Cellar Reviews (2021)

2016 Nickel Brook Kentucky Bastard
It was good

 

Review posted in the Vintage Bourbon County Thread:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...bon-county-review-thread.646099/#post-7390025

 

OK, @Beer_Economicus inspired me to pull out this selection, brewed a year later.

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Barleywine Ale (2018 release)



This bottle (9/27/18) is just over 2 years past their "develops in the bottle up to 1 year" recommendation. My OG review is linked here. That was a draft serving at unfortunately a now closed Fountainhead.

Appearance remains the same, though I am able to gather a nice creamy head retaining lacing. (Fresh 4.5 Now 4.75).

Aroma is a nice sweet barleywine, the coffee and barrel noted and enjoyed while fresh are now gone. I let this warm up for 15 minutes and neither emerged. Some oxidation noted. Age has taken it's toll here, the nice complexity has left the bottle. (Fresh 4.25 Now 3.75).

Taste presents a nice roast coffee, with a light pepper backing. The sweet barleywine is pleasant, getting creamy maple syrup taste and texture. Age has definitely impacted this pour, but not as adversely / all negative as the altered aroma. Green pepper strengthens as this warms (30 minutes in), and now I'm getting a slight to moderate alcohol warmth. Overall very fun drinking. (Fresh 4.75 Now 4.25)

Mouthfeel has improved, based on my initial notes of a very thin texture and sweet taste. Not overtly sweet, the pepper coffee is helping balance this more, and as noted in the taste section, this feels like a medium creamy body. (Fresh 4.25 Now 4.75).

Overall, this bottle was cellared properly (cellared in basement after purchase, refrigerated since 5/1/21), but 3 years have taken it's toll, most notably in the aroma and taste profiles, while improving in the mouthfeel if you are seeking a fuller body. I am grateful I am enjoying this this morning, but if I had any additional bottles from this vintage, I'd strongly consider drinking these now to avoid further degradation. (Fresh 4.5 Now 4.25)

Coffee was (sadly gone) my favorite variant / is my favorite adjunct, and I also liked the standalone Barleywine before the infections. That said, I feared this wouldn't come out right in 2018 but it vastly exceeded my expectations. I hope one day GI would return to their OG Coffee and Barleywine offerings, instead of Chasing Amy Emlly, with a half dozen sweet concoctions including Pastry Proprietors.

And that is all I have for you this morning.

 

I have 1-2 dozen 6-10 year old beers, and I expect a few, perhaps more, to be drain pours. Unfortunately, this is one of them.

Dieu du Ciel!'s Rigor Mortis was one of the first beers I rated and the first wow moment of a new beer or style I discovered on my own, at Monk's Pub. Sadly, I've only had a few from this brewery and I believe they have not distributed here for a while at this point.

My attempted beer was Dieu du Ceil's Grande Noirceur. It was bottled on 10/29/15, with Aging Potential Yes on the bottle, but no guidelines. I bought this at a going out business sale perhaps 3 1/2 years ago, stored at room temps at the store, cellared until June and refrigerated since.



Looks like a barleywine (it's an Imperial Stout), smelled like barleywine, oxidation, cardboard. A few sips confirmed this is what it also tastes like, so that was the tragic end of this bottle.

This beer just got past me, so just a warning that out there not all cellaring attempts will pay off, and to drink your beer fresh, or within a reasonable period of time.

 

Bottled 9/8/16, drank 11/19/21
jet black motor oil little head. Smells like bakers chocolate, maybe some coffee in there. Taste is waves of chocolate, light to dark, with a hint of stale coffee, and some chalk and roast. Body is light to medium, with light carbonation. Ends dry. Obviously somewhere between the 14 and 18, probably at the tipping point. Still think 1-2 years is about right

 

mahogany still but murky and little to no head. Nose is brown sugar, caramel, and some dates. Taste opens with a gentle rum soaked date, that folds into a light brown sugar and ends with some spice. Body is light to medium with similar carbonation. Everything is nicely blended together, but not necessarily bold or deep. However its light and somehow refreshing?

tbh im still not super sold on this. maybe more time?

 

This is a weirdly aging beer for me. I had a 2010 a few months back that was absolutely stellar & sought ought some others based on that experience. Had a 2015 a few weeks ago that wasn't nearly as good. Not sure if this needs several years to hit its height or if there are other issues (changes in recipe, storage, etc.) that led to this experience. Will try one more in this age range & if the taste is similar will put them in a dark corner & forget about them until 2025.

 

I've heard it needs a few years, but wow 11 years? I guess I'll do the same, put one away for the long haul

 

Thank you for this post… this reminded me I have a forgotten dust-covered ‘07-‘11 Old Stock vertical hiding in the back of my cellar. Based on the comments from @maximum12 , I have promoted it to the front of my cellar and will enjoy seeing how these have held up!

 

Happy Thanksgiving Cellar Dwellers! Tons to be thankful for this and every year. I am incredibly fortunate and try to be cognizant of that regularly, but obviously a little extra aware and thankful today.

