Cellar Reviews (2022)

I think that BA Expo fresh is wonderful. Since 2020 & newer vintages the BA Expo quality has declined significantly. Not sure why... I think Deth Tar is better than BA Expo now.

 

Ah interesting. Much like my posts above on high westified im also a HUGE fanatic of BA expo and have loads of 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021 chocolate BA expo.

My personal opinion on the quality would not be that it's gone down hill (although I will say that the most recent chocolate version didn't live up to what I wanted it to be and I think I prefer regular).

But I digress, the beer in 2017, 2018, 2020 is certainly different, no question. 2017 is the least extreme/potent and least in your face to my palate. 2018 is touch more potent tasting version of the same beer to my taste. 2020 is the the most different of the three, and downright intense. Its the hoppiest of the 3 no doubt. Also more char and roast. I could certainly see one arguing 2020 is less balanced but for me I like extreme char, roast, and dark bitter stouts so it moves me in a different way.

I honestly don't know that I have a favorite year myself. I'll definitely make a point to add some cellar reviews of these in here in the near future!

With regard to deths tar - I LOVED that beer years ago. Just as I did BCBS and I could go with either on which I prefer on any given day. I find the two extremely comparable. For me, these two beers are more of a one trick pony that are laden with dark fruit and sugar and less opposition from anything charred or hopped. I like a full spectrum stout with lots of bitterness and these two just aren't my personal jam anymore.

I sometimes wonder if there will be a swing back towards stouts becoming more "old world"? And robust bitter bombs. Lots of brewers still do but the mainstream big hitters most people chase seem to all lean more heavily on the sweeter side of things. I think I'm rambling at this point.

 

I appreciate your opinion and response, but I agree with @4DAloveofSTOUT . I've had 3 vintages of BA Expedition, and the 2018 was by far the best, and the most recent my least favorite of the 3. Is it still a good beer? absolutely. -But, it is a notch below BCBS for me. The most recent iteration tastes "already aged" much like Parabola does compared to something like BCBS, which certainly has much more of that fresh 'pop' with bourbon bursting from the nose.

If you're looking for true RIS-style beers, I would think BCBS would tickle your fancy. It's as bitter if not more bitter to me than BA Expedition, although not as subtle.

DT is a great beer; I think I'd probably take DT over the most recent iteration of BA Expo, but they are different, and BA Expo was thin this iteration by comparison.

 

Many people seem to think that Expedition goes through the slump before it gets better, and it's not surprising to me that you might find the same thing with BA Expedition. I haven't aged any long enough to find out, so I certainly appreciate your feedback.

 

Have three New Glarus R & D beers planned for the weekend. Saving the two Vintage offerings (2017 and 2018) for the New Beer Weekend / Sunday thread. Hope you can join us.



I also would like to note that I will be hosting a tasting of Wild / Sour Beers: (Under the BA Categories of Brett Beer, Sour (Flanders Oud Bruin & Flanders Red Ale); Wild Ale), likely in June or July. Hope you will be able to join us with these great beer offerings.

Before I proceed with opening the bottle and beginning my review, I would like to note that I am conducting this review consistent with all other reviews I've completed, an honest summary of my real-time experience with the beer.

New Glarus R & D Sour Blackberry Ale



Bottle Notes: Purchased at the New Glarus brewery in August, 2019, cellared in a dark unheated underground basement until January 9, 2022, refrigerated until opening.

16.9 oz Fruited Sour, 20 Barrel Batch. brewed 2010 & 2017. OG 14 P, Bottled 11/6/18, ABV 6.5%. IBUs 12. Brewed and Bottled by New Glarus Brewing.

Dan's 2019 Sour Blackberry Ale is spontaneously fermented in the Lambic tradition using our coolship and oak tank aged. Oregon Marion berries dominate this sour ale refermented in the bottle you hold.

Appearance: Multiple pours into a tall tulip glass. Clear dark clear plum purple base, generous bubbly puffy head makes me cautiously ration my pouring to a few ounces at a time. Heavy carbonation. No lacing as expected. Looks great! 4.5

Aroma: Sharp blackberry notes, assertive sour aroma follows. Smells a bit like grape soda, though more complex. Sweetness emerges through the sour, acidic notes back. Getting a bit of oak as well, more as this warms. A lot going on here, mostly pleasant. 4.25

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, tart acidic blueberry leads, sour as well. Oak is stronger with the taste, blackberry jam. Fruit sweetness contained/balanced well Not sure how the 3 1/2 years impacted, but really like what is going on right now. Wonderful. 4.5

Mouthfeel: Light, crisp and easy drinking. Light dryness, slight fizzy carbonation holds on throughout. Drinks lighter than the ABV, sour, tart and a bit dry. Nice clean finish. 4.5

Overall: Come to expect excellent fruit offerings from New Glarus, and this is no exception. If you like Blackberry and Sour, this beer is for you. It definately is for me, glad I have one more stashed away (limit two per customer ) 4.5

 

didn't know that about regular Expo.

