Cellar Reviews (2022)

Pulled out my oldest remaining beer, Goose Island or otherwise.

Goose Island BCBS 2016 Regular



Comparing against my 2017 version enjoyed two weeks ago.

This one is 8 months beyond code, bottled 9/6/16 with a five year best by recommendation listed, 14.5% ABV.

Poured a little over half the 16.9 oz bottle into my last remaining GI BCBS snifter (broke my other one a few years ago). Head a little thinner, aroma is boozier than the fresher ones I can recall.

Let it warm for 20 minutes, would say this is strong, but more balanced than the 2017 bottle from May 3. Really enjoying this, seems perfect like most regular bottles I open.

Very smooth, rich and creamy, not sure if age or batch but it's outstanding. ABV is felt early, then again, 14.5% should be felt.

Just another outstanding beer from GI. 2021 regular is $10 at a few places, may pick up a few to savor now and later.

Honk Honk!!

 

2012 Bourbon Fred From the Wood.

Sadly, this is probably my last new to me beer from HofD. Happily, it's a great one!



This was a bright, clear golden tinted Amber colored and poured with a short, but long lasting head. Great looking beer!

So much going on here, it's layered, complex, and subtle. It's softly sweet overall, orange, toffee, marshmallow, bourbon, and more. The finish adds a gentle oaky tingle.

It's amazing how good this is after 10 years, glad I got to try this.

 

It's a special day at Revolution Brewery, as they are pulling out some rarer one off barrels and other goodies, and will release the highly anticipated 2022-2023 Deep Woods Barrel Aged Schedule. May stop by tomorrow if anything good from tonight is still around, prefer drinking out of a glass (vs. plastic due to crowd size, though I have brought my own glasses in prior events).

Pulled a special beer to celebrate, a beer I reviewed as one of my first cellar reviews a few years ago.

Very Special Old (Straight) Jacket



Can Notes: Canned 10/10/2018, refrigerated since purchase from the brewery. Blend of Straight Jacket aged between 2-3 years in bourbon barrels.13.8% ABV.

Comparison Yardstick: August 2020 Cellar review of same release at their brewery.

Appearance: I'm guessing the lighting is the primary minor difference in the color, seems like the head is more creamy with the fresher 22 month version.

Let warm for 20 minutes after pouring before continuing.

Aroma: Consistent with the 2020 experience, the barrel has perhaps decreased a bit further than the 2020 tasting, barleywine which smells good but has mild stale cardboard notes.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Still tastes superb, thankfully no stale notes. Comparing to the fresher version, would say the experience remains consistent. Nice English style Barleywine, sweet but not overly, the bourbon present, silky smooth, at the perfect alcohol strength (balanced, very enjoyable). Carbonation is neglible, body full, creamy, smooth, drinks way under ABV at first but hits you fast a quarter of the way in.

Overall: I like barleywines. They are not my favorite style, but a do really enjoy a well executed English Style. Miss the Goose Island releases, but Revolution has more than made up for that loss with their annual Straight Jacket and every year or two release of this version with the extra age. I prefer these a bit fresher, on on draft if possible, but these really age well refrigerated, so you can continue to age with confidence.

I don't believe the additional 21 months have improved this further, but beyond the initial aroma has not decreased in enjoyment with the additional time. Hope this helps, and hope you are able to come across one of these if you like or love a solid English Barleywine.

Musical accompaniment - The Pretenders Night in My Veins

 

Bells 30th anniversary. Bottled 8/28/15. This is actually a new beer for me. I love barrel aged expedition and equally as much loved bells 35th anniversay in 2020 so when I saw this come for sale on MBC there was no adding to cart... it was a purchase now moment.

Look is stupendous.

Smell is even better. Its expedition stout but different. I cant quite put my finger on what the note im picking up. Its pleasant and like a someones name you just cant recall not unfamiliar to me, but my mind simply cannot take me to recall it.

