December Cellar Reviews

Drank a 2012 3F Golden Doesjel recently. Amazing beer still, slight carbonation even though it's suppose to be flat. Their lambics hold up very well over time.

 

Good to know. I brought a few to family christmas but not gonna open em now. Thanks!

 

Last night I opened up a 2010 Weyerbacher Old Heathen, which was flat and almost flavorless. I poured it.

I also opened up a 2010 Shipyard Prelude Special Ale. Even worse than the Old Heathen. Oxidized and flat.

Then, dove into a 2010 Bell's Expedition Stout. Man, it was beautiful. Still loads of dark baker's chocolate, and actually still a bit boozy. I've got an '08 I'm going to give a go in the next couple of days to compare.

 

I think Old Heathen is a bit too "small" of a stout to age that long. I think you'd have better luck with their Tiny. I aged a bottle of the original batch in a 750 ml bottle about 4 years and it was tasty.

 

2011 Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper

I n the future I will drink this one fresh. It was good at 1 year, but at 3 and 4 years now it has a more bitter acidic flavor that is still good, but not as great as fresh. Lost a lot of the good chocolate and coffee aromas.

 

2009 Samichlaus

6 years old and only getting better. Still those great rich malty flavors of raisin, plum, brown sugar. But super smooth and drinks way too easy for a 14% beer.

 

I feel a little dirty even reviewing this, but oh well. Mini-vertical of 2013, 2014, and 2015 BCBS (abvs of 14.9%, 14.4%, and 13.7% respectively).



2015: tons of fudge, fair amount of booze, caramelized sugar, molasses, oak, vanilla. Thick, lush, syrupy feel.

2014: harsher, with more smoke, pine, chocolate-covered orange, Yirgacheffe. Much thinner mouthfeel, though thickens up as it warms.

2013: somewhere between 2014 and 2015. Kind of harsh up front, but yields to dark fruits, dark chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch. Mouthfeel similar to 2014 (and likewise, gets thicker as it warms). After going a few rounds, this ends up as my favorite; it beats out the 2015 narrowly thanks to a bit of extra complexity, and a bit less in-your-face sweetness.

 

2011 St. Bernardus Abt 12 - marked Best Before 22 03 16 (March 22, 2016)

pours a murky dark brown, will some garnet highlights. Nice thick off-white colored head, great head retention. rich malty aroma with a bit of herbal yeast flavors. Great flavor - raisin, plum, brown sugar. super smooth mouthfeel, very easy drinking for a 10% beer.

 

2014 Bell's Black Note bottled on March 12, 2014.

The last time I had one of these bottles was after it reached one year of age. It was a massive soy bomb then. Really disappointing. I didn't want to touch it again until it had some more time on it. I figured I had nothing to lose.

Fast forward nine months later. I tried this again on Christmas day and this beer was outstanding! There were very strong bourbon notes. I got a lot of the red fruit notes and roast flavors that Expedition Stout is known for. The one thing I kept coming back to as a had that beer was that it reminded me so much more of Expedition Stout than Special Double Cream Stout. I'm writing off my soy bomb experience as a bad palate day. I can't wait to do a head to head with this beer whenever Bell's gets around to releasing it again.

 

Founders Imperial Stout - dated 11/20/2009.

I was skeptical. 6 years, barely a hiss when the cap came off, and the standard Founders IS protein sludge sloughed from the bottom of the bottle.

BUT it is surprisingly great in all respects!

Minimal head. Smells like a batch of brownies and...raisins? Flavor is black coffee, burnt coffee beans, bitter chocolate, molasses. Slight soy. Just enough carbonation to carry the flavor, maybe a little thinner than a fresh bottle. Alcohol is warming but subdued. Burnt grains and hop bitterness on the finish.

Never have been disappointed in this beer at any age, worth hanging onto if you are interested in seeing how it develops.

 

Backyard Rye BCBS - bottled on 11/20/13.

Am I aging beer wrong? All of my own experiments have largely been failures up until this point (with the exception of Dark Lord, that one came out well after a year). But I just cracked a Backyard not aged by myself and boy is it brilliant. Barely any hint of oxidation in the aroma, and practically none in the flavor. It's just all perfect jammy fruits floating in a sea of BCBS. It may not be as tart or fresh as Day 1, but man is it ever good still.

If you have any Backyards laying around, now's the time to get 'em out!

Cheers!

 

2014 DDBA into a Teku at cellar temp, warmed over consumption to room temp.

DDBA has always been my favorite of the non-anniversary Proprietor's Vintage beers (due in no small part to having had DDBA #60 as one of my first experiences with the series), but this surpassed even those lofty expectations. I'd forgotten how beautiful the beer was, but what really stood out was the flavor. It took a lot of effort to detect any alcohol, and the hoppiness that had been fairly prominent fresh receded, though still left a perfect bitterness. But the real star of the show was a lingering jammy grape note that went on for days, not dissimilar to a good brandy. With one day left on the year, this beer muscled its way into my top 4 of 2015. Looking forward to seeing how this holds up to more time.

 

I'm a firm believer that temp plays a huge roll. Since I started using a converted upright freezer with a temp controller my aged beers have vastly improved or at least stayed as good.

 

2007 North Coast Old Stock. A TON of toffee, caramel, raisin and dates.... Not cloying at attached and the alcohol was very well muted. This was an absolute winner in the cellar. Broke it out around Christmas and went perfectly with the season.