Celebrating the holiday with one of my favorite Bourbon County beers to date (I’ve been fortunate enough to try all bottled variants except 2019 Double Barrel and 2019 Prop). Originally drank just under 3 years after bottling and rated a 4.75 at that time, trailing only OG Vanilla Rye and BCBCS, even slightly above OG Rare ‘10 as my highest rated BCB beers ever. It was just a near perfect blend of barrel and base beer characters. It’s sitting at slightly over 4 years from bottling now, let’s see how it’s drinking.

Pours opaque black, small dark mocha head, dissipates quickly. Aroma is hugely barrel: some whiskey booziness, charred oak, herbaceous, big nutty characters, and campfire toasted marshmallow. Base beer characters are more subdued, mostly roasted malt and some semi sweet bakers cocoa. Taste is dark fruits first, followed by chocolate, then big barrel characters on the finish. Mouthfeel is full bodied but not thick, good drinkability for the ABV. Overall this remains excellent but I do think some of the flavors are starting to fade. I’d say it’s past it’s prime, but still a gem of a beer.

4/4.5/4.5/4.5/4.5
(Original/fresh review: 4/4.5/5/4.75/4.75; actually not fresh but reviewed approx 3 years after bottling)

 

Goose Island – Bourbon County Brand Reserve Rye Stout

14.5% ABV

The beer is listed as “Stout – American Imperial” on BA.

The beer was removed from a 45ish degree temp fridge after having been refrigerated for approximately 4 months. Beer poured into 2012 BCBS snifter.

First Impression: Pours dark/thicker for BCBS. Beautiful as always. While I don’t like the new bottle size, I do love the way the bottles pour. 4.5

Appearance: Similar to (and not substantively different than) standard BCBS. It’s midnight black. You can’t see through the glass except when taking a sip, and then only at the edges. Decent head on an aggressive pour (much more than an older vintage with more age). Head disappears at a reasonable space, with a faint ring left around the glass for some time. 4.75

Smell: Boozy, but not like you poured yourself a nip of whiskey. There’s a faint rye spice thing going on similar to holiday spices in cookies. Hints of dark fruits and also berries, -in particular, blueberries. Faint cola. No discernable chocolate or rich malt on the nose. This is a real pleasure. 4.5

Taste: I think the rye integrates itself more with the base than bourbon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I think it is better. It’s just that rye seems to mesh in a way that makes it feel more like it is one with the base, whereas bourbon feels like you have this bourbon…and then you have this base. The older the vintage, the more these mesh as one, and the younger the vintage, the more that bourbon reminds you, ‘HEY, I’M HERE FIRST.’

With the rye, you don’t really get that deep chocolate, fudge, bourbon soaked brownies note that so many people love, especially from 2014 BCBS. You still get a lot of chocolate, but it tends more towards cacao powder and bittersweet chocolate with perhaps only a hair of dark chocolate. The rye comes in two forms. On the front end, you notice there’s no bourbon. Because it is so well integrated, it’s almost like you miss it. But, then on the backend you get it. You start to get some of that rye spice. To me, there’s only the most mild of ‘spiciness’ associated, but you get many of those holiday baking flavors. For me, they aren’t distinguishable, they are just melding as one, but that is what it conjures up. Definitely not distinctively ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, etc. There’s just a touch, a kiss of berry. I can see how Backyard Rye probably would have played well. Unfortunately, that was one I never got to try. 4.5

Mouthfeel: To me, this seems a tad thicker than the bourbon versions. It’s no thicc boi, but it’s classic BCBS. Thicker than most, but not pastry. It’s thick enough to slow you down, but thin enough to make it so you can drink a full 16.9oz in a night if you so choose, assuming you can handle the ABV. By comparison, pastry stouts for me are difficult to stomach that many ounces due to their viscosity. They are too much.

I sat here debating how to rate this. For the style, a non pastry, I think it’s pretty much spot on, so I’m going with a 4.85. Perhaps it could be just a tad thicker, but that’s a pretty minor complaint. 4.85

Overall: You know, I wasn’t sure about this one at the start. I wanted to be googoo and gaagaa all over it. So my expectations were high. Then I opened it, and man, it felt like a let down. I had built it up so much it was just a big let down. Then I took a long time to get to know this beer. I sipped on about 12 ounces last night for a few hours. Then tonight, after using a fancy champagne stopper, I consumed the last. The more I consumed, the more I enjoyed this. I think I may have even enjoyed it more on night 2 than night 1, and I attribute that to the small amount of oxidation difference between Day 1 and Day 2. -And, further, I’m going to attribute that additional amount of satisfaction due to the fact that, in general, I think 2-3 years is kind of the sweet spot for “base” Bourbon County. At least since 2016. I just don’t like it right out of the gate quite as much. The 2-3 year mark may come as a surprise to anyone that has seen my love for older vintages. Much as it pains me to say it, I do think there is a difference 2015 and earlier vs. post 2015, but I don’t necessarily attribute that specifically to the new process; partially I attribute that to the changing recipe for the base, which definitely has changed (and that's not an opinion, it's a note the brewers have mentioned and then been repeated on the Binny's podcast, for example). 4.65

In summary, this was a real pleasure to drink. And I think the BA review score of 4.58 gives a pretty accurate picture. There’s no way to not call this world class, in my opinion. I think the only turnoff for some is the rye.