Taste is far more bitter and roasty than I expected. Expresso predominates with burnt toast following. Its oily and clings to all the surfaces of your mouth. I exhale between sips and its almost gross feeling of having black coffee breath. There's something off with this beer though. Its not tart but its perhaps a tinge acidic. It's also not as complex or expansiive as I know Bells more limited stouts to be. While I love all things roasty, bitter, smokey ane charred in my stouts I cant help but feel like I'm drinking a very boring liquid version of burnt toast.

Truthfully, it's likely me as the beers I've drank the last two days have all felt a bit 'meh, should I finish this?' I have two more of these so I'll revisit again down the road.

 

Goose Island '17 Bourbon County Brand Stout. Trying to follow GI's directions (which I'm typically not good at doing in general) and drink this by the 5 year mark, which is coming up in 4 months from time of this review.

Pours a pitch black color with a finger of caramel colored head that went away almost immediately. Coats the glass with a tan film as you swirl it around.

Aroma surprisingly still has quite a forward barrel character, bringing bourbon spirit, oak tannin, and a slight presence of vanilla. Outside of the barrel, there's some nice aromas coming from the base stout. Chocolate chip cookie, bakers chocolate, chocolate syrup, some tobacco, raisin, some prune, roasted malt, caramel, some peanut brittle, slight sherry. As it warms, the sweeter chocolate and dark fruit notes come through.

Taste is your typical Bourbon County. Bakers chocolate, chocolate chip cookie, cocoa powder, tobacco, raisin, prune, roasted malt, burnt sugar, molasses, charred oak tannin, bourbon spirit, some vanilla. Oxidation is slowly creeping through in the form of slight sherry notes, but it isn't off-putting and adds nicely to the complexity of the beer.

High medium body. Slick, oily, sticky. The boozy twinge you typically get on this guy fresh is barely there now, so age has really smoothed this one out.

I remember really enjoying this particular vintage when it first came out due to it's big chocolatey base. This doesn't seem to have lost that chocolate presence, which I love. Age has helped mellow the barrel presence, yet it is still more forward than I would have guessed. A very enjoyable vintage, but with the oxidation slowly starting to creep through, I would recommend opening any 2017's sooner rather than later.

 

Revolution had a sale of their vintage canned beers in a "lottery" style BA Deep Woods beers release last week. Thought about it, but realized I have over a dozen 4 packs myself in the refrigerator, with better odds of winning a VSOJ and VSOD.

Likely will be slowing down in this thread during the Summer months, still cold here this week so taking advantage of the cooler end of my weather with this classic older than my youngest nephew (turned 4 in February).

Revolution Cafe Deth



Can Notes: 12 oz canned 11/2/17, refrigerated this entire time, 14.8% ABV.

Benchmark: Reviewed the 2019 vintage both in the 2021 Cellar Review thread and the 2022 Cellaruary thread. This is my last can from the 2017 release.

Appearance / Aroma: No difference. Coffee gone, bourbon the lead, though stronger / more harsh than the smoother version noted in the 2019 can.

Taste definitely noticeably different, and for the worse (no coffee in either, but expected at this point):

2017 (May 2022): Milk chocolate leads, roast malt, harsher whiskey at first smooths out a bit. Getting oxidation with the malt at this point.

2019 (Feb 2022): Cherry and bourbon lead, followed by roast malt and bakers chocolate.

Mouthfeel: No change, slightly chalky like the 2019 version. Feels strong, hopefully we get a short nap in.

Overall: Not meant to be cellared, just got away from me. Enjoyable, OK, but just a shell of itself. Drink within 0-6 months for best results.

On a separate note for @FBarber - I had my last Cold Dark Night (BA Dopplebock) yesterday, and it was very good. I wish that was the version I reviewed initially.

 

Amsterdam Bourbon Barrel Aged Double Tempest

This is one I completely lost track of and let sit too long. Still really good though, thick mouthfeel, lots of roast/char/coffee/bourbon. Bottled November 2014 and supposedly cellarable for 3 years. I bought a few 2021 today that I don’t plan to age for as long.

