Cellar Beer Review: July

[libbey]

Old Rasputin XIV (2011)

Doing some cellar diving tonight and popped this bottle.

Beer is tasting great. Big dark fruit and chocolate notes. Barrel notes are still present but have integrated nicely. I remember this being pretty hot fresh but it's drinking smooth now.

This beer still probably has legs to go a couple more years but it's tasting wonderful at the moment. But I still flinch at that initial sticker price even 3 years later. $23 for a 500 ml? It's a great one but FFFFFUUUUUUUUU.

I'd rather buy a Gueze. I must be maturing.

 

[barleywinefiend]

Thanks for kicking this off *******.

 

[libbey]

Thanks for kicking this off *******.

Found an 09 Old Ruffian if your still looking.

 

[barleywinefiend]

2010 MS Arctic D. Liquid glazed doughnuts. $$$. No oxidation, infection or lack of carbonation...hang on to these!

2009 Deschutes BBXXI. Lots of bakers powder cocoa. Some oak leftover with a hint of barrel funk, not sour or infected but natural bugs. Hanging on!..and drinking well.

 

[barleywinefiend]

Found an 09 Old Ruffian if your still looking.

Of course I am...

 

[libbey]

Of course I am...

It's yours. I'm In town all weekend hit me up before I leave.

 

[barleywinefiend]

It's yours. I'm In town all weekend hit me up before I leave.

**** bro. Saturday or Sunday?

 

[barleywinefiend]

2009 Mad River Old Barleycorn. These little shelf turds age like champions. Very sweet, thick and syrupy after half decade with a nice husky graininess.

2011 Avery Hog Heaven. Lots of citrus, pine and bread going on. A little bit of heat, a wee bit syrupy but no signs of oxidation or infection. Easy, solid drinking shelf turd.

2009 GD Oaked Yeti. Lots of cocoa, oak and pepper going on. Very strong!

 

[barleywinefiend]

2012 Deschutes Dissident. Still tart, funky with a healthy dose of cherries but the flavors are bit muddy.

 

[user 305963]

2008 BCBS

Cannot confirm cellar conditions. Nose is faded bourbon, and the taste is the same. Had this after 13/12/10 and it paled in comparison. Retained some similar characteristics to BCBS, but no longer the big, boozy stout we all love. Interestingly enough, the description on the label says it was aged for 100 days in the barrel. They age it a lot longer now, don't they?

2011 BCBCS

Cellared in a dark corner of an unfinished basement....ooooh creepy. This was all green pepper. The pepper taste slowly went away as the beer opened up, but if there was ever a stark example of "drink 'em fresh boys!", this was it.

2010 Nemesis

Cannot confirm cellar conditions. Picked up a lot of similar characteristics to Bolt Cutter, in a good way. Hops were still present, but faded. Have heard some reports of people pickup mint in this, but I did not. Overall, was not blown away by it. Was expecting much more alcohol burn, but it was very tame.

 

[barleywinefiend]

2009 SN Bigfoot. Drinking very well. Still very hop forward of course, nice bittering the hop aroma still gets ya when you first open. Holding on strong as expected.

2009 GD Old Ruffian. Thanks Libbey. This thing was magnificent. Beautiful pour and color! Piney hops are still very present, sweet, no oxidation at all, Lots of caramel and toffee.

2008 Lagunitas Olde Gnarleywine. It was pretty gnarley indeed. A moderate amount of oxidation. Faded citrus hops, caramel.

2008 GF Bwine. Drainpour. Downright awful.

 

[barleywinefiend]

2009 Cascade Sang Royal. One of my all time Cascade favs and this was my last, sadly. Holy mother of sour! The flavor has fallen off a bit but this beer will still pucker your *******! Even moreso than at release. Still a delicious sour bomb with loads of flavor.

 

[quirkzoo1]

Salvation (RR) - 4/12
Salvation (Avery) - 2011
Collaboration not Litigation - Batch 5, Jan. 2011

Salvation (RR) - muted. Overall it is a very nice beer but it was absolutely nothing special. A touch of generic belgian yeast, a touch of belgian candy sugar. super meh.

