Aroma is noticeable from the moment I pop the cap with typical porter notes up front including roastiness and a bit of smoky char. Next I get a very prominent cinnamon, not sure where that came from, molasses like sweetness, and gingerbread cookies. Rum notes are present but not particularly prominent. the dark fruits are definitely there and build as it warms. The online description equates this to sticky toffee pudding and I def see that. Quite the nose. Taste starts out with typical porter notes of big roasted malt, earthy herbaceous characters, unsweetened cocoa, and subtle raw wood. Rum notes are more present that on the nose but still not particularly strong. The dark fruits are there but are almost tart as opposed to rich and sweet, they truthfully provide some nice balance to the beer but the sticky toffee pudding likeness is gone from the taste. Mouthfeel is medium bodied but a bit light for my liking. ABV is well restrained and drinkability is pretty good. Overall this is a very good beer that exceeded expectations.

4.5/4.5/4.25/3.75/4.25
(Original/fresh review: n/a)

 

Interesting. I had one of these this past weekend and the alcohol was not detectable in even the slightest bit. Also found on the shelf at a local spot. Thought it was excellent.

 

That’s unfortunate. I’ve never come across a NC Old Stock Ale that I didn’t enjoy, and all the times I’ve had the OSA Cellar Reserves they’ve been excellent . Wonder if you somehow got a bad bottle.

 

Ya I suspect there may have been something off about the bottle. I typically enjoy the old stock ale at any age I've tried it. And I've never gotten the kind of harsh booze bite like I did last night. I'm not really sure, I honestly had a shitty evening after a long hectic work weak and thought that a rich heavy sipper like that one would ease my mind. Maybe I was in too shitty of a mood for a beer that big

 

I think you had a weird bottle.

BA Old Stock are a quintessential “stable / very slowly oxidizing” cellar beer in my opinion. I haven’t had a bad one ever! I have probably cracked at least 25-30 bottles of BA Old Stock.

The bottle you described in your earlier cellar post was not usually Old Stock quality. I have drank most of the barrel variants both aged & fresh. They sit on the shelves because it’s expensive beer & people don’t get excited about barrel aged old ales like they do with all these other weird beer styles people like nowadays!

I am cracking a 2011 Brandy Old Stock soon & I have 100% confidence it will be stunning liquid gold.

 

North Coast cellars on site a certain amount of regular Old Stock and Reserve for subsequent release. I'm sure that's why @Pereza987 was able to find the same year on the shelf recently. Sorry you got a bad bottle (even visually it looks off) because my experiences, like others, have been very positive.

 

Cross posted from the Bock Tasting thread



4.46/5 rDev +4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Bottled on May 5, 2016. Bought this at a bottle shop where the owner advised to cellar this for a while and today is that day. Poured into a Simon Pearce tankard bought on vacation in 2019, produced a clear dark amber body under a medium off white head. Smell has a lot of malty sweet ingredients with the wheat banana and cloves morphing to molasses and raisins. Taste reflects the smell although very rich and full. Even though the alc is well hidden, self preservation dictates a slow sipper. Although it's tempting to think of the Bavarian cuisine which would compliment this, I'm thinking more a post desert sipper. I'll try to find a younger bottle for comparison sake except I'm afraid it will only disappoint. But that's why we experiment right?

 

I'd hope you'd at least get a glass of water first

 

Cross posted from the Bock tasting thread:

2014 Samichlaus Schwarzes
Definitely has a some mild roastiness to go along with the typical rich caramel and dark fruit flavors of the regular Samichlaus - plum, black cherry, fig. The booziness has mellowed out. Still decent carbonation level.

 

For the birthday weekend, I broke out a 2016 regular BCBS and 2017 Vanilla BCBS. Both were fantastic and mellow. I was kind of surprised how much vanilla was still evident in the 2017 version.

 

Was at one of my local pubs earlier this year and found a 2009 decadence tucked behind all the other bottles in the fridge. Dropped $24 on it for my friends and I and was very pleasantly surprised by how well it held up! Would love to try the barleywine

 

You had better luck than I had. Mine was a 2014 drank in 2015. Loaded with flakes and tasted like rotten veggies.

 

Tonight’s beer is a 2018 Bourbon County Brand Proprietors. I had this beer for the first time in summer 2020. I liked it but didn’t love it, felt the adjuncts didn’t add much. Only 8 months later so not sure how much may have changed, but considering I thought the adjuncts were already faded didn’t seem like there would be much utility in giving it a bunch more time in the cellar. So here goes, approx 30 months old.

