Samichlaus 2010, 2011, 2012 - Christmas 2013 lineup

so i don't generally have the patience/funds to cellar beer, but i have tried to keep a few tucked away in the basement over the past couple years. i'd purchased a 2011 and 2012 Samichlaus (classic) and then last Summer, found a 2010 still on the shelf at a bottleshop. i figured i could wait until Christmas at least, and have a nice little lineup to see if i could actually notice a difference in a 3 year range.

i won't go into too much detail (i didn't take any notes, and i'm not generally into taking 1000 words to describe how a sip of beer tastes), but overall, my takeaway from it was that i could definitely notice a significant difference, and that this is one beer that is worth storing away for years at a time. i will be trying my best to set aside 3 or so per year if i can manage.

the 2012 was, as expected, approaching cloying, and quite sharp. if it were a pet, it would be a cuddly brown schnauzer puppy with velociraptor claws and ADHD. it's not something i ever want to drink in any real quantity, but it's also not complex enough to impress the hell out of anyone IMO. a little bit better than Primator doppelbock, but not 2 or 3 times better than it (as reflected by the price/hype).

the 2011 was significantly mellowed and less cloying. this particular bottle had something going in a direction the 2010 did not seem to follow, not sure what it was - if it was part of the regular development, or something about how this batch was brewed/bottle was stored. i don't remember any more detail than that, i just remember that all three of us (my parents and i) who tried them all thought the 2011 was a bit of a strange deviation. like the schnauzer got clipped, and was getting psych treatment, but the medication just wasn't quite right yet. i was surprised there was this much development from one year to the next - maybe it spent some time in the heat/something that sped up the aging.

the 2010 was pretty incredible - much more mellow, hardly any cloying bite/sharpness. this was a cuddly puppy who reads nietzsche and does the dishes for you. imo the perfect drink to sip on while on fire, or while sinking helplessly into a peat bog, if you don't have any single malt handy.

unfortunately, my dad doesn't drink very much, and the 14abv, when combined with an argument about gun control, led to a diminished experience - any of the overbearing sweetness from the 2012 totally disappeared, and we were all left with a bitter aftertaste that lingers to this day.