I opened an '08 FFF Behemoth last night, so I thought I'd start this out: A: Pours a beautiful grapefruit red with a nice tuft of off-white foam. Nice lacing. S: Sweet old citric hop, fruity spice, cherry, apple, molasses, mild yeast, caramel. T: Moderately citric with a bit of bitterness. Slightly boozy caramel malt, cinnamon bread, hop leaf, cider, cherry. Warming, bready, and sweet in the finish. M: Crisp carbonation, almost thick-bodied. O: Even after almost 4 years the hops are still going strong, although the age has smoothed things out, getting rid of most of the bitterness to let the sweetness come out. Good, but I wouldn't go out of my way to age it.
Dark Horse Bourbon Barrel Pt5th. 2011 bottling. Thanks to Turd, I was able to replenish my personal supply. The dark fruit characters are coming through the initially chocolate/bourbon forward notes. The heat is fading to nearly nothing, which is probably why the other flavors are finding their way through. IMO, this is drinking beautifully right now and anyone with bottles should think about cracking some.
'09 Alesmith Decadence. Steady carbonation with a nice slick of tan foam. The clove notes in the aroma are much softer and meld well with the raisin and heavy, sweet malt. Very smooth malt profile that is fairly sweet with raisins and a bit of spice still lingering in the back third. Some slight oxidization on the finish. No hint of the 9% ABV whatsoever. I preferred this in prior years with the clove and weizen characteristics more intact but this is still drinking really well and seems to have somewhere to go still even though it's a bit different than it's initial bottling.
2008 Otter Creek Russian Imperial Stout My last bottle, my last review of it was in 2011 and it held up nicely for those 3 years. Onto the 4th year: Appearance suffered naught. Big 2 finger head of foam with good lacing. Smell has some chocolate and dark fruits with big notes of caramel malt. Taste has chocolate, caramel malt, light flavours of dark fruits, and a still potent taste and warming from the alcohol. Overall, I'd say it was a big drop from the bottle I had last year. Mouthfeel is thin and drinkability is low. I held on to it for 1 year too many.
Founders Devil Dancer 2011 vs. 2012 The '11 has so much more going on, compared to the '12. They body is much more full; the hops have lost the onion, but what remains is a nice piney resin; the malt has pushed forward a bit, but it's not dominating. The '12 is thin (comparatively), with a hop profile that is "meh" next to the '11. It is just not much to get excited about. The carbonation was better than the '11, so it has that going for it.
2011 BBQ Awkward stage, not enough cherries, no bourbon, nothing really to note. It gets much better with age even when it is not a 100% bal blend. Kinda bland and dead at the moment. Expect it to start opening up again sometime in the next year.
'10 Immort Ale AAAAAHHHHHH!!! Holy God!! I could SWEAR it was infected, until I went in and read the low ratings. My mistake. Why the heck did I think this beer would age to anything good? No idea. Apparently, age this beer if you want to see what an infected beer tastes like. I just think that is how this one turns out. Oops. '11 Immort Ale Okay, so I guess it is the peat. This one is still drinkable, but you can tell where it's going. I really did like this beer fresh (didn't I???). '05 Raison D'Extra This one is really close. Get to drinking if you have them. CAVEAT: I did pour it into the same glass as the '10 Immort that I tried the dang '10 Immort, so that may have been it. (I rinsed and wiped it thoroughly, but who knows.) Still good, but on the way out me-thinks.
I opened a 2007 a few weeks ago, and I could barely get over the old hops taste. I feel like this beer needs to be consumed within the first year, or lay it down for 10...
I cracked an 07 Stones Old Guardian tonight. A- 3.5 The color of the beer is a murky orange / red. The head was about a finger high biege and quickly gave up and became a ring of foam. The lacing looks like pancake batter on the side of the glass. S- 4.0 The aroma of the beer is vanilla, caramel, butterscotch notes with an odd over ripe cantaloupe grapefruit combo. A very faint pine aroma rattles around the sweet and fruity aromas. T- 3.5 The beers flavors lead with candied grapefruit, pine resin and citrus zest. Very nice malty tones of caramel and yes even the butterscotch. A hint of oxidation is peaking out but not taking alot away from the beer. M- 4.0 The body of the beer is full carbonation is low almost to the point of lazy. The alcohol heat is totally gone. O- 3.5 I think 5 years in the cellar has done this beer wrong. I like the malty and fruity tones that have come out in this beer; however, I enjoy Old Guardian in its much more aggresive and unforgiving younger (fresher) bottles. I will be drinking up all of my Old Guardian 07 or older.
Just did this as well, and was shocked that the 11 (onion dancer) had lost its onion. It's a tasty brew now.
I drank this about a week back (same vintage), and found it rather boring. Way too much crystal malt character that I've grown to detest. Still, I managed to drink about a third of the bottle before I dumped the rest. Tonight, I drank a Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #6 http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/43157/?ba=dyan About 4 years at this point, and another example of a barleywine with too much crystal malt. While there still is some hop character, this is astringent and rather unworthy.
Yeah, I tend to dislike most "American" style barleywines for that reason...I certainly enjoyed the '08 though - nothing incredibly special but not drain-worthy for me.