Pours opaque black, small tan head dissipates quickly and leaves no lacing.

Just like last time the first aroma I get is huge peanut butter, so strange. Next is cheap dark chocolate, fusel alcohol, barrel notes with charred wood. Taste is dark fruits like cherry, some milk chocolate and dark cocoa. The nutty/peanut butter character is definitely present on the taste as well, albeit not as strong as the aroma. This time around it seems sweeter than most bourbon counties, and less roasty, as well as milder barrel characters. Mouthfeel is smooth, full bodied, carbonation appropriate and although the ABV is noticeable it’s welcomed and drinkability is very good. Overall, a nice beer as are essentially all Bourbon Counties and variants, but it’s one of my least favorites from the series and pretty easily my least favorite prop.

4/4/4/4.5/4.25
(Original review, at approx 22 months: 4/4/4.25/4.25/4.25)

 

Tonight’s beer is a Unibroue Terrible. I’m actually not sure if this “counts” as a cellar review, because I am not entirely sure of the dating system. I typically do not consider it a cellar review if it’s less than a year old, but I’m not sure which year this was bottled. Best By date is 6/18/25 so I assume this may be a 2020 beer, although most Unibroue beers are labeled Letter-2DigitDay-last digit of year, and the cork says I019 so perhaps it has a 6 year best by with a IO19 like their small formats(letter I would be Sept 01 2019), or maybe it’s a 10/19 as in Oct 2019. Regardless it’s somewhere between 11 and 20 months, plus it’s been slow in this thread so figured it’s worth posting.

Pours essentially black, dark enough to be opaque, with a large dense light khaki colored head with good retention and lots of lacing. Definitely looks more like a stout in the glass than a Quad, but is still a very nice looking beer. Aromas is a mix of yeast and big dark fruits up front, with a more subtle spice on the finish. Raisin, figs, and black cherry. A big caramel and subtle candied sugar. Sweet bread and a bit of cracked white pepper. Just a ton going on on the nose. Taste follows except the spice is up front and more pronounced. Dark fruits are more subtle than the nose, and there’s a huge doughy yeast component. Dark fruits are mostly fig/dates, caramel and candied sugar come out as it warms. There is a moderately strong fruity ester quality perhaps even a touch of banana. Mouthfeel has that fantastic combo of full bodied yet highly carbonated and smooth, the trifecta that appears to only be present in really well done Belgian dark strong styles. I’m not sure the ABV but it’s completely unnoticeable and is very drinkable. Overall, this is a gem of a beer. Cant believe I’ve never rated this beer. It may sound ridiculous to say this about a brewery with multiple beers on the Beer of Fame list including the #1 overall rating of a highly done style like Tripel, but is Unibroue one of the most under appreciated breweries in the entire craft scene? Incredible consistency, several absolute home runs, and some of the most widely available elite beers on the planet. Yet it seems that I almost never see or hear people talking about them on BA. Perhaps their ease of availability produces some type of weird anti-hype. Regardless, this beer is excellent and is well deserving of its place on the Beers of Fame list.

4.5/4.75/4.25/4.75/4.5

 

Haven't had a cellar beer in awhile, trying to finish the beers which should be drunk fresh first, but pulled out a real treat for the early morning hours. Sadly this is the last one I have on hand, hoping to pick up more this Summer. Sadly they don't send these to the FIBs across the boarder anymore.

3 Sheeps Uber Joe



This was bottled on 4/5/19, purchased from the brewery refrigerated, cellared for a long time, and then plopped in my refrigerator a few months ago.

Reading my review of a bottle from the same batch I cellar reviewed in June of 2020. Not much has changed over the past year. The coffee seems a little more bitter, but I like that in a coffee. Also get the same taste profile, including a maple syrup taste though it is not used in this beer. Feels a little thinner at this point compared to my review, the faint carbonation still there. It's 10%, but feels stronger, perhaps it is the early morning impacting my perception.

Paired wonderfully with blueberries. Been savoring for a half hour, with 1/3 to go. It's warmed to proper temperature, and the flavors are bursting and wonderful. Highly recommend this beer, and brewery, great across many styles.

Cheers!

 

Shared one of my last 4 2013's after a killer day morel picking w/my brother on Thurs. It was a transcendental experience, age has blessed this with just the right degree of sherry, softening, and blending., with fruity complexity and textured sweetness that never overwhelms or gets heavy. This was a home run out of the gate, it's a grand slam now. Could be the best BW experience of my life. This, friends, is what we hope to achieve with our cellared beers.