Cellar Reviews (2021)

Fin du Monde is one of my go to's as our liquor board doesn't bring in any decent Belgians as a rule. I do like it fresh but it's always interesting to see how things evolve in the cellar. I have old Trois Pistoles down there too and some 2012 Peche Mortels.

 

It's the missus' birthday today so I'm treating her to a long flight of lambics. We've already had an xmas Peche and Cassis. Now on to a 2015 Apple.

Apple is bright on the nose and the first sip is all about them. Almost surprised for a fruit lambic with a best before of 2019. Solid flavour all the way through. Very enjoyable.

 

And now on to a 2015 Oud Beersel Oude Kriek.

Interesting, the nose is a little musty and on the palate the cherries have mostly disappeared leaving some funk and horse blanket.

 

Good funk, this 2015 Oud Beersel Gueuze is tasty. Nice bit of zip with all the funk.
Best before is 2035

 

Happy Orval day BA'ers!

Opened 2 x 2015 Orvals from the cellar. Both brewed 17/06/15. Interestingly they taste quite a bit different. Mine is all about the funk with a lot of barnyard finishing with a little nuttiness. The missus' beer has a lot of funk but is a little sharper with a touch of fruitiness. Interesting development makes me wonder what my '09 is like?

 

cracking New Glarus R&D 2009 Golden Ale.

This one is going to hurt a little because it's the last time I might be able to drink it. Shout out to long time beer friend @TATURBO for selling me the bottle from his cellar. Can't imagine that there are very many bottles left of this beer since it's approximately 12 years old now. Didn't like this beer fresh(wasn't much of a belgian style beer guy; mostly drank New Glarus beers and OG bourbon county back in 2009). Tried to like it multiple time fresh, but just couldn't will myself to enjoy it. Now that has changed... every time I get a chance to sip on it, well let's just say its quite the treat.

The beer hisses as the cap is opened and foam slowly starts to slowly rise to the top of the bottle neck; even after a week at fridge temperature being completely undisturbed. Luckily, I have a freshly rinsed glass on standby ready to catch all that glorious Golden Ale that I am anticipating it to be.

500ml bottle poured into Abby St Sixtus Chalis.

Appearance: Hazy Golden bodied beer. It's even glowing because it's that golden. Yeast that is suspended in the body of the beer that look like cinnamon flecks. Aggressive pour that easily brings up several fingers of bone white head. I poured all the yeast in after taking a few sips of the clean version of the beer. The head never goes away. A thick cap on the top of the beer, lacing everywhere sticking all over the glass. A truly elegant & show stopping appearance of this beer. In like company of many many other New Glarus brews. 5.0

Smell: Sweet biscuits and honey aromas represent the malt. Complex yeast bomb. Dirt, cobwebs, oak, oh so earthy. The Brett really steals the show with the nose. 4.5

Taste: Lightly sweet malt in the form of biscuit / bread. Bubblegum notes intermix for sure; fading in and out through the middle of the beer. Finishes with white pepper, very earthy, hint of fruitiness and floral notes, and decent amount of leather. Hint of dry oak and earth. Hint of cinnamon and clove. This is an absolute Brett bomb. As this warms, it sweetens up a bit with honey notes as the malts compete for a spot as leading role in flavor department; the yeast / Brett still remain dominate. 4.75

Mouthfeel: Light bodied beer. Creamy carbonation that dries out a little bit in the finish. Incredibly drinkable. Mouthfeel is on point. This beer is going to continue to have great carbonation and mouthfeel for a really long time. 5.0

Overall: If you want to experience a true cellar treasure, this is THE BEER in my opinion. It's a really really old beer and has no signs of getting ready to throw the towel in. I bet this will age for another 10 years or longer; without having any carbonation issues. If you want to experience what Brett can do for a beer, R&D 2009 Golden Ale is what you want. If you truly love Brett like I do, this is also your huckleberry. This beer has become insanely complex over time. This is a quintessential Belgian beer stylistically, but it was made by a truly brilliant German brewer from Wisconsin! I would have never guessed this to be the scenario when I was drinking this back in 2009. A bold statement, but I would put this in my top five beers from New Glarus & that list includes batch 1 of VSB in my top 5. Wish that I still had a full case of this beer to continue opening up a bottle once a year to see "how it's doing". 5.0

