Cellar Reviews (2019)

Bell's 30th Anniversary Cherry Stout Reserve
Bottled 5/11/18

L: deep dark brown with a thin coffee colored head.
S: surprisingly strong tart cherry up front, some booziness, reminds me of those booze filled, chocolate covered, cherries.
T: tart/sour cherry is very prominent, malt is prominent but smooth/mild. something like a smokiness lurks around the edges and the sour cherry notes are prominent on the tail end.
F: Very smooth and pleasantly (relatively) light on the tongue.
O: Pleasant stout, base seems uncommonly pedestrian in this day and age, there's not huge flavors of chocolate or coffee or some candy/baked good, just bitter sweet dark roasted malt. The impressively persistent cherry lends a nice twist, almost giving it a sour stout note.

I have two more of these from the 4 pack and I'm curious to see it after a year but I may try to drink those last two close together. I get the sense that this one might hit a weird cliff, not sure that it will even be better at a year, fresh may have been best for this one but I'll report back in the name of science

 

This is great news since I'm storing a 1/25/2018 four pack at 50 degrees that I was tempted to try and now my path is clear, including buying 2019 version.

 

Gave it a year plus. A scotch drinkers dream beer. I get tons of liquid smoke sadly.

 

I had a taste of that recently. The bartender who knows my preferences, which are similar to his, advised me against a full pour. The taste was literally like drinking a glass of Islay scotch. I really wonder what it will do over time.

 

Oscar Blues Ten Fidy - September 2014

About 1.5 fingers of cocoa colored head. Dissipates over the course of several minutes to a rocky cap and color. Excellent lacing. Deep black body.

The nose is very slightly boozy. A bit of dark fruit and leather. Subtle and we'll integrated.

Flavor starts with leather and coffee. Quickly shifts to sweet dark fruit in the middle accompanied by some leather notes- quad-like. Finish is bitter accompanied by milk chocolate. Chocolate lingers.

Full-bodied with a fair amount of carbonation.

I didn't cellar this under the best conditions, but it developed very well. Very different than my recollection of it fresh (I don't recall dark fruit and recall it being a lot more chocolatey), but still world class beer and more complex. Aged a hell of a lot better than the BBA version.

 

I'm having the last of my stovepipes from the same canning date (I had the next to last in December) and agree with everything you wrote except I can still detect the barrel in smell and taste; which is odd considering that I often miss it in barrel aged wild ales or sours.

 

That is very interesting... My fiance and I agreed too, that we could not detect barrel. And it was even evident that the barrel was muted once we drank a 2017 Parabola after

 

Subjective experiences are what they are. We definitely agree that these are better fresh but still ferocious beasts after a year.

 

This is fantastically crafted and aged to perfection.

 

2014 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

Placed this review in the Bigfoot thread too



Appearance: Murky, translucent mahogany. Light brown, densely packed foam. No visible carbonation. Dots of lacing everywhere. Really a gorgeous looking beer.

Smell: Huge hop aroma. Piney, resinous, and earthy. Underneath, gorgeous notes of tawny port wine including raisins and figs. Burnt caramel. Plum and dark berry gummy candy. As the beer warms up the sweeter notes assume control of the aroma, with the hops taking a back seat.

Taste: This beer is quite bitter and resinous up front. Earthy, herbal, piney and pithy hops, with some sweet dark dried fruit notes including raisins. It’s taken on a bit of a rye spicy sweetness as well. The bitterness carries through the whole time. Some unsweetened tea.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is muted and it works nicely. Smooth body. Lingering citrus pith bitterness on the long finish.

Overall: This beer is drinking nicely with just over 5 years on it. I can safely say that when stored properly I prefer this beer with a few years. 5 years is probably the sweet spot for me. As expected the hops are still strong, but with a few years on this beer the hop flavors begin to fade, you’re still left with bitterness, but the sweeter malt notes really begin to shine through.

My theory is that if you want the hops to fade any further you’ll risk the beer surpassing its prime. I’ve had this beer 7-8 years old and I did not enjoy it. Really just seemed to fall apart.

No off flavors or negative impact from aging. The only vintage Bigfoot I have left is a 12 oz bottle of 2015 and a 750 of the 2015 barrel aged version. I’ll need to make some time to drink them together.

 

has the smokiness died down? i remember this being full of roast and smoke.

 

First post in these threads, 2015 The Bruery Mash.

Look: A deep ruby red, poured shows an impressive fingers worth of head, but this dissipates quickly, with minimal lacing in the glass.

Smell: Sweet, lots of malts and dark sugar notes upfront. Hints of fruits and coconut in the background.

Taste: Rich flavors of caramel and vanilla, with a slight hint of bourbon, giving away its aged nature. The aftertaste gives subtle hints of figs, dates, and plums, with the sweetness staying throughout.

Feel: Rich and thick, extremely sticky, but not cloying or unpleasant in the slightest.

Overall a wonderfully aged gem of a beer. And the shop I got it from still has about 7 more bottles that have shown no signs of flying off the shelves.

 

Welcome!

Its always a challenge in my mind when I see things like this just sitting- should I have them store it for me or should I grab a couple for my stash?!

 

Drinking from a 2017 bottle

Pours a thick solid black with a large and pillowy mocha head that is very persistent.Looks like a world class stout to me

Smell is bourbony and sweet dark fruits (cherry and fig). Seems to be a bit sharper on the nose than fresh

Taste is chocolate and cherry, some bourbon and barrel vanilla. Light alcohol burn that I notice especially in the foam. Flavor has definitely lost a lot of it's luster. I drank some of this batch fresh and had some fresh just recently and this falls short of both memories. The booziness is much more pronounced.

Mouthfeel is solid, surprisingly light in a good way, seems easy to sip more.

Overall I will not be cellaring any more of this stuff in the future, it's still a nice enough beer but it isn't what it is fresh. Glad I remembered about this thing when I did and pulled it out, only really meant to hold on to it for a year.

 

I should add that this is still a great beer. probably a 4-4.1 for me vs around 4.5 for me fresh

 

What beer is this?