Cellar Worthy: STOUTs

+1 Stone Russian Imperial. Had a 2014 bottle while camping this weekend. Very intense, nice blend of flavours and sweetness and bitterness. Smooth, but again, very flavorable.

 

Aged Dark Lord is fantastic. I popped my last 2010 this year with some friends and everyone loved it. Must go back in time and buy more.....

 

Hello all,
Just restarted my cellar this winter, so the BA cellar-ing threads have been epic. I've been keeping beers at my buddy's house for the last three years, and Monday we are doing a 3 year vertical of Stone IRS.

 

I think expedition is better fresh.
Espresso oak yeti does well at a year
ten fidy as well, I do find most adjunct heavy beers don't age well. Fremont kds does well, mephistopheles, and also tweak.

 

I've got verticals going of the following, all 4 I like and are easy to obtain in IL:

Founder's Imperial Stout
Bell's Expedition Stout
Goose Island BCBS
Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Stout

I have 2 bottles of Left Hand Nitro Wake Up Dead Stout that are about 2 years old, I am curious to see if the Nitro changes anything about aging.

I also have some other that could turn into verticals, just depending

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout & Bitches Brew
Bells Blacknote
Bells 30th (can't vertical a one off though)
Brooklyn Black Ops
BCBS Rare 15'

 

Based on my experience, most of the beers in the original list of widely available Imperial Stout may do well in the cellar up to about 3 year or so.

But not many stouts I've had much older than that has gotten "better", save for very high ABV outliers like DFH Worldwide Stout and Avery Mephistopheles.

 

Just opened a 2014 and 2015 Narwhal side by side on Saturday and the 15 still had mainly bitter/roasty notes dominating the flavor profile; however, the 2014 had hit the turning point where the bitter/roasty flavors have turned to a sweetness. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to buying a 4 pack in 2016, but now I wish I had. This beer definitely shows the changes that cellaring can have on a beer, and one can see them in only a matter of 2-3 years.

I just cracked one of the most recent DFH WWS the other day, I thought it was like a heavier version of Even More Jesus. I can definitely see how that one will age with the best of them - I'd expect it to get a lot sweeter and more mellow with age.

 

I still have quite a bit of the 2014, it's better each and every time. I can't wait to see how it holds up at 5+ years.

 

Cigar City Marhal Zhukov is a gem when aged. Last year, in 2016, I cracked open a 2013 and it was silky smooth and the alcohol heat subsided. I am very curious to see how the 2 non BA variants (vanilla hazelnut and penultimate push - cofee and chocolate) will fare with some rest.

My personal list:
CCB Marchal Zhukov
Stone RIS
BCBS
Dogfish Head Palo Santo

 

Courage Imperial Stout. Just had a 93' over the weekend. Room Temperature-ish. At OEC in Oxford, CT 15$ a bottle, which i was shocked to find out after purchasing it was only a pony sized bottle. Didnt really remind me of a RIS when drinking but IMO resembled a Port Wine.

Delicious beer. Beating my Previous oldest beer to day being a 2004 Avery Czar

 

Thoughts on aging The Dweller from Green Man???!?


Also- my personal favorites are Expo, Narwhal, and Old Rasputin

 

I had a Plead the 5th recently by Dark Horse that I wasn't too crazy about but aging 3 hoping for better results.

I am also aging RIS and WWS as I heard these are great ones to age as this thread has already acknowledged

 

It's been many months now. Given that we are moving into stout season ('17 Expedition just hit shelves here in Indiana about 7-14 days ago), I thought I'd give this thread a bump.

Does anyone have anything new they think should be added. If you haven't commented before, I'm always interested in seeing what new eyes would vote to add. =).

 

I had a 2016 Narwhal the other day. I love the beer fresh, but with a year to age it's even better. With the hop presence noticeably faded, the chocolatey malty goodness really shines. At 12 bucks a six pack, there's no better stout bargain. I haven't had it beyond 14 months. Normally I don't age stouts longer than 2 years, but since it's in six packs this year I'll stash a couple away for 3-5 and see what happens.

 

Anyone else had any experience aging Cassian Sunset? I had a few bottles in my cellar - some in my beer fridge, some on storage shelves. None of them seemed to age well - one was full of yeasty suspension, one tasted dull and oxidized, and the others were some variation of the previous two characteristics.

Super disappointing. It's one of my favorite, more accessible BA stouts when fresh. Wishing I'd found more this year to try again, but those were pretty much unobtainable here in Minneapolis after the first day it dropped.

 

Avery The Czar 2+ years (2014 is great now, mine was stored cool)
Avery Tweak 1.5-2.5 years (probably worthy to note that I'm not a big fan of Tweak despite Mephistopheles being one of my favorite beers)
Ballast Point Indra Kunindra 4 years (4 years was a little scary before trying it, any older scares me a lot, but I would still love to find one and try it...for science?)
Dieu du Ciel! Péché Mortel
The Bruery Black Tuesday 3+ years (probably indefinitely)
Clown Shoes Gargoyle Love Song 2 years (2015 was good recently, haven't had it young)
Deschutes The Abyss 1+ years (also indefinitely)
Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist 1-3 years
Evil Twin Even More Jesus 1 year
Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel (and other Beer Geeks) 3-3.5 years
Nebraska Brewing Black Betty
North Coast Old Rasputin
Sierra Nevada Narwhal 1-2 years
Surly Darkness

These stouts I enjoy ~1.5 years old but vastly prefer less than a year old or fresh:

Avery Mephistopheles
Prairie BOMB!
Stone w00tstout
Stone Xocoveza

 

I just cracked an April 2016 chocolate oak aged yeti and there was nothing there but minor coffee and chocolate, like chocolate milk you wanted more chocolate in. I poured out half.

 

I had Brooklyn BCS from 2012-13. Fresh, it was too boozy for me. I put some away and forgot about until this year. I tried it and it was great. It wasn't cellared, just in a closet. BTW is Guinness Antwerpen worth aging?

 

Yes it is cellaring- it’s probably what 98% of us do in the cellaring forums- aging in closets that is (mine is a cellar because it has actual cobwebs in it).