Collaboration not Litigation - Okay. A little more interesting than RR but also suffering a bit from some oxidation. Some cardboard and black tea tannin on the back end but a decent beer

Salvation (Avery) - Whoa momma, this was really nice. Bright and crisp, lots of nice light malt, supported by a good amount of Belgian yeast character leaning towards bright spices like cinnamon and clove. Overall the beer feels nicely integrated and it was the consensus best of the three among the three people consuming.

 

[libbey]

2010 Plead the 5th

A: Beer pours a pure black with a thin cola brown film of head that dissipates quickly. Big time legs cling to the glass. This is a thick, viscous beer.

S: No signs of oxidation. Deep char notes mix with bakers chocolate and dark fruit. Some tobacco and leather come forward as it warms. I don't remember these notes from when it's fresh. 12% ABV is non existent in the nose.

T: Taste follows suit. Heavy fudge and dark fruit on the pallet. Hints of old ale flavors: tobacco/leather compliment the classic RIS malt notes. This has aged beautifully.

M: Carbonation is a bit low but it compliments the style. Overall mouthfeel is thick and sticky. It coats everything. As always this is a chewy ****ing stout.

O: This is one of my all time favorite RIS and I always believed this would age wonderfully and it did not let me down. 4 plus years in and this beer is still drinking great. On par with Expedition and Stone Russian Imperial for long term age potential IMO.

 

[libbey]

2004 De Dolle Stille Nacht

Purchased from Bottleworks last year so no doubts this was cellared perfectly.

A: The beer pours a hazy orange/yellow with a thin cap of head that dissipates quickly. Sticky legs cling to the glass.

S: Big green apple notes and Belgian yeast esters. A touch of oxidation shows as it warms but it does not deter from my enjoyment. ABV is still present close to a decade later.

T: Sweet candied belgian sugar, burnt brown sugar and a surprising bit of a hop bite on the finish. Really tasty. Zero sign of oxidation that I was getting in the nose.

M: A decent amount of bubbles for being a decade old. Smooth and creamy finish on the pallet with the candied sugar notes coating everything.

O: Overall this is the oldest version of Stille Nacht that I've tried and I think it could have laid down even longer. Drinking great at the moment though.

claaark13

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

2012 Labyrinth. Didn't mean to hang on to this one, but sort of happened.
Still a lot of bourbon present, which some of the chocolatey flavors fading and the Anise coming forward. Held up well, however the further I got into it, the more burnt acidic mouthfeel I got. Sort of like a coca-cola film coating. Not unpleasant, but I wasn't getting any early on. Great beer, but I'd prefer it fresh. Wouldn't intentionally age another one going forward.

 

[stakem1]

2009 Mad River Old Barleycorn. These little shelf turds age like champions. Very sweet, thick and syrupy after half decade with a nice husky graininess.

Obligatory standing ovation golf clap gif for you being the first person ive noticed post about this beer.
Hmmmm I wonder how bottles of this from '96-99 are holding up.

 

[libbey]

2011 Founders Imperial Stout

A: The beer pours a pitch black with a thin cap of cola head that dissipates quickly. Sticky legs and minimal lacing.

S: Bakers chocolate and charred malt. Hop presence is non existent as is the ABV. No signs of oxidation.

T: Taste follows suit. Loads of dark chocolate and malt. A bit of dark fruit as it warms. A bit of hop bite on the finish but no where near what it's like fresh. This beer could go a couple more years but it's drinking great at the moment.

M: Always my favorite part of this beer. Viscous and it coats everything leaving a sticky chewy coco/malt blast each sip.

O: An all time favorite that has aged wonderfully. Always a treat and 3 years later is no exception.

 

[barleywinefiend]

Obligatory standing ovation golf clap gif for you being the first person ive noticed post about this beer.
Hmmmm I wonder how bottles of this from '96-99 are holding up.

Probably like this!

 

[Max]

from this past weekend:
after i forgot about this, it became an experiment (can a TH growler hold up after a year??!)... which led to me cracking my guillemot prunus (see DDT 7/15).

this is non-barrel aged TH guillemot, filled 7/11/2013.
nose is actually a little sweet… dark fruit, even molasses. taste is similar (minus the molasses). much sweeter than i would've thought. any bite has faded, but this is COMPLETELY drinkable. even my wife liked it… which is saying a lot. even had a bit of carbonation. i kinda wish i had gotten another 1 liter of this jawn. could drink this all day.

and on saturday, i did!