 

Tonight’s beer is a 2018 3F Oude Kriek. Bottled on 4/10/18 so just about 3 years old. I’ve actually never rated this beer (although I think I’ve had one as recently as a few months ago, weird I didn’t rate it), so killing two birds with one stone as I cellar review and check one off of the Beers of Fame list that I’ve suddenly had a reignited passion to explore.

Pour is a beautiful ruby red, appears somewhat opaque while it rests in the glass but is clearly translucent when held to light. 1plus fingers width of pink head dissipates at a moderate rate. Aroma is very tart huge sour notes, nice balancing dark fruits which are of course cherry prominent. The cherry spectrum of aromas is pretty impressive including both tart cherry and sweet cherry pie notes. A bit of oak and big burnt plastic like funk round it round. Taste is wonderful. Massive puckering tartness up front, with plastic and subtle barnyard notes in the middle, and a huge lingering oaky vanilla on the finish. Big fruit notes are present, cherry of course, but also other dark fruits including a watermelon character which I don’t think I’ve ever picked up in a beer but that I really like. There are some floral notes as well. Mouthfeel is vibrant, with a big carbonation and drying finish. This is far too drinkable and was gone way too fast. Overall this is really a wonderful beer. Doesn’t quite reach the complexity of Cantillon Kriek but then again that’s one of my favorite beers ever so really hard to top in my book. Great lambic.

4.75/4.5/4.75/5/4.5
(Original/fresh review: n/a)

 

2018 Barrel Aged Fourth Dementia. Photo was from after I had started on this a bit but it poured with a nice head. The aroma and taste were awesome - sweet strong caramel and toffee. Just what I want from an Old Ale or English Barleywine. Some vanilla barrel accents but no real heat - very smooth. I like this fresh as well, but the flavors were bigger and sweeter, and it was much smoother also. I felt this improved quite a bit - very good at 2+ years.

 

This beer is so good and it’s been so long since I had one. What’s Kuhnhenn been up to, hvent really heard much about them in a long time. Are they still putting this out on a regular basis? KRE is my highest rated beer ever, still have one in the cellar from 2012, it’s one of my cellar gems. Special occasion beer for sure. Never was able to obtain any KBE, a long time top ISO want.

 

Tonight’s beer is a 2019 CCB Enjoying My Coffee. Previously an El Catador exclusive, but an allotment was available as part of the 2021 Huna Day mini celebration. CCB back in the day was a go to brewery for me, but now I rarely visit their offerings (with the exception of Zhukov). This is a new to me beer, a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout with coffee and maple, let’s see how it’s drinking.

Pours an incredibly dark black with a head as dark as I’ve ever seen on a beer, yea darker than Zhukov event. Head dissipates down pretty quickly but leaves some lacing throughout the drink. Aroma is huge maple, just massive, with really big coffee and prominent nutty notes; maple cinnamon roll if you will. Base beer characters come next with big roasted malt, moderate degree of tobacco. Surprisingly the barrel notes remain very prominent with rich bourbon characters of vanilla, charred oak, a bit of smoke. Phenomenal nose. Taste is very good, much less adjunct heavy although I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative and the barrel remains very prominent. Great base beer notes of rich chocolate fudge, roasted malts, a bit herbaceous, some coffee, leather and tobacco. Terrific barrel characters with huge bourbon notes. Interestingly I get almost no maple. Some bitterness rounds out the complex and intense flavor profile. Mouthfeel is very full bodied, it’s a big and bold beer. It’s more drinkable than some of the other big CCB imperial stouts, but it’s still somewhat limited due to the richness. Not sure what the ABV is but it’s essentially unnoticeable. Overall, this is quite the beer. I don’t need 750mL of it, but hey that’s on me for cracking it when no one else who drinks beer is around. Curious as to how this was fresh as I imagine the maple was more prominent in the taste. Either way, I enjoyed this quite a bit as is.