 

2017 parabola. I love posting in this thread but didn't intend to when I opened this beer. As an afterthought I thought "oh shit, I should at least post a pic in there".

Without full out reviewing I'm drinkink my last or two of these. They were a whale of mine in 2015-2016ish and when they finally became more available I scrambled and traded for 9 or 20 of them.

I recall originally comparing them to BCBS. Which to me is a very distinct comparison - big, sugery, very good, but again sugery and bordering on the classic bruery sugar non adjunct stout taste.

I've sat on my last 3 for probably the last 3 or rl4 years and couldn't even remember exactly how they tasted. I recently sent one to a goos friend in Colorado leaving me with two. For whatever reason this beer finally appealed to me again this evening and I pulled my lsst of two from the cellar and poured it at cellar temperature.

The first thing I noticed was just how light and brown it poured out of the bottle. Not thick. Decent frothiness but very, very short lived.

The smell is very nice. And I'm wholeheartedly convinced that nothing triggers nostalgia or even memories better in general than scent. Its truly amazing how a quick whiff of this instantly sends me back to 5 years ago trying it Initially. Aromas are incredible for a big stout. It borderlines barleywine territory with the burnt sugar sweetness.

The tatse is without a doubt touched by age. I like it myself. There's a heavy papery muteness? Biterness? It tastes so much like a VERY old and oxides barleywine with notes of old sugar mixed with a more recent stout with notes of char. An incredible contrast to the 2017 willetized i drank prior. This guy has so much more construction paper and drywall going on.

Feel. Well goddamn I cannot believe how hot this is. It feels thin (I believe it always has been) but man, I most feel like this hotter than I remember it.

Overall - I feel like this beer has been reduced fro. An incredible sipper to a cardboard infused bottle of vodka.

 

2014 bcbs. I've been drinking more and more beer from my straight from the 55ish basement temp lately. Incredible the flavors that have opened up on extremely familiar beers.

This familiar beer that I love I was not mpressed with on the fizzy pour. Too coca cola looking

The smell was as expected with little change.

The taste has me numb in words for the appreciation that I have for such a perfect beer. It's the best BCBS has ever been but I'm tasting so much more tobacco (and these old BCBS are already laden with it) than ive previously recounted.

The feel is denser than I can recall.

Overall I've always leaned towards 2014 as being the best year ever for BCBS and I still stand by this assertion.

 

Not sure where the picture went from the above post?

 

Drank this one the other night and realized I should have posted here, since the beer was about 16 months from the bottling date.

Forest & Main - The Inner Sound (Dark Saison)
750 ml bottle, capped. Bottled 2/24/2021

First pour is clear dark brown, then the subsequent pours get cloudier with yeast. Very lively carbonation, huge rocky head that stays around. Very complex aroma and taste - tart and a little funky. Hay, bread crust, apple cider vinegar, leather, black raspberry, tea. Slightly acidic, thinner bodied, high carbonation.

 

I thought this one was just incredible. Tart and funky as I prefer my Saisons but still with a decent earthy character. Picked up a bottle when I made a pit stop here during my trip to Philly a few months back

 

cross posted from the Hair of the Dog tasting thread.

Tonight drinking a bottle of 2014 Fred from the Wood. Let warm up from fridge temp for about an hour before drinking. Pours a clear dark golden color, I left the sediment in the bottle to drink by itself. Nice off-white head that eventually fades to a thin covering. Big boozy aroma of pear, oak, apple pie, touch of vanilla, a little pipe tobacco. Taste is still fairly warming for an 8 year old beer. Some honey-like malt sweetness with long finish that is reminiscent of brandy or rum. Thin to medium bodied, good carbonation level. Overall I am enjoying this one

 

Still looks to be an issue. Started around post 209 or 210. Very odd. Even the avatars are not showing up.

 

Boda Boom, you got it! What was it?