 

Nice write up! But...
Damn, how can you WAIT like that?? I absolutely cannot relate to having that kind of willpower. I'll bet you have an opened but unfinished bag of chips in your house, don't you??

 

Holy cow. If I finished everything I opened, I’d be 4,000 pounds. I love variety. I love having multiple types of snacks and deserts around, whenever I might want a bit. I am not peak restraint, but I would be in bad trouble if I had to finish something every time I opened it.

 

2015 BA Old Ruffian, never had this fresh.



Purchased online recently and enjoyed on a rainy, dreary evening. I'm not finding much complexity at this point. There might be some faint hops at the end and maybe a little apple in there somewhere. But the bourbon, caramel, toffee, brown sugar coming across like a hard Werther's Original dominates and it is tasting great to me tonight. The carbonation is holding up great and the body is still full and lightly sticky.

This pairs very well with shoo-fly pie.

 

lol I was being hyperbolic about my own lack of willpower. Note the unfinished pie above, now safely wrapped away waiting to be divided into four, sensibly sized portions for the family tomorrow.

 

You are giving me far too much credit. Went on a mega beer buying spree between July 2019 - January 2021. It wasn't until I finally took inventory of my basement cellar and refrigerator that I realized I owned 453 beers.

Drinking only one beer a day at home (most days), I slowly worked down my stash over the past 15 months. I'm thankfully under 200 beers at this point, all but 13 cellar appropriate styles (working those off as well before buying new drink fresh beers). Will be down to twelve new to me beers on hand after this weekend.

And yes, at times I do have unfinished bags of chips, but those are typically "family" or "party" size variety.

 

Vintage 2010 Stone Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Guardian. This last of the very vintage barleywines purchased online recently is easily the best.




This has held up incredibly well! Sweet caramel candies dipped in brown liquor dominates. I get some vanilla and raisins, the sugary kind from cereal, as well. The finish adds bitter oak and hints of pine. I wish they were a bit more subdued but overall this comes together far better than I'd hoped. The carbonation is still ample and the body robust after all these years. Quite a treat!

 

Served at Fatpour in Chicago. Apparently bars just have vintage Props for sale all the time in Chicago, who knew. Super pumped to stumble upon this one as it’s the only Prop I haven’t had to date. Served way too cold so allowed to warm (albeit probably not long enough).

Pours jet black, almost no head or lacing. Aroma is big bourbon, nice chocolate, moderate coconut and some artificial vanilla. Subtle nutty notes but I’d be lying if I said I got pecan specifically. Nice nose but not super prominent. Taste is super rich, lots of chocolate, roasty malt base beer, moderate nuttiness (again not strongly pecan per se), neither the vanilla or coconut are prominent at all, there is some vanilla although it’s nothing like BCB Vanilla character which seems to actually age surprisingly well in the vanilla only variants. Mouthfeel is smooth, fully bodied but not think, drinkability is surprisingly good as is the case with msot BCB variants. Overall, a lovely beer. I suspect some of the adjuncts hve faded pretty substantially, and it definitely doesn’t give off a tiramisu vibe as the description claims (maybe it did when fresh), but still very enjoyable.

Of interesting note: it’s bottle dated 27Sept21. Does GI re-release Props or something because i am very confused by this bottle dating.

4/4.25/4.5/4.5/4.5
(Original/fresh review: none)

 

Is it too late to add a photo of the other label?

 

I did snap one:

 

Nice review. The 2021 date you noted is the best by date, 2 years after bottling. GI reduced the "ages in the bottle for up to" mark from 5 to 2 for Prop releases and a few other variants starting in 2019 IIRC (if not, in 2018), down from their previous universal 5 year notation.

The regular and a few variants continue to be released with "ages in the bottle for up to 5 years" and corresponding best by date.

I don't see any added benefits for aging these beers intentionally unless the flavor comes to strong and you want it reduced (say the 2018 vanilla). YMMV. That said, if properly cellared or refrigerated, the beers beyond two years, even the ones with a recommended 2 year date, have been fine on my end.

I'll tag @Beer_Economicus for further comment.

 

The key is the "drink by" language. @ChicagoJ is correct.

 

You are correct. I am out of state for work, but I am nearly positive that the “drink by” replaced the “bottled on” notation starting in 2018.

Also, indeed you are correct that many of the variants have been labeled with the 2 year drink by dates. That also started in 2018, with Midnight Orange being one of the first Variants to have that notation, as I recall. Since then there are usually 2 variants with that notation each year (I think). For example, in 2021 Prop had that notation as did Cola. I think Cherry (Wood) might have also.

To get the Bottling date you just subtract 2 or 5 years, respectively.

 

Thanks guys.

I have a cellar full of vintage BCB stouts and variants and I swear I’ve always thought it was bottle on date listed and not best by. For that reason didn’t even consider it was a drink by date.

Perhaps the 14.5% ABV caught up to me fast!

 

I am obviously a self-proclaimed BCS fanboy, and have likely as much as any of the other people with “a lot” of BC in their cellar, and I only learned they switched the language on the back of the bottles in November 2021. So, yea. It’s an easy one to miss.