BCBS 2014 vs 2015 (personal side-by-side thoughts)

The discussion about aging BCBS seems to come up a lot, so I thought I'd offer my observations based on my recent side-by-side experience. For the record, I went into this with a personal bias that many of you do not share. I have long considered myself firmly in the "BCBS is better aged" camp. I'm so far in that camp that I would go so far as to say I do not like BCBS fresh.

In any case, this past Sunday, I had the pleasure of trying 2014 side-by-side with 2015, in identical tulip glasses. The 2014 was stored in the dark at about 60 degrees over that time, while the 2015 was bought a few days prior. Both were poured at about 50 degrees and allowed to warm in glass. Here are my thoughts:

Look: Beers looked pretty much indistinguishable, with any differences in head probably due more to my pouring than the beers itself. Both had very small heads, with good legs.

Aroma: The differences here were night and day. I would say that the 2015 was surprisingly lacking in aroma - I expected more nose on the fresher beer. The 2015 had more noticeable alcohol burn like cheaper bourbon (compared to the 2014), and smelled sickly sweet, like breakfast/pancake syrup - not maple syrup, fyi. Both smelled of caramel. The 2014 had a much fuller aroma, with pronounced hints of toffee and cinnamon. It smelled more of an expensive bourbon, with vanilla sweetness, not cheap sugar syrup.

Taste: Again, night and day. You can tell how these were the same beers, but the 2015 was standing in the shadow of its older sibling. The '15 was just too sweet for me. There were hints of vanilla, booze, malt, and toffee, but the flavor was more one dimensional. The beer was sharp and the flavors hit you suddenly. The '14 was the same beer, with the same flavor profile, but the beer had developed layers. It had softened and spread itself out, kind of like the aforementioned flavors had separated into their component parts, giving the beer a beginning, middle, and end. The '14 also picked up some subtle raisin and cinnamon qualities that the fresher beer lacked.

To be fair, I will say that the 2015 was considerably better at room temperature than it was at the about 55 degrees I tried it at, but the '14 was good regardless of temperature.

Mouthfeel: I did not notice a difference here, although I wouldn't expect much carbonation to fall off the beer after only a year of being stored at about 60 degrees, especially since both beers were not highly carbonated to begin with.

 

I got the 14.3. I should check my other bottles to see if I got any 13.7, but I assume I didn't since I bought them all in the same part of NJ.