July 2014 Cellar Thread

It's still just kinda uninspiring. It's starting to show its age. If you liked it before you'll probably think it's fine now, but if you're interested I'd drink soon.

 

Showing its age as in starting to develop more brett character? I felt it lacked that before so was interested in what some time would do on that aspect.

 

I plan to open a 2010 Abyss in about a week for my birthday present to myself, cant wait!

 

Drank a bottle of 2010 Weyerbacher Tiny last night.

Based on my notes from fresh - same appearance, smell, taste. Body and mouthfeel was smoother though. So overall improved, but not much.

 

It is showing more brett character, but when I say it's showing its age I mean it's showing signs of papery oxidation and the flavor, other than the brett coming out more, generally feels flat. If you're looking at it optimistically, bottles stored differently will show different levels of oxidation, and/or it may be going through a down period and will taste better in six months to a year. My general impression is that any gains (better brett character) were lost in the base beer becoming a bit flat and oxidation that doesn't meld particularly well coming forward.

 

Ok! I gotcha! Exactly what I was wanting to know. Thanks for the info. Cheers!

 

First time posting in one these. Found a Boulevard Bully Porter in back of the beer fridge. Best By date of March 2013. This is what I call "accidental cellaring". The result: doesn't hold up. Hops gone, leaving bitterness and dark roasted malts. I suppose it could work as an iced coffee. Wicked carbonation though.

 

On Tuesday, I finally landed a career! No more working in a bottle shop! This led me to pull something I think is special out of the cellar. I say special not only because of it's reputation amongst us beer geeks, but I loved it when it was fresh, and it took a lot of patience to wait for a moment like this. The beer is Westvleteren XII, which I called the Armagnac of beer when I last consumed it. The date on the cap is November 29, 2015, which means that it's almost 20 months old. Here's what I thought of it:

Pours an opaque, dark brown with a finger and a half of rich, tan head that dissipates very slowly into a cap and leaves a lot of lacing behind. Aroma was dominated by notes of bakers chocolate, caramel, toffee, and vanilla. Many other aromas are found in the background, such as grape, dates, plums, cherries, raisins, figs, and a distinct cheap red wine smell. Taste is very sweet, but far from cloying. The aftertaste had a lot going on, and it lingered for a while. Toffee, vanilla, figs, raisins, and cherries all noticeably there in the aftertaste. Body is light and silky, carbonation wasn't very high, and the 10.2% is not sensed at all.

Overall, I think this beer has changed a good deal since I last had it. The flavors were much more fruit forward when I last had it. The alcohol was much more noticeable, which made the body much less silky. There was a bit of citrus that I noticed fresh that is no longer there.

I liked it better when it was fresh, I can't lie. With that said, this was an awesome experience, and I came away satisfied by the end. While I liked it better fresh, I think it has more to do with my personal preference than the beer actually going south, and I definitely don't feel like this was a waste. In fact, I will keep the last bottle I have for when I buy my first house!

 

2012 Dissident yesterday and seemed like it's on the decline, the fruit I remember from a year ago has become duller and more bitter. I was getting a fair bit of cranberry in addition to the fig/date thing, maybe it's that I don't like cranberries that it wasn't sitting quite right for me. Acidity is high but it's always been.

I still have another, and I'll give it another year just because, but I have a feeling the '12 has past its prime already. A little surprising given the ABV.

 

2013 Hopslam

These are fantastic fresh and should be drank as soon as possible, but last year I went over board and had over a case worth so I decided to hold off a 4 pack and try aging. Lots of honey comes out with time. Very sweet, which shouldn't be surprising since the hops die and honey takes over. Still a good beer, but the profile does a 180. I'm sure most of you know this already, but just sharing my experience.

 

Drank a Courage- silver jubilee ale from 1977 yesterday. Brewed in commemoration of queen Anne's 25 years as the queen. Not sure about conditions it was kept in for its whole life. My grandparents received it as a gift and probably just kept it in a closet or something. My dad kept it in his basement for the last few years.

I had trouble finding info of this online and am not quite sure of the style. I found a few pictures and maybe some for sale online but nothing about style or strength- anyone know where I can find this? I wasn't seeing an entry for it here on BA.

Light hiss as I opened it. Smelled sweet, malty, and a bit of dark fruits. There was still a decent amount of carbonation for how old it is. Taste was somewhat flat and rather oxidized. It was pretty sweet, malty with some dark fruits and just a hint of sourness to it. A bit of sediment at the bottom of the bottle but not as much as I was expecting. Overall it was an interesting thing to taste, not horrible but I am glad I split it with my dad and a friend because I wouldn't have been able to drink the whole thing.

 

Victory Twelve
Poured from a 750 ml brown bottle into a Chimay goblet. Bottled on Sept 18 2009 on front label.
Lighter than expected chestnut. Major fruity aroma here with fig, plums, red grapes, currants, bananas, and orange marmalade all combining with some fruity yeast esters with a mild, phenolic, clove character to create a huge malty blast. The flavor also assaults with malt, first with dark fruits like red and purple grapes, figs, cherries, plums, and raisins, all dosed with a heavy dose of rum-infused honey. Hops provide herbal bitterness. Yeast esters are banana and lightly apricot, peach. This is a malt wallop all the way, vinous without getting too grapey -- a masterful beer all-around. Silky smooth with nowhere the 12% detectable anywhere. Sumptuous feel overall.
This was indeed a good one to put away -- wow -- huge dark fruit character with drinkability. Sumptuous and decadent but not over the top -- wonderful. I wish I had bought more.
And wish I had done a better thread search -- my bad.

 

Oh please! That new thread/ghost review was pretty entertaining. Especially because you took the ribbing in stride.

Cheers!

 

Nice review. I was curious how this was aging. I think this was the first bottle I ever put in a rot box. 2010, 2011 maybe. Glad to hear that it's aging well.

 

I just got into cellaring. Converted a mini fridge to my cellar. Just put DFH WWS in the cellar to age for a year or two! Now the waiting begins haha

 

2011 Green Flash Double Stout - 3 years old

black, khaki head. aroma not as strong as fresh, but still a bit roasty. more bitter cocao than coffee now. no hops. nice smooth flavor, slick body. improved from fresh, but not much change since at 2 years old.

 

Never bad to wallow in your own humilty by invoking Roman Moroni.

 

2010 Burton Baton......bottled 13 August 2010. Very murky with some floaters. Really smooth, almost creamy. Fruity? Sweet caramel. 10% was not noticed at all. This was an amazing beer.

I know everyone is poo pooing old IPA but this beer ages great. stick a few away and forget about them.



Enjoy

 

yeah, but not that one - it's one of the beers with DFH's standard "ages with the best of 'em" on the label

 

Never noticed that. I accidentally aged a few and rediscovered them. Guess I should read labels more often.

Enjoy