February Cellar Reviews

Founders Imperial Stout 4 year vertical

2015: Taste & smell of bittersweet chocolate malt and bitter charred wood with light carbination.

2014: No carbination, the sting from the booze has faded, smoother mouthfeel, dark chocolate and expresso flavors.

2013: Similiar to 2014 but with a stronger bittersweet chocolate note.

2012: Scent and alcohol are pretty much gone. Flavors also have become muted, can only pick up the faintess notes of chocolate and leather.

 

2013 Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barrel Barleywine-
A- Pours a nice deep shade of brown, minimal head/lacing due to the 14%abv.
S- Wonderful Bourbon soaked toffee, brown sugar, some dark fruits.
T- Follows nose with very smooth Bourbon, toffee, dates, brown sugar. Could sip this beer all night. Extremely well hidden abv.
M- Coats the palate with each sip and flavor just seems to go on and on. A little slick.
O- If you can acquire some of this via trade or by going to Kuhnhenn it's definitely worth the effort! Easily jumped into my top spot for a Bourbon Barrel Barleywine over Sucaba, BCBBW, MOAS, etc.

 

2010 Avery The Czar

Definitely smoother and flavors more integrated than when relatively fresh. the acidity is now gone too. nice flavors of bitter espresso, dark chocolate, and a touch of caramelized sugar. good thick mouthfeel.

 

2012 The Vine

Tasting amazing! So much grape presence in this one, and it melded perfectly with the sour notes, which were subdued compared to some Cascade beer profiles, though in an entirely pleasing way. Remember liking this beer in the past, but this was my favorite bottle so far. Thinking the 2-3 year mark for this beer might make the difference.

 

2010 Deschutes "the Dissident." Last one of these I cracked open was about this time of year in 2012 and I was really disappointed then (fresh, it was one of my favorite beers of all time). Back in 2010 I was a newbie to cellaring, and instead of drinking all of these fresh like I would do now I only drank one and stashed all the others away. I bought some 2012's and I don't even know if I had any fresh as they are still in my cellar fading away. *facepalm* Anyway...

Stored at 54 degrees since I bought it in 2010. Decanted from an undisturbed bottle into a snifter. It still has some vibrant color, showing a rusty flamed orange body an off-white head. Little retention. Smells of sweet fresh cherries, classic and balanced brett funk, a touch of cinnamon, and floral whiff of pasture land. It does smell quite good. The flavor is less amazing. There is still some cherry, but it is sort of dusty and singular. There is a fair bit of oxidized malt, which is almost good (some sherry), but falls a little flat with some staleness as well. There is a bitter sort of twang that detracts as well (like warm orange juice that has been sitting out too long and is about to turn). Overall I like it more now at 5 years than I did when it was 2 years, so that is something.

Nowadays I would never try to age a pasteurized American-brewed fruit wild ale and expect it to get better. However, considering all the things this had against it when I tucked it away all those years ago, it is actually very nice. It is still very enjoyable to drink, and the cherry flavor has survived surprisingly well. The fact that it may have actually improved from when it was 2 years old is also interesting. If you have any of these lying around, I doubt they can benefit from another day in your cellar, so drink em up (or trade them )

 

Good to know! Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks for the review. I have a vertical of these '08, '10, '12, '14. Guess I should crack these at the next share.

 

Are you certain that Deschutes pasteurizes The Dissident?

 

At least for the batches before this year's (though I doubt they've changed it), it's filtered, but not pasteurized: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/dissident-filtered-not-pasteurized.6219/

 

Exactly, filtered but there is still brett to mature in the bottle; not as great as unfiltered but will still evolve and you can culture the dregs for homebrewing:
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/p/dreg-list.html?m=1

 

Cracked open a random 2012 Big Foot tonight. I really like this beer with a year or more on it, and 2+ years is great! It's smooth, still a little hoppy, and has greaat booze and malt flavors.

 

2011 Stone Old Guardian

Smells of toffee and brass, some earthiness. Taste is rummy prunes and white chocolate, slight tannic bite, alcohol is still there, only just. Well balanced and easy sipping, this is going down super easy and already warming the face and body. Looks like daddy won't but up too much later to watch Vikings after lil stinky finishes her Frozen and goes to bed...

 

Judging from what others have said I think I may actually be wrong. Maybe I was just remembering Deschutes talking about pasteurizing their other beers after the Mirror Mirror and Abyss infection fiasco in 2009. If there was live brett in the bottle I would have expected it to develop some more brett character, but it doesn't seem to in my experience, which doesn't mean that there isn't brett, but maybe it is a slow growing strain (or warm growing, as my bottles have never been warmer than 53 degrees).

 

That will be an epic tasting. Good work. I got into craft right about 2008 and missed the Dissident until 2010. Then Deschutes didn't distribute to Colorado for the Dissident this year, so I missed 2014. Basically I figured I would never be able to build an epic vertical and decided to start drinking my stash.

 

Yeah, Brett will remain dormant at those temperatures.

 

I have cellared other beers at or below those temps and found them completely overrun by brett in half the time I cellared 2010 Dissident. Namely, 2009 Abyss, Helios Saison, Funk E Star, Orval, Petrus aged pale, and dozens of homebrews. That is what made second guess the idea that there was any wild yeast or bacteria living in the Dissiddent, as I have plenty of experience with bottle conditioning with "wild" microbes and the effects of aging.

 

Can I be invited?

 

@allforbetterbeer, I've got some extra 2014 Dissident. PM me if you'd like some.

 

I'm drinking a 2013 Alaskan Barley Wine (bottled November 2013, so only about a year old) right now. Tbh I don't exactly remember how it was fresh (and couldn't find any this year--did they even make a 2014 batch?), but it seems sweeter and much less hoppy. Fresh it was a "wow!" beer for me, and it's still for sure at least a "wow, aging!" one.