 

[Max]

2010 Plead the 5th

A: Beer pours a pure black with a thin cola brown film of head that dissipates quickly. Big time legs cling to the glass. This is a thick, viscous beer.

S: No signs of oxidation. Deep char notes mix with bakers chocolate and dark fruit. Some tobacco and leather come forward as it warms. I don't remember these notes from when it's fresh. 12% ABV is non existent in the nose.

T: Taste follows suit. Heavy fudge and dark fruit on the pallet. Hints of old ale flavors: tobacco/leather compliment the classic RIS malt notes. This has aged beautifully.

M: Carbonation is a bit low but it compliments the style. Overall mouthfeel is thick and sticky. It coats everything. As always this is a chewy ****ing stout.

O: This is one of my all time favorite RIS and I always believed this would age wonderfully and it did not let me down. 4 plus years in and this beer is still drinking great. On par with Expedition and Stone Russian Imperial for long term age potential IMO.

i still have 2-3 of these from 2010. i absolutely love this beer. i've started collecting each year because i loved 2010 so much. last time i opened one was probably a year and a half ago… as you can imagine, it was drinking quite nicely. can't wait til the 2011/2012s are on this scale!

 

[ASUBeer]

2011 Founders Imperial Stout

A: The beer pours a pitch black with a thin cap of cola head that dissipates quickly. Sticky legs and minimal lacing.

S: Bakers chocolate and charred malt. Hop presence is non existent as is the ABV. No signs of oxidation.

T: Taste follows suit. Loads of dark chocolate and malt. A bit of dark fruit as it warms. A bit of hop bite on the finish but no where near what it's like fresh. This beer could go a couple more years but it's drinking great at the moment.

M: Always my favorite part of this beer. Viscous and it coats everything leaving a sticky chewy coco/malt blast each sip.

O: An all time favorite that has aged wonderfully. Always a treat and 3 years later is no exception.

My cellar/fridge has a ton of Founders IS in it. By far my favorite stout to age. I don't think I've had one that's 3 years old. They usually only last 1-2 years because my wife loves them too. The more I've gotten in to beer, the more I've realized this is a hidden little shelf gem.

 

[Treebs]

Went through a few things. First up, 2011 Devil Dancer. Wanted to see how this 12% Triple IPA a.k.a American Barleywine aged.



The nose has some candied orange, a little pine, some booze and a little dark fruit from the oxidation. Definitely not unpleasant.

Taste leaves a little to be desired. Dried oat malts, some stale hops with a little grass. Pretty sweet with a mild dark fruit and a smidgen of heat on the finish.

Pretty dry mouthfeel, far from undrinkable. I'm not a fan of the beer fresh. This is definitely different, but the drinkability hasn't really wavered for me. Still had some legs on it and could have probably gone another year or two. Fun experiment, wouldn't do it again.



BCBVS, perfectly cellared since acquired. Never saw distribution or a store shelf.



Heaps of vanilla left on the nose, but obviously nowhere near as much as fresh. No oxidation whatsoever on this guy. Straight bourbon barrel and fudgey sweetness.

Less noticeable vanilla in the taste, but the great barrel character is still there. If the taste matched the nose in vanilla content it would have been unreal, but alas it wasn't meant to be.

Unless perfectly cellared no reason to hold into this guy any longer, especially with the new batch coming out. Wait to do a side by side in a few months then let them all loose out of the cellar.

 

[JulianB1]

Bourbon Bois:



Cracked this open on Sunday in another bit of a "cool, I'm still alive and well" celebration with a few friends. Perfect beer to pair with a cigar (which I did) as the huge body and sweetness doesn't get compromised by the flavors of the cigar at all.

Not much different than it was fresh, which I have no problem with when it comes to this beer. Big barrel notes, thick sticky syrupy mouthfeel, huge caramel and brown sugar flavors. I love these Bruery barrel-aged strong ales at pretty much any stage.

 

[waltersrj]

BCBVS...with the new batch coming out.

Excuse me?!? This is for real?

 

[Treebs]

Excuse me?!? This is for real?

http://www.talkbeer.com/community/t...4-variants-discussed-with-brett-porter.12740/

 

[waltersrj]

Now I have a beer-ner.