May 2016 Cellar Reviews

I had an Insanity with 6-7 years on it a few summers ago & it remains one of the top 5 barleywines I've ever tasted. I've never aged Blithering Idiot, but it sounds like a great idea, thanks for the post!

 

2014 bottle. There was actually a greasy, pitch-black substance inside the bottle neck and on the underside of the bottlecap; it smelled like chocolate and was a portent of deliciousness to come. This could be marketed as a barrel-aged chocolate ganache, because wow. Much fudge. Such glorious. Plenty of roasted malt, barrel character, and still a ghost of vanillas past, but chocolate. All the chocolate.

For reference, I had a bottle last July that I do not recall being such a standout; I didn't rate it at the time, but from memory, I would say a 4.3 would have been fair. This one averaged out to be a 4.71. Now begins my quest for more, as it seems to be doing great.

 

Unibroue Trois Pistoles, best-by dated 1-17-16 (oops). Bottle opens almost soundlessly, and pours with a pretty small head. Smell is figs, cardamom, zucchini bread, dates. Taste is grape, oak, vanilla, dates, powdered sugar. Mouthfeel is almost still, but drinkable. Overall, the taste and smell are the best elements, and very good. I gave this a 4.32 20 months ago, and that's probably about where it lands now. Don't think the 4 months past the deadline did this any ill.

 

Palo santo marron bottled 1-14-14
Pours black with half finger head, leaves behind good lacing.
Aroma is largely alcohol. It does have some good roastiness and vanilla.
Flavor is sweet, the booziness has faded as has the thickness in the mouthfeel when it was fresh. It is still an incredible beer. Sweet Roasty with lots of vanilla and a little bit of Carmel. The woodsy notes are still present but aren't anywhere near where it was when fresh.
Overall I think this beer has aged and I still stand by my stance that this beer is great no matter when you open it.

 

Opening up my last bottle of Bolt Cutter from Founders 15th anniversary back in 2012. I have had it fresh and then again about 2 years ago. I don't remember enough from either time to rank them, but here are some notes comparing how it tastes now to my review 2 years ago.

The aroma probably has fallen off quite a bit as the dry hopping now gives it a stale hop character and muddles the rest making it hard to pick out. There is some malty sweetness along with some barrel character coming through otherwise. Taste-wise it is evolved a bit, but not tremendously. There is a strong sweetness up front with notes of caramels and toffees along with a strong dark fruit flavor, mostly prunes and raisins. Some slight stale hop makes it through before the barrel character comes on full force. Strong vanilla from the oak, bourbon from lightly-medium toasted barrels, a faint hint of maple syrup. There is a subdued, and fruity booze that comes through at the end and gives some strong warming qualities.

While I can't rank the 3 ages I've had it, I will say I have enjoyed it every time. Lots of good flavors going on and developing. I can see this going further still but not sure how long. Now onto the rest of the bottle and one of my most recent additions to my favorite movie list: Inherent Vice.

 

On Monday I opened a 2013 The Bruery Grey Monday that I've had in the fridge since I got it. Three of us all had different perceptions of it. All were good, but one guy smelled hazelnuts but didn't taste them, another couldn't smell them but thought their flavor was prominent, and I thought it tasted like a creamier version of Black Tuesday. If I pick up another bottle, I think I'll drink it sooner rather than later to see how the flavors are fresh.

 

Did a 3 year vertical (2013-2015) of FW Parabola at a share last night. I felt the 2014-2015 were both very even and also the best. This beer is very thin for a 13-14% stout, and with age it gets more thin it seems. I would definitely drink these fresh or with just a little age. They don't age gracefully, but it was definitely a good beer. Some people at the share liked the 2013 better, so it is very subjective. I gave 14 and 15 4.25 stars and the 13 a 4.0, maybe slightly less.

 

Just opened a 2014 Founders Backwoods Bastard. I was worried it would be much more cloyingly sweet from other reviews but this was not the case for me at least. It is still a sweet beer, but a lot of the heavy bourbon flavors fell off. Some hop-like bitterness remains, but it is essentially a tamer version of the original. Can't say it really improved it per se, but it certainly isn't a flop. I would drink fresh though, save cellar space for something that improves rather than just "tastes okay."

 

2013 GI Sofie
Mild gusher that pours bright lemonade yellow with big bubbled white 2+ finger head.

Mainly horsey aroma with light lemon and bubble gum

Earthy with some geranium floral notes, bubble gum, lemon-lime citrus, and faint Pilsner malt in the finish as it warms slightly.

Exceedingly dry, crisp finish with light body

Really tasty and I'm not much of a Brett fan - very refreshing and enjoyable.

 

Thanks to @TATURBO for this bottle!

2011 Mother of All Storms

Appearance: light black to dark brown bodied beer. Still pouring a thick cap of head with a moderate pour.

Smell: caramel, toffee, dark fruits, and bourbon.

Taste: This has become rich without being overly sweet and very well balanced with time. Caramel, dark fruits, dark chocolate, and premium bourbon. Nice oak barrel char imparts a mild bitterness in the finish that helps to cut the richness and improve the experience of drinking this beer. This is outstanding!

