Just received from The Little Lady the vertical tasting of Goose Island Bourbon County brew 2025 (2 bottles), and one each of 24,23,22, and 21. With age comes character. Gooses Bourbon County has many variants but not one for individual years in reviews.....and each year is always different in some way. This year is hot, that year mellow, that other year heavy on oak, etc. Every brew I just received (Goose Island) is of the same review....BUT they are different in ABV and taste, a journey that is rough, BUT I will strive onward to find the "ONE". For example, if there is a Weller version, in 2 years from now will it get it's own "NEW" review or go to the previous one? The real question is do yearly brews need their own year of review separate from the others so as to get a better feel for the years that are the best from the brewer? And just in case, I did not do an in depth search to see if this topic had been breached or not. Rarely post but this kept occurring to me as I read and posted reviews
I've wondered that myself. In some cases if a beer is aged in different kinds of barrels (scotch or tequila instead of bourbon or some other spirit) I could see a case for it. Just thinking how much of a change is necessary for it for a yearly beer to have a separate entry for it.
Just make a note in your review that you're drinking XXXX vintage with YYYY years on it. Then folks can compare your review with the earlier ones and get an overview of how the beer is developing.
I would agree. Some breweries change the recipe each year for regular releases. I think we do a discredit by lumping them all together.
This is good, but then you've got to specifically hunt through the written reviews in hopes you find one, and all the ratings still just blend together, be it fresh, aged, this batch, that batch...
Anchor Christmas Ale (RIP) used to have a different entry for every year. I think that’s appropriate. It gets a little tricky because many people don’t drink the vintage fresh, they choose to age it for some number of years. In which case, should be noted in the review. Example: I enjoyed this 2023 vintage in 2025, etc…
Agree completely & now that I've begun transferring all my 'Dumcrapped' reviews over to BA I've tried to include vintages, bottle/canned dates, age of tasting, etc. in my reviews but you'll have to forgive me if'n I miss a few with 10,400 to go....that 'sed..... I'm on the fence as for separate vintage listings (which would be another headache for Todd) and just simply include the vintage/age/tasting notes in your review(s) of the single listing for the brew. (channeling the old SNL 'Coffee Talk' skit).....disscuss.....
If the beer carries a vintage date on the label (NOT a packaged on or best by date, an actual TTB approved label), it should probably have a separate entry for every vintage. The Trader Joe's beer made by Unibroue has this distinction. Would be an absolute nightmare to deal with this for Bigfoot, though.
If the recipe changes, then it's a different beer, and should have a separate entry. But, if the recipe doesn't significantly change, and one is just comparing vintages, it should be the same entry.
Same for Goose Island......I see this with my own reviews of same brews with different years brewed...the abv....the malt...the hop profile....the barrel. I have tried different brews of the same year YEARS later and gotten different flavors....of course....but every year has different characteristics. Great example, Seventh Son has Murmuration....with at least 4 different variants.....can we have some separation from chai spice and chipotle....or the use of different barrels for a BBIS (sigh...bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout...hate the abbreviations). I am looking for clarity, nothing more. Little Lady made note of it and I agree and am following up on it.....
Celebration 23,24,25…..No BCBS…..Yes Bigfoot…..Yes I think seasonal, once a year types should have the year pulled out. Some of us age big ABV and maybe not always for good but they do change as years go on. Maybe a 2019 was amazing and I want to track more down, maybe 2024 was terrible and we want to stay away from it. Enjoy
Is a different barrel a recipe change? BCBS adds a different barrel and puts a moderately hefty price on them---Weller, Eagle Rare, Blantons.
Seventh Sons Murmuration is a great example of that. Chai, chili pepper, Mexican hot cocoa for example, and just recently it finally started changing the labels.
General rule is as follows: "Recipe Variations Brewers will often tweak their beer recipes over the years for numerous reasons, however, don't add a new version of the beer for minor tweaks. Examples: a minor change in ABV, hop / malt variety. If there's a significant recipe change, but the brewer doesn't change the brand name, the current beer listing will still be used." Historically this was interpreted to not have separate listings for variations in ABV and barrels used but to update the notes. I tend to agree with this rule. Otherwise we're going to have chaos with listings (have you seen Untapped? 20% of all listings are duplicates) https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/how-to-add-beers-on-beeradvocate.193134/
No. It's the same beer going into the barrels. Remember, the beer is a finished product when it goes into the barrel, the barrel does nothing to change the beer.
Unless the base beer is changed, the beer doesn't earn a new entry. All post-production treatments do not change the beer.
I think I've Liked each of your posts in this thread but this one. Wouldn't using flavorings such as Chai, Mexican Hot Cocoa, etc be done in the recipe (not "post production"), thus a new entry is needed in the database? Am I missing your meaning?
My ideal would be on a case by case basis allowing for a field on a given beer (i.e. BCBS ) that lists out the years, and allows for leaving a review against that sub field, including multiple reviews and and ability to view the reviews designated against a given year.
