Tonight I had a side by side tasting of fresh (2012) Parabola vs. 1 year old (2011) Parabola. As I reviewed Parabola as fresh, I'll just note the differences (if any) below: Appearance: Virtually identical in color, head, and head retention. Smell: The 2011 immediately stuck me as less alcohol forward, more depth, with a little more sweetness. Taste: Differences are immediately apparent, the alcohol is much more subdued/masked in the year old parabola allowing much more depth and complexity of flavor. I really liked the vanilla wrapped in bourbon flavor I experienced when I first had fresh Parabola; however, after a year of aging, the vanilla still remains but the strength of the bourbon flavor recedes to allow an almost port like flavor to develop underneath. This just provides an enriched dark fruit flavor that really adds to the beer. Mouthfeel: Here is where even larger differences can be noted. The smoothness of the aged bottle is impeccable, any "rough edges" apparent in the fresh bottle are gone. This goes down like its half of it's actually ABV. Incredible. Overall: So damn glad I was able to grab 3 bottles this year (especially after the cluster in MA), will leave the other two 2012's to age for a year (at least). Just a shame that I've only got one 2011 left, so I'll have decide whether or not to crack it next year or let it get a bit older . THIS is why I cellar beers, Westy, Pannepot, Pannepeut, and now Parabola, each beer exhibits dramatic improvement over time!
Nice! I might have to break out a 2011 soon. And XVI is just around the corner... finishing the blend tomorrow.
The 6 or so bottles I have opened this year have blown me away. I definitely preferred them with a year of age on it. I managed to pick up a little over a case of 2011 and almost 2 cases of 2012 this year. Looking forward to doing three plus year tastings next year and many years thereafter.
I just did my second 10-12 vertical and honestly the 10 was disappointing. 11 was good but the bourbon really faded. I think 6 month old is best, where a little bit of smoothing has gone on but the bourbon remains. FW BA beers really lose that barrel taste quickly. I'd recommend drinking it rather fresh.
i had a 2010 a bit after a year, maybe 1.5 years and it was amazing. this is better between 1-2 years IMO.
I opened a bottle of '11 tonight and really enjoyed it. Makes me bummed I never got around to grabing any '12.
I thought it was common knowledge that this beer ages terribly? The 2011 I had recently was garbage next to the 2012.
Hope this isn't off topic, but would anyone recommend aging Founder's Breakfast Stout? Just picked up a fresh 4-pack today and was considering my options...
I was super disappointed that they all disappeared from shelves last year before I could get one to age. I bought two, but the first was so good I cracked the second thinking it'd be easy to go back and get more. Luckily this year my local beer shop still has quite a few on the shelf. I just bought one to drink but I'm gonna go back for at least one more. I'd like to grab two but he has DDBA and he still has a few XV's and I'd love to age either of those so I'll probably have to stick to one since my budget doesn't allow for tons of $14+ beer purchases, haha
There's very close to zero "common knowledge" about how any beer ages...almost every beer divides people into the "fresh" & "aged" camps. I'd take the two years plus batch one Parabola over the fresh stuff any day. Although it's excellent fresh, the recent bottles of batch 1 we've downed have been crazy good. Another in a small list of beers that I'll no longer even bother to drink until they hit the one year mark.
I had a year old FBS and a fresh one recently and have to say the year old one blew away the fresh one, IMO. The aged one just seemed to be so well integrated without any one flavor being too dominate. I find fresh FBS to obviously be so coffee forward as it's supposed to be. I just enjoyed the aged so damn much!
How long did you age Westy for? I've got three bottles of 12 (still have to drink one fresh), but I was curious how much cellar time I should shoot for on the other two.
It talking with people I both respect on the subject (Unclejimbo jumps to mind) and who have had allot of Westvleteren 12, the rule of thumb seems to be after one year it improves dramatically. Once it hits two I've been told it hits it sweet spot and that there is not a lot of change after that. From personal experience I can vouch for the 1 year vs. fresh claim, I'm going to open a two year old shortly (next couple of weeks) to try against a Pannepot 2007. This will accomplish two goals, first to see how the second year effected the beer, and second to see which of the two I prefer!