Mouthfeel: medium to full bodied. Smooth and mellow. Not boozy at all. Not even a hint.

Overall: This has really became something nice with age. Well over four and a half years old and still has a lot of life in this beer. Minimal signs of oxidation are noted. I would estimate that this has a full year possibly two (under proper storage conditions) before it starts going down hill. I have tried a lot of verticals of this beer at one, two, and three years old with the conclusion that at two years plus it really starts to get to be something special. This four year old bottles tells me that it is worth the extra patience to let this beer age out to 3, 4 or 5 years. I thought that four and half years was going to be pushing too much time, but honestly this bottle was absolutely fantastic. I can definitely say this beer will be the most memorable bottle of Mother of All Storms that I may ever drink; totally changed by thinking on this beer. I thought that after two year this beer was fantastic, but this bottle just blew the lid off expectations. Three or four years is the new sweet spot for aging this beer. Just wow.

 

Hey folks! I sadly barely ever post on beeradvocate any more, but this was always one of my favorite posts to look at. I'm writing tonight because I have had two excellent experiences/experiments with aged beers.

1. Collage (Conflux #1 with Deschutes and Hair of the Dog)

Back when this came out they had a best after a date of a year from when they either brewed or bottled it. I had a few bottles before then and right after and thought they were pretty tasty and unique. Then a year or so after the best after date the flavors started to feel stale and clash with each other, the sour notes of whatever one of the four beers was a flanders overpowering the other three parts of the blend. Around half a year ago I had another and thought it was getting better. Had one night and it was delicious! It has a nice sweet malt presence, but also some sour cherries and a bit of funk. It's fairly akin to a flanders oud bruin or red, with a bit more of the sweet malt and less tartness and funk.

2. Mikkeller Black - purchased 11/21/2009

Soon after purchasing this I checked out reviews and people talked about how the smokiness/peatiness of this destroyed their palate, so I thought to myself "woh mamas, better hold off on this bad boy." Then I had lots of failed experiments aging stouts, and when I came across this I thought "oh crap it's probably gone to hell already, I don't want to open it and weep unabashedly" and so avoided it. Tonight for whatever reason I opened it, and it was quite nice. There is a bit of smokiness of the campfire variety (not sure if this is even barrel-aged) but it is muted and balances well with dark fruit, coffee, and chocolate. As you might expect, something I assume was brewed at least seven years ago has lost a lot of its alcohol heat and is pretty darn smooth. I think I attribute the lack of oxidization to two things: its high alcohol percentage, listed at 17.5%, and the fact that it had a cork.

 

Good to hear such a great review on this bottle. I have a 2009 coming my way in about 2 weeks and will definitely report back.

 

I would be interested to hear how that bottle is.

 

Tasting of brandy barrel-aged barleywines: 2014 Clown Shoes Billionaire (bottled 4/4/14), 2015 CS Pierre Ferrand Billionaire (bottled 5/20/15), and 2014 Firestone Walker Maltose Falcons (which is additionally aged in rum and bourbon barrels).

My review for Pierre Ferrand Billionaire, which I had for the first time as part of this tasting, is here. (I didn't write reviews for Billionaire and MF fresh, but rated them 4.5 and 4.4 respectively; my review of MF from 8/16/15 is here.)

Compared to Pierre Ferrand, original Billionaire was considerably jammier and nuttier. It had a denser head (no longer visible in the pic), with a slightly more ruby color. The smell is similar, but without the spicy aspects of Pierre Ferrand, and somewhat mustier. I'd rate the original 4.35.

The MF is less bright in flavor than the Billionaires, and the spirit character is a bit more nuanced (Billionaire sometimes tastes like drinking straight brandy). It's similar in color to original Billionaire. I wonder if it's starting to fall off, or if my reckoning on all brandy barrel-aged beers has just been ruined ever since I had Old Stock Cellar Reserve 2011 (it's basically my Sexy Flanders). I'd rate MF 4.3.

All in all, an enjoyable tasting... but I'll admit to being mildly disappointed, because I love brandy barrel-aged beers and I had my hopes for this quite high.

 

2012 Brooklyn Monster

This monster is drinking like a beast!

@Samlover55 also cracked one of these babies this weekend for NBS

Great minds drink alike!
celebrated pesach sheni with our own korbon haomer of se'orim!

 

That is hilarious
Love the glass
Cheers!!

 

And per usual, I didn't finish the last bottle (Maltose Falcons) until it had been open (corked and refrigerated) for almost 24hrs—I'm not into soloing three ~12% bombers in one sitting, thanks—and the extra time had a marked beneficial effect. Or maybe it's just daily taste bud volatility, or the lack of other beers competing. Whatever the case, it's drinking just insanely good right now. 4.65.

 

I love Monster with 5 years on it, beer holds up really well. Pretty bummed when they stopped making it...ill miss that cat

 

totally.

i have a bunch of 2011 and 2012's left.
Im drinking em slowly...