4.5/4.75/4.5/4/4.5

 

Shane got me going on the WBAYDN thread this am and DDC's were named.

I got tired of waiting for Shanex to pick one of 3 I grabbed so I decided on the 2012 Derniere Volunté

Plenty of carbonation. Feels a hint of lychee on the front. Solid malt throughout. The finish mild umami with almost a taste of marmite.

Very interesting for a beer never meant to be put down, still quite enjoyable.

 

They normally do a release in winter each year of a variety of beers. I haven't had KRE, but really like several of their BA old ales and EBWs as well as stouts. Their beers seems to pretty consistently improve (some a lot) with age for me.

 

Tonight’s beer is a 2018 Wicked Weed Genesis, an American Wild ale with pineapple, guava, papaya, and mango aged in white wine barrels. I have had this beer many times and enjoy it quite a bit, it’s one of my favorite WW sours, although I don’t think I’ve had this one with age on it. Slightly under 3 years so nothing crazy, but with the wild yeast still expect that it’s developed some. Let’s see.

Pours crystal clear with 1 fingers width of bright white fizzy head that dissipates fairly quickly. Aromas of sweet dough, pungent cheese like funk and tropical fruits. Fruity esters and very subtle oak. Almost no sour, the wild notes are almost completely funk and are more prominent than I ever remember in this beer when fresh. The tart characters are present i. the taste, with lactic citris acidity, lemon zest and some orange peel. Funk is there as well, with a pungent cheese like bite on the back end. The plethora of added tropical fruits aren’t particularly prominent, I’d be lying if I said I picked up any of them specifically, except maybe the guava, but there is an overal kind of generic fleshy fruit sweetness that somewhat balances the other characters. There are notable drying white wine characters on the finish, which provides a nice balance to the other characters. There is a somewhat sharp bitterness that isn’t super strong but is definitely noticeable and not exactly what I seek in sours. Mouthfeel is fuller side of medium body, perhaps a touch heavy for the style, carbonation is appropriately high, but it feels a bit heavy and lacks that clear minerality on the finish that the create Belgium lambics have that make them so devourable. Overall, it’s a tasty beer no doubt, and very good for the American Wild Ale style, but as I have been fortunate enough to begin drinking more Cantillon and 3F they just continue to highlight how these “artificially inoculated” wild ales just pale in comparison. In terms of how it’s aged, I would say it’s gotten notably more funky and a bit more complex, although that doesn’t necessarily equate to a better beer, at least not for my personal palate preferences.

4.25/4.25/4.25/4/4.25
(Original/fresh review: 3.25/4.25/4.5/4/4.25)

 

I've just gotten to where I pretty much hate kettle sours.

 

I believe this is 2010/indigo. That said I guess it could also be a violet. I don’t remember where I got it years ago and my color identification skills are faltering.

Opens with a lively pour. Decent caramel colored head with a nice lace retention. Smells of caramel, figs, and even a jammy berry sweetness.

Thick oily mouthfeel

tastes of figs, carmel, roasted nuts but muted overall

Finish is very acidic on the posterior tongue/soft palate with definite oxidization.

I had the entire vertical of the first seven years along time ago and it was decidedly better than now. This is just an average barleywine at this point.

 

Hate would certainly be an exaggeration for me, but they certainly are just overall lacking to me.

 

Now there’s a beer I don’t hate!

Gratitude is so damn good. sorry to hear it’s dropped off so much, although not surprising. I’m starting to see the pattern of even very well done barleywines often not aging too well after the 5 year mark or so. That’s of course not always the case, some age remarkably well, but several of the >5 years ones I had recently were falling off, often substantially.

 

Maks me think I should pull a barley wine out of the cellar just to see.

And the last kettle sour I had just pissed me off!