A few of my buddies and I had a whale share over the weekend. Had some really good stouts. Had 3 non adjunct ones including assassin 16, Beer Barrel time, Maman 17. I was kind of disappointed in assassin. The other two non adjuncts were pretty fresh but the Assassin just eclipsed the one-year mark. It poured black as night and had a good mouth feel but all I was tasting was prune juice. Very overwhelming in the dark fruits and very pruney in my opinion. Does this beer typically have a lot of prune notes? Is this something that came on after a year of age? Since I've never had it fresh just looking for opinions. Justin
Unless am reading this wrong, you had a share recently (late 2017/early 2018), it was an assassin 16 (not 17?), and it had just exclipsed 1 year? I am asking for clarity, because it is my understanding that the most recent batch of Assassin that was released (I thought 2017) was considered inferior to previous batches of Assassin. If 16 was the most recent batch, then my statement still applies, but the numbers shift slightly.
I believe the purple cap assassin was the last batch and it came out late 2016. That's the beer we had.
The purple wax Assassin is officially labeled as 2016 even though it was released in early 2017. I've had it (see avatar) and Maman '17, but not BBT. However, I did have my Assassin in April last year, so not that long after the release. I personally loved Assassin '16, and is still one of my top non-adjunct BA IS along with Maman 17, BADL '16 (my favorite) and blue wax Black Magick (Buffalo Trace B2). From my notes, I wrote about Assassin that it was nutty, oaky with dark fruits. Smooth with great mouthfeel. So I can understand the dark fruits being picked up, but it was far from predominantly prune juice. What order did you have those 3 beers in? That will make a huge impact on what your palate picks up, especially if you didn't have anything substantial to clear it.
hmmm.... did you have some prune juice right beforehand? Honestly, I am not sure then. Perhaps someone that's had it more recently might be able to provide more appropriate input as to how it developed over the year since the release.
Don't get me wrong, it was a great beer. I'm exaggerating a bit with the prune juice. But very prune/raison forward. More than I would prefer
