BCBBW aging?

good to hear it is mellowing a bit, might have to crack one soon to see for myself!

 

Btw, its an English Barleywine. Its always going to be sweet.

 

I'll get back to ya tomorrow. I have one in the fridge from '10.

 

If King Henry went downhill, it must have been on top of Everest to begin with. Had one two weeks ago and was blown away. BCBW is still perfection, tapped our keg from February on Saturday and have been sampling it all weekend. It's just as incredible as it was fresh.

 

Based one the ones we at least scored in Cali, the BCBBW *might peak at 6-9 months. But I just don't feel much more than that will change the 2013 batch. Been drinking them steadily over the last 6 months. I can see this one falling off quite a bit after the 12 month period. And the beauty there is.........the next batch will be out by then! Drink up!!!

 

Have a little under a case left. Drinking them steadily and I think its only getting better.

 

Will be opening one of my bottles in about two weeks. Will report back what I think.

You have no idea....

 

I have 8 left, had one last week and thought it was great......still tasted like liquid raisinets as it warmed

 

Any update on this? Anyone cracked open a bottle recently from the late 2013 first batch?

 

I've got one aging, but haven't gotten a chance to pop it open yet. In consensus with a lot here: Didn't care for it too much when I first bought it.

 

Recently opened a 2013 bcbbw. Its definitely mellowed quite nicely. There were hints of barrel characteristics and could taste a bit of residual stout in the back. Most prominently I got a sort of soy sauce (not sure if this is the right descriptor) and a thick malt backbone. Still a fantastic beer and one of my all-time favorite barleywines. All of this in consideration though this bottle wasn't cellared as well as the rest of my bcbbw so I'll have to try again soon.

 

I thought the '13 BCBBW aged exceptionally well. Smooth, sweet and luxurious. I have high hopes for the 2014 batch.

 

Agreed. At one year it was fan-f*cking-tastic. It was kind of a hot mess fresh but holy hell did it smooth out and come together nicely. Not sure what more time will do and haven't had one in a few months.

 

I've been drinking '13 consistently. Atleast 1 every month. I will say that I've seen some very significant bottle variation as far as sediment goes. My initial 4packs seemed really well filtered. I got another 4pack in a trade and every bottle has been extremely cloudy. Almost like it was on the bottom of the barrel or something. There was a lot of sediment around the bottle cap, too. Taste-wise its still great.

 

I had a '13 about two weeks ago and thought it was exceptional. Flavors of sweet blackberries and black currants.

 

I'll be drinking a '13 tonight. The first time I had it was in August of '14 so I won't be able to compare to what it was fresh and I've never reviewed a beer, just rated, but I'll try to get you guys a description tomorrow to the best of my ability.

 

Except for 2013's batch. Those bottles are a year and a half old.

I thought those were awesome fresh and not as enjoyable at one year old.

 

So between my friend and I here is what we thought of '13 BCBBW:

No head whatsoever, pours a dark toffee color with noticeable sediment. To me the aroma is still surprisingly boozy. Not in a bad way but it's still there. I could just be sensitive. It is still exceptionally smooth with a still solid mouthfeel. We got flavors of toffee and dark fruit, a hint of barrel still on the back end and we thought the alcohol was still there.

Aside from the sediment, which isn't that big of a deal at all, I thought this was a fantastic beer. I have one more that I'm going to let go for a bit longer but not really sure what to expect from here.

 

The 2013 batch is drinking fantastic right now. While it was quite boozy fresh, that aspect has mellowed out over time. I noticed caramel, oak, raisins and a mellow alcohol aspect. So, it is very nice with some age on it. Happy that I have enough of it to see some of the bottles make it to GI`s "age up to 5 years" note on the bottle

 

2013 is a great Barleywine. Notes of butter, toffee and Vanilla / Oak work well with the raisin / fig aspect. I have nearly a case of 2013 as I found it utterly enjoyable.

The 2014 initially I found to be very 'stout' forward. I though it really absorbed that BCBS Stout flavor from the barrel and didn't leave much of that butter / toffee flavor I enjoyed so much from the 2013 batch. Having said this, I recently had a bottle from the same initial 4-pack from 2014 and the stout-dominant flavor and toned down quite a bit and the buttery barrel like flavors shone through a bit more.

I think the 2013 BCBBW is really underrated.