How is Firestone X holding up?

Respectfully, having tried several older bottles, several times, including X at least 4 times in the past 18 months, it is my opinion (and almost everyone else's that tasted it at the same time) that it is pretty gone and not nearly the beer it was; it's well over the hill. I have found that at almost every vertical tasting of Firestone anniversary beers I've gone to, and there have been many, the "last two years" get the highest raves and reviews. Just my experience and my opinion.

 

I agree, X, XI, XII are toast. XIII is nearly there as well.

 

I agree. It seems to me that FW BA beers hold up for a year or two and then fade quite aggressively. This is true for the anniversary series, Parabola, and Abacus. I doubt DDBA will hold up more than a year as the barrel characteristics were light to begin with. Perhaps next years Sticky Monkey will fare better? Probably not though.

 

12 is one the boderline right now and 13 is doing okay but I'd drink those sooner rather than later. 10 & 11 are seriously faded. 14 seems like it could be going downhill in another 6 months to a year.

 

I'll be the one to go ahead and disagree here...

I've just finished a 16 - 10 vertical of the anniversary ales (along with tasting and re-tasting about 23 other FW beers the past few weeks). As far as the anniversary ales go, I still enjoyed each and every one of them. All of the bottles I had still contained ample carbonation, poured very nicely, and none of them came across as spoiled, soured, oxidized, bitter, thin, weak, or anything else I would describe as "bad."

After reading this thread, I had lost any hope that my 10 could possibly still be good, and I was literally blown away with the bottle I opened last night:



Obviously each blend is different, and everyone's personal taste is different, as is each person's bottles (this is LIVING beer after all), and cellaring techniques, so YMMV, but with the bottles I just tasted, here's my opinion:

12>16>13>10>11>15>14

 

I'd agree w/drgonzo. I did not have it fresh, but the X I had a while back was still excellent. I haven't noticed much fall-off in the XII or XIII either.

 

14 was the worst? man, i thought it had been the best one so far. did you think it fell off?

 

No, nothing like that. I think it was more the blend. Now that DDBA is available on its own, it was almost too much in the 14. Don't get me wrong, 14 is still a damn fine beer!

See, everyone's taste IS different!

 

Nope your just wrong. </s>

 

*grammar ***** *irony police*

 

I just picked up a couple bottles of 16 today. I have at least 2 bottles of each year starting with 10. I can't wait to have some friends over and do a tasting. Drgonzo gives me hope!

 

1. 13 ann
2. Close second 14 Ann
3. 15
2. 16.

Out of the four I've had this years being the weakest of the 4

 

Semi-relevant:

Opened a FW14 last night with the crew.....wow, this beer has gone downhill fast. Wasn't oxidized or anything like that, but it was incredibly muted as compared to the experience we had when it was fresh. A lot of that full richness had turned into something far less spectacular. It wasn't bad, really.....just kind "meh".

 

In 2010 Matt Bryndlison told me that 10th anniversary was developing some negative sherry characteristics.

 

I had a bottle back in 2010 (which was refigerated its entire life) and it really sucked compared to the six month old bottle I had back in 2007. Personally I don't think the anniversary beers age well at all.

 

This seems to be a common belief with FW barrel aged beers. All of the aged ones I've had have just been more muted than the fresh versions. They haven't been bad, but I haven't had an aged one that has been better than a fresh one.

 

Close to their respective releases, I felt XII and XIII both were hot and had strong, contrasting flavors. 1-2 years in did wonders for them both to help integrate the flavors and balance the alcohol heat. They may have peaked, but I think they both held these characteristics well for at least a year after that. Have yet to try either of these releases and felt that they were "off" or declining. That was a couple years ago. Guess it's time to crack another soon.

 

I respectfully disagree re: Parabola and Abacus. I've yet to have a truly fallen off Abacus (and I've had plenty). Batch 1 Parabola is downhill, but the rest are still tasting great. DDBA had a ton of barrel to begin with and is still tasting great. I have never loved the Anniversary beers with extended age on them, but many of them have been better 3-6 months in to somewhere around 18 months (although in general I'd say I prefer ALL of these beers relatively fresh, that is, within the first year if not straight up upon release).

I don't think any of them necessarily NEED or WANT to be aged, but I think they're as good or better than anyone in the business, so stock up, and drink 'em steadily over time.

 

After waiting years for XII to finally lose its heat which I felt to be pretty sharp at release and had mellowed to some extent over time, I had my last two bottles in the last 9 months, and both had lost a significant amount of body. XIII had a bit more weight to it left when I had my last bottle around the same time, but that one should definitely be consumed now (at least based on the bottles I had).