2001-present Bigfoot vert advice

You could do one a night for 20 nights. Start with the freshest and work your way to the oldest.

 

I was going to say the same. 2 sessions of 10 each would be better and take notes. But the 20 in one night might be a little much. Having had a few 5 year verts of different years some arent too different after a while

 

Yeah, 20 12oz bottles of beer....lots of waste

I did a mini bcbs '12-'15 with two people, and I felt it was too much.

I envy you though, that's some old stuff!

I got a '04 ,'11 and '16. And I thought that was impressive, lol.

How many people involved for this vertical tasting?

 

Keep us posted on how and what you decide to do!

 

Did one with a large group last year, 2015-1999. Most guys only did a 1-2oz pour of each, and a lot of us skipped a few years too. By 1999, no one was liking any of it anyway. 8 people will be good, but expect a lot of them to get burned out after 4-5 pours.

 

I would probably do a smaller vertical and keep some older ones for special occasions. Just because you can build a 20 year vertical doesn't mean you have to drink it this year.

 

I'm attempting the same thing. I've got 1997-2016 (well, minus a 2003 that is evading me). I was planning on doing a 20 year vert next year. I was thinking 8-10 people. Too few and you'll have wasted beer. I have had too many times of waking up the next morning to find half empty bombers of beer I had been saving for years.

 

So last summer I did a 2010-2015 vert with two buddies. That was about right in regards to number of beers each, and we broke it up with cheese and crackers. We found the '10 and '13 were our favorites, but they were all tasty. We started with the oldest and worked our way to the newer versions mostly because we wanted fresh palates for the older beers which can have more subtle flavors. We also pre poured all the beers to give them a moment to breathe and used labels for the years. It was a fun night. I would think 20 years would be a tough night. I would consider doing them over two or three nights. The tough part is you as the beer collector want to compare them all and see how the fresh compares to the aged. If that is the case for each tasting night have a bottle of the current issue so you can compare older to the fresher version.

 

Just hammer em all in one night. Past 7-8 years its all over the hill and novel anyway. Don't need a fresh palate to parse "really really oxidized" from "really really really really oxidized"

 

Leave 1oz of each one for a mad blend.

 

With Bigfoot and others, I'm focusing on verts with 2 years in between. In 2017 I'll do a '13, '15, and '17, and be able to taste the differences better than if I included the even years.

You could extend this out to 3 or 4 years in between, and be able to do multiple verticals at different tastings. More bang for your buck, and a less exhausted palate each time.

 

I don't know where in Jersey you are, but if you're near Philly, Capone's in Norristown just sent an e-mail (which I deleted) about what they had in the bottle shop. I know they have some late 90's and early 00s on the list, not sure if '03 was one of them. Might be worth a call.

 

thanks for the heads up! as luck would have it, my man @DoubleD messaged me out of the blue after reading this thread and hooked me up with an 03 and an 09 which I needed as well. I'm going to give Capone's a call for some others I'm looking at!

 

A couple of years ago I did a 2003-2012 by myself. I drank two beers a day, an older one and a newer one. I now wish that I took notes on the changes and nuances of each beer

 

I would agree with that approach. Do a tasting of something like the 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, and fresh bottles.

Then you can do something similar again in the future.

 

^^^ Pretty much what he said ^^^

OP, I would have two separate tastings if I were you. The first would be soon, and would include '02, '04, '06, '08, '10, '12, '14, and '16. Then have your other tasting in 2021 with all of the odd years.