Thoughts on some aged BCBS

I've had the same experience. Drink that 07 & 08 sooner than later.

 

Just had my last two bottles of '08 this past week:

Bottle #1: Massively oxidized, cardboard and vinous flavors. Basically a drain pour.

Bottle #2: Silky Chocolate tones mixed in with hints of that cardboard oxidation again. About 85% of what it was 6 months to a year ago.

The last bottle of '07 I had was in April and it was along the lines of Bottle #1 from '08. I would drink everything from '08 and older ASAP. It's really a shame as the '08 was drinking incredibly as recently as 6 months ago...

 

Recently had 2007 and wouldn't wait another day on that. Haven't tried an '08 yet. Had '09 the other night and it blew my fucking mind.

 

A lot of these discussions come down to storage conditions and randomness. The older a beer, the less predictable. A 65 degree cellar 2007 might be over the hill, but a 52 degree cellar 2007 might be perfect righ tnow.

 

We just did the 2006-2012 plus variants a few months ago. Prior to that I had several of the earlier vintages every few months (06-09). The '06 was oxidized slightly, but still had nice dark fruit, bourbon and chocolate notes. The '07 was not good. Every bottle had was filled with floaties, had an iron like taste to it and was oxidized. The 08 was much better than the 06 or 07, but still had some minor oxidation. The 09 was drinking wonderfully. Dark fruit forward with a smooth bourbon character. Roasty with some dark chocolate. 10 was good, still had some bourbon heat it with a nice chocolate character to it. The 11 was drinking really well. Really balanced between barrel, roast and chocolate. The 12 was actually a tad behind the 11 and 09 respectively. Still a lot of bourbon on the present, but the barrel imparted a lot of sweet notes. Overall my ratings were 11, 09, 12, 08, 10, 06, 07.