Cellar Reviews (2020)

I've often wondered how the barrel used effects cellar-worthiness. Unfortunately I don't see many of the same beer available in multiple different barrels around me. Maybe this year I'll see if I can track down a couple different barrel versions of parabola to set up a bit of an experiment.
Does anyone else have any insight into how the previous barrel contents effect the lifespan of the beer? if at all

 

2011 Troegs Flying Mouflan

Pours a deep mahogany reddih brown color, ery thin head that fades. Aroma is a ton of dark caraeml, mollasses and raisin. Similar flavor, moderately sweet, long finish. Medium to full bodied, lower carbonation.

This was my last bottle from a case I bought the week of bottling. This one went from an amazingly hoppy delight when fresh, to an awkward mix of flavors, to then a rich malty treat. Its a bit past that second prime now, but still sad to dr I nk the last bottle since Troegs discontinued the regular version.

 

3 Sheeps Uber Joe Bottled 4/5/19. Purchased from the brewery last August, placed in basement cellar until a few weeks ago, refrigerated since. 10.0% ABV



Thought I had a formal rating for this pour before, but didn't. Don't have a reference point to compare this beer 15 months in, but want to report back the coffee held up excellent. This is one of my favorite coffee / maple beers ever.

Appearance: Pitch black pour, creamy tan head leaves faint small bubbles in its wake. 4.5

Aroma: Very strong roast coffee aroma, good morning!!! Rich roast malt and dark chocolate aroma blends very well, a most excellent aroma! 4.75

Taste: Mirrors aroma, strong roast coffee leads, very sweet backing maple syrup, chocolate and light vanilla back. Sweet but not overwhelming, abv well masked. An excellent imperial stout. 4.75

Mouthfeel: Light fizzy carbonation present throughout, medium creamy body, easy drinking stout. 4.0

Overall: Outstanding pour, will pick these up in the future. Another great 3 Sheeps pour! 4.5

Do coffee aged beers typically hold up well? No
Did this coffee aged beer hold up well? Oh, hell yes.
Would I buy and drink fresh and or cellar in the future? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!!

Cheers!

 

2012 Robert the Bruce aged in TR barrels w berries.

pours min carb w thin lace
All berries/jam on the nose
Taste is bitter/acidic with no hint of bourbon
Thin watery mouthfeel
Finish leaves a tart aftertaste

overall this is not good. I am not a wee heavy drinker anyway but this is a drain poor for me

 

2018 Trappistes Rochefort 8. Dated best by 2023

Pours a medium brown in color with thick head of fine bubbles. Great head retention as I drink. Aroma of bready malt, herbal Belgian yeast, apricot, and honey. Taste has similar flavora and is mildly sweet. Not as bold or dry as the 10 as the same age. Mouthfeel is very smooth and creamy even though it's fairly thin bodied.

 

2016 Avery Anniversary Ale Twenty Three

4.07/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

2016 bottle bought a week ago without having checked the date. When I got home I thought WTF let's see what happens.

Poured into a DFH tulip, body was a dark mahogany with a tan head that showed no sign of having aged badly. Smell was very sour at the cellar temperature, which worried me but as it warmed up dark fruit and funk began to make their presence felt. Taste reflected the smell but was also very refreshing. At first I thought it tasted a bit "old" as in past its prime, and maybe it is because I never had it fresh; but as it warmed up and the other flavors began blending in it tasted very zesty. By the time I got to the end I was sorry I didn't have more. So this was a successful inadvertent experiment in aging.

 

2017 Founders KBS

Going through my cellar I found this uncataloged straggler which surely came from the person who took the picture of my avatar before relocating to San Diego. Like the previous discovery from this brewing period, this has not suffered from aging. I still have two 2019 KBSs which frankly I found the barrel component to be AWOL and thought it was indistinguishable from Breakfast Stout; not that it's a bad comparison but something has to justify the price point, right? Anyway this is a positive experience no matter how off the books it might be.

 

Yesterday’s beer was a 2015 Marshal Zhukov.....gravy for bratwurst.

Ok ok, I do not usually use elite vintage beers for cooking stock, but there’s a story here. When I moved a few years ago my father in law who was helping me move put some boxes in my garage freezer to consolidate while moving. Well, I was not aware of this and once the move was complete I plugged the garage freezer in. A couple of days later I opened the freezer to find it contained a case of vintage beer, mostly Marshal Zhukovs I had as part of a vertical. This made me somewhat sick to my stomach although fortunately I had two concurrent verticals going back to 2010, and the other vertical was completely unscathed, so all wasn’t good but at least all wasn’t lost cause that other vert was saved.

Anyways, the beers in the freezer box did, of course, not fare so well. They all froze to varying degrees, a couple even had their tops pop off and had to be pitched.

So, I just assumed all the beers in the case were trashed, but I kept them around just to see, figured I may be able to use them for some purpose like cooking. I haven’t touched them since but fast forward to last night, and I decided to do a stout gravy brat recipe; figured one of these previously frozen Zhukovs would do the trick. So I cracked the 2015 bottle, poured about 10-12oz into the slow cooker and then the last 10-12 into a glass, again assuming this would be ruined from the freeze.

Well, much to my surprise it was most certainly not. Pour yielded a big dense and dark head, showing no signs of damage from the freeze. Aroma was leather, tobacco and some subtle roast. Taste was amazing with big caramel, huge chocolate, roasted malt and some herbaceous raw oak notes. There were zero signs that this beer was damaged goods at all. Goddamn. Kinda makes me wish I didn’t pour half of it into a crockpot......



upload an image

 

Excuse me- can we get that stout gravy review, y’all?!????

 

CD6
Pours creamy yellow with nice carb and slight lace
Nose is musty and stale
Thin mouthfeel
Nothing much going on taste wise. Maybe some faint grape must with green apples
Finish is acidic.

Tastes like an old past its prime HF saison. A shell of its former self.

 

Wow man, i hope that gravy was worth it.

 

Found an 8-year old St. Bernardus Prior 8 in my cellar. Totally forgot about it, tucked away in the back of my beer shelf. Never realized how old it actually was. Well, I should have left it in the back. 8 years is definitely too much for a Prior 8. Tasted quite off, bit of vinegar sharpness and alot of the malt simply wasn't there. Harsh and unenjoyable. Live and learn... Washed it down with a 2-year old Prior 8. Much better.

 

The sausages themselves absorbed much of the glorious liquid, and it imparted a great roasty slightly sweet character. Unfortunately the gravy itself was not a home run. It was overly salty with a bitter component. I based the recipe off a Guinness gravy, Obviously a Guinness is nothing close to the beer I used. But the recipe called for beef broth and even though it was low salt it was still way too much salt for me. Next time I do a take on Zhukov gravy, I would completely scrap the beef broth, and also add a touch more brown sugar to balance. All in all a fun experiment, and the BratZ were delicious, but it was more a basting liquid than a gravy in the end.

Also, I know you were probably joking about the gravy review, but I just can’t help myself. Ha ha

 

Even when fresh, I always thought Eclipse had huge variation in profiles from variant to variant and also from year to year. So I am not surprised that with age, one variant is killer and the other is a disappointment.

 

No joke, behbeh.. I love meat and stouts so I need to get the whole review