BA Review Score: 4.58

My review can be found here: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1146/434223/?ba=Beer_Economicus#review

 

Goose Island – Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout (BCBCS – 2014)

12.6% ABV

The beer is listed as “Stout – American Imperial” on BA.

The beer was removed from a 40ish degree temp fridge after having been refrigerated for approximately 2 years. Beer poured into 2012 BCBS snifter.

First Impression: Pours dark, thinner than BCBS. 4.5

Appearance: Standard Bourbon County. An aggressive pour years only a small amount of khaki head that fades quickly, leaving only a small ring around the glass. 4.25

Smell: Coffee up front. Mostly this cold-brew smelling with a hint of grounds and also the dread ‘pepper’. Weak barrel on the nose. 4.25

Taste: 2014 and earlier BCBCS is what all coffee stouts should be judged on for me. As the kids say, ‘it fucks’. And after this many years, to still say that? Come on. Taste starts with the coffee, shifts to bourbon, pulls in some chocolate fudge brownies, shifts back to bourbon, finishes on coffee, and then a slow finish lasts for longer than most BA stouts, let alone BA coffee stouts. Impressive for 12.5% abv. 4.70

Mouthfeel: Coffee stouts are always thinner than their regular counterparts. They just are. While this is clearly thinner than the regular, not appreciably so. For judging this against other coffee stouts, this is still upper echelon. 4.75

Overall: This is a great beer, and I’m jamming on this. I debated about whether to have this tonight, because I have to get up in 4.5 hours to hit the BCBS release. Well, I’m glad I did, but only because I chose to drink this tonight. It’s really fantastic. It’s incredible how well this has held up. I did have this a few years back (just once), and while it was great, I don’t remember enjoying it quite this much. This is just singing tonight. It’s everything that I want. And the finish just keeps going. I’m in heaven. All this said – could it be better? Of course. I’d love to have even more barrel. I’d love to see how this shined at 15%. But for what it is, and compared to others, this is Heaven. 4.65

BA Review Score: 4.56

My review can be found here: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1146/57747/?ba=Beer_Economicus#review

 

Thanks, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on other vintages. I only tried this, 2008 I believe, and lived it! I recently got a 2018 and 2020 and I'm unsure when I should open them

 

Terrible early morning typing! only tried this ONCE and lOved it. Yikes...

 

Cracked a special one during our feast last night. Cantillon Brouscella 1900. An unleaded 3 year aged lambic bottled in November of 2017.

It was a great choice. Poured basically still with a golden tinged amber color. Nose was hard to parse from the olfactory cacophony of a busy Thanksgiving kitchen, but there was certainly some strong tannic notes. The flavor was like a wonderfully complex white wine with mild acidity, heavy woody notes and complex fruity sweetness that had elements of wine grapes, greengage plums, some cantaloupe, and overripe apple.

This bottle lent itself so well to sipping over the course of hours, just acidic enough to feel cleansing on the palate, and seemed to act as a bit of a digestif. I so wish I could access this beer with any regularity, it would quickly become a holiday staple

 

Opened an '18 KBS from the cellar yesterday for Thanksgiving. It's fallen off quite a bit, if you consider falling off to mean the coffee and chocolate notes are thinning out. I got next to no coffee with it, but too be expected from an aged coffee stout anyway.

Underlying stout was fair. It was coming off more earthy than I recall fresh KBS to be.

 

Moving slowly through my cellar and inventory (453 @ 1/23/21, 310 today), including moving another 20 from my basement cellar (130 remain) to my refrigerator (180 remain) in November. Transfers included my three remaining 2020 Barrel Aged Narwhal cans, one of which I am enjoying now.

2020 Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Narwhal



Reviewed the first of this four pack 10 months after canning, in January 2021. Full review linked here.

Has time helped, hindered or left unchanged this beer over close to a year later?

Appearance is the same, nice creamy generous head, carbonation and appearance all wonderful. Getting less barrel in the nose, sweet chocolate malt and bakers malt, coconut less prominent than my review notes indicate.

Didn't like my initial sips about 10-15 minutes out of the refrigerator. Chalky milk chocolate. But once it warmed to a proper temperature, this tasted as good as my OG review. Everything pretty much the same 11 months later, so glad the bourbon I smelled less was retained, and a nice coconut lingers. Sweet overall, I prefer less sweet if given the option, but enjoying this nonetheless.

Creamy mouthfeel as well. Bottom line, this did not change much at all from the 10 month in can I reviewed in January. Want to try one fresh to see any differences between new and 10 month old, but bottom line this is a BA stout I would be confident in aging down the road, at least for two years out. Doubt it improves further.

Cheers!