Bourbon fading - is this a rule or is it variable?

Duck!

You're about to get plenty of opinions, but here's my four cents: depends on the beer.

Not only that, but fading/not aren't the only two options. Some BA beers mellow, lose their heat, or the base beer comes to the fore (which might or might not be the same thing).

As for the beers you've listed:
- Parabola: Parabola is amazing fresh & the Batch 1 is absolutely mind-blowing right now. Can't lose either way. If you've never had it, fresher is better so you at least have some baseline.
- Abyss: I actually am not terribly fond of Abyss fresh, but it's in my top 3 to age. With 1-2 years on it, it's a great beer, & for my money, the '08 is the best of the bunch right now. Will age like a champ & I prefer it aged by a big margin.
- BCBS: Ditto. Not a big fan fresh. Had some '08 on tap & out of the bottle in the last few months & it's awe-inspiring. I don't buy much of it, but I don't drink it fresh.
- KBS: If you like coffee, drink this one fresh. That will fade over time. Not a big fan of this one aged, it seems to get muddled & the bourbon does seem to drop off quickly.

Any way you cut it these are great beers.
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Can't speak for the others, but BCBS has been keeping its bourbony goodness for roughly 6 years. So the 2006 is just beginning to fade while the 2003 bears very little resemblance, it's quite faded. A few other posters have echoed that opinion, give or take a year.

 

Does bourbon fade? In my experience, yes and no. The sweet bourbon flavor doesn't really fade, but it "smooths out" over time. However, parrt of the bourbon flavor is alcohol, and over time the alcohol isn't so noticeable.

 

Not meaning to threadjack, but the '12 is freaking AMAZING fresh, which is crazy odd considering they ticked up the ABV a notch. It is just awesome. (Doesn't mean I won't be cellaring some, though...)

 

BCS hasn't reached Minnesota yet, so I can't comment on the '12, but I'll be willing to choke down a bit to find out if this year is better fresh.

 

I will echo the "depends" opinion.

Abyss: the '11 has less bourbon than the '10 to me. In the '08, the bourbon has really become more subtle. So year to year even it has variation.

KBS: I find it fades out within a year, doesn't go bad as a beer, but fresh is good for this beer pretty consistently for me.

BCBS: has been variable year to year also. '11 drank beautifully out the gate, haven't had it in a few months, but that was great with balanced bourbon. The bourbon in the '09 was not very noticeable to me fresh (maybe just too hot for my tastes) but is now really bourbon forward in a creative way.

I really can't speak well about Parabola, it's a good beer, but I've never felt it is particularly bourbony...

I would drink that Abyss now, or try to score a '10, it the difference is pretty flagrant IMO.

cheers
harry

 

Surprised no one has brought this up yet but the barrel aging in the Abyss has varied .The types of barrels used, percentage of beer in each barrel, etc. are different in the 2010 and 2011. I'd say its damn near impossible to compare the bourbon notes accurately btwn those two vinatges. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

 

From what I can tell, bourbon flavor never really fades, it just mellows like real bourbon, those sweet undertones remain while the brash in your face flavors recede.

 

BCBS 10 had way more bourbon then fresh IMO but 08 had faded away a bit so just on that I think 2 years is my mark for aging them

 

From my experience I would say that it depends on the beer. Two beers where I've noticed the bourbon diminishing significantly with age are KBS and Abacus. I would definitely recommend against aging either of those as they are so good fresh and definitely not as good with age. I haven't had Parabola with a ton of age on it, but I definitely thought the '11 was way better super fresh than it was with about 6 months on it. My experience with aging Abacus further leads me to believe that Parabola is not one to be cellared.

 

1) it definitely varies, and actually the rate of hop and coffee fading does too.

2) in my experience, what fades is oak influence. if there's enough actual bourbon in the beer that you taste that and not just a suggestion of bourbon from the oak flavors (oak flavors are a lot of what's good about bourbon to begin with), i doubt that bourbon flavor will ever fade (in fact i'd expect it to outlast the base beer flavors).

but, "tasting bourbon" in beer is usually "tasting oak," so "bourbon fades."

called away without proofreading, but hopefully this post is helpful.

 

If it is a beer aged in Pappy barrels you need to age it for 5 years. No more no less. At that special time open it and a unicorn will pop out.