Cellar Beer Reviews: Siptomber

[stakem1]

Flop was '99 and Destinee was '98

Flop far exceeded all my expectations considering its name and prior reviews. Lots of papery and cardboard oxidation but a surprising amount of citrus, pulp and black pepper. Cork pulled out clean and the carbonation was creamy and perfect.

Destinee was unreal. Oxidation on par for a 16 year old (wut?) carbonation was perfect despite Dany forgetting to put a cork in it (was only capped.) An amazing array of sour stone fruits somewhat like cherry blended with cranberry and currants. Earthen with a layering of stinky cheese and contrasting caramel malt. A dusty brett profile in the aftertaste. The strange thing about this beer is how well the alcohol warmth came through.

 

[Treebs]

2009 KBS


A: Business as usual here, but less carbonation so no real head. Just a thin ring.

S: Fudge with some marshmallow, oak and very sweet bourbon. No real oxidation in the smell despite low his I heard when I popped the cap. For sure thought there was doing to be some.

T: The taste isn't as forgiving with the oxidation as the nose. Slight dark fruits and the mildest cardboard. Still a tons of chocolate, cocoa, bourbon and very faint bitter coffee grounds. Really pretty solid overall and better than the 2014 KBS I had recently.

M: Low carbonation and slightly sticky. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

O: Founders used to have this dialed in and this 5 year old bottle shows. Now that production is ramped up KBS has really lost it's luster. I feel like a hipster saying that, but it's true. Downhill the last three years

 

[Respirologist]

2009 KBS


A: Business as usual here, but less carbonation so no real head. Just a thin ring.

S: Fudge with some marshmallow, oak and very sweet bourbon. No real oxidation in the smell despite low his I heard when I popped the cap. For sure thought there was doing to be some.

T: The taste isn't as forgiving with the oxidation as the nose. Slight dark fruits and the mildest cardboard. Still a tons of chocolate, cocoa, bourbon and very faint bitter coffee grounds. Really pretty solid overall and better than the 2014 KBS I had recently.

M: Low carbonation and slightly sticky. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

O: Founders used to have this dialed in and this 5 year old bottle shows. Now that production is ramped up KBS has really lost it's luster. I feel like a hipster saying that, but it's true. Downhill the last three years

It's funny my local liquor store guy said he always gets in 1 case of KBS everyday, this year he got 4..... We both knew something was up and when we tasted 14' we knew. Seemed almost watered down. Very disappointing.

 

[flexabull]

Checking in on the 2003.

Faint carbonation, cola, rum, brown sugar and toffee.

Tasty!

 

[Dunt1]

Flop was '99 and Destinee was '98

Flop far exceeded all my expectations considering its name and prior reviews. Lots of papery and cardboard oxidation but a surprising amount of citrus, pulp and black pepper. Cork pulled out clean and the carbonation was creamy and perfect.

Destinee was unreal. Oxidation on par for a 16 year old (wut?) carbonation was perfect despite Dany forgetting to put a cork in it (was only capped.) An amazing array of sour stone fruits somewhat like cherry blended with cranberry and currants. Earthen with a layering of stinky cheese and contrasting caramel malt. A dusty brett profile in the aftertaste. The strange thing about this beer is how well the alcohol warmth came through.

 

[Treebs]

2012 Founders Imperial Stout



A: Looks like imperial stout.

S: Lots of dark fruit oxidation. No cardboard. Some bitter cocoa and bakers chocolate. A little bread crumb.

T: Some raisin, bitter cocoa, brownie batter sweetness, and some bready malts. Oxidation is present, but doesn't detract at all.

M: Thick and heavy, smooth and medium low carb. Typical imperial stout.

O: The hop bite is long gone and it's starting to have the oxidation creep in. Ages just like Darkness (and tastes better to boot). Definitely enjoyed, but the two year mark is where I start to drink em all.

 

[harrymel1]

2010 Bigfoot Fritz and Ken's Stout

Still good. Rich and chocolatey with a bit of coffee ground. Held up well.

2012 Peche N Brett

Not a gusher - making this a rarity in the Logsdon catalogue. Good nose with plenty of juicy brett a little pineapple and some peach and apricot. Flavor is really wonderful with the solid brett - which is fruity and only mildly funky. I remain amaze at how well he crafts his beers. Still hate the bees wax. Solid beer.

 

[DanzBorin]

2009 KBS


A: Business as usual here, but less carbonation so no real head. Just a thin ring.

S: Fudge with some marshmallow, oak and very sweet bourbon. No real oxidation in the smell despite low his I heard when I popped the cap. For sure thought there was doing to be some.

T: The taste isn't as forgiving with the oxidation as the nose. Slight dark fruits and the mildest cardboard. Still a tons of chocolate, cocoa, bourbon and very faint bitter coffee grounds. Really pretty solid overall and better than the 2014 KBS I had recently.

M: Low carbonation and slightly sticky. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

O: Founders used to have this dialed in and this 5 year old bottle shows. Now that production is ramped up KBS has really lost it's luster. I feel like a hipster saying that, but it's true. Downhill the last three years

I really like 2012 KBS.

2013 and 2014 weren't as good as older batches, but I had a 2014 2 nights ago and it was still a pretty tasty beer.

 

[quirkzoo1]

disappointed the title isn't Sip-tome-ber.

mods can we get an edit up in here.

 

[jedwards]

A couple notes from Zwanze weekend adventures:

Bridgeport Old Knucklehead 1992 nip: doing great. This was a pry-off, not a screw-top like the year prior, and it's aged much better. Mouthfeel is thin and winelike but lots of caramel and prune, a little burnt sugar, and a slight sherry tartness more than make up for it.
Southampton Peconic Reserve 2011: Oh man, this is good right now. Grape flavor still huge, dominating the yeasty saison flavor. No real tartness to speak of, but lots of white wine/oak flavor. Really good.
Captain Lawrence Barrel Select Batch 1 (FO/BB 2/10): This is terrific and unfortunately was my last bottle. Has smoothed out dramatically -- while it still has a lot of balsamic notes, they come off as richness rather than vinegar. Smooth carbonation with a terrific mouthfeel.
Also did a 2005 Lou Pepe "horizontal" of Framboise, Kriek, and Gueuze. The Framboise was, unsurprisingly, a bit muddled and had a slightly cooked odor on the nose. The Kriek was great, lots of cherry still and well-integrated with the overall sourness. The Gueuze was phenomenal and probably the best beer I had all weekend. Just a touch of aggression on the sourness and that deep, earthy funkiness that you only get from older Cantillon. No subtlety whatsoever.

 

[thechrislife]

Just opened a Backwoods Bastard bottled 9/28/12.
It's really a shell of its former self. Missing a lot of the barrel character that it has fresh. It can be a touch hot when fresh, but the alcohol heat is well integrated, and works well with the style. No need to age this one, folks.

Full disclosure: fresh BB is one of my favorite beers.

 

[Jnorton00]

Just opened a Backwoods Bastard bottled 9/28/12.
It's really a shell of its former self. Missing a lot of the barrel character that it has fresh. It can be a touch hot when fresh, but the alcohol heat is well integrated, and works well with the style. No need to age this one, folks.

Full disclosure: fresh BB is one of my favorite beers.

I think with a year or so on it is still fatastic, the heat really mellows and it gets kind of nice vanilla thing going on. I have 1 botle left of the two cases I bought in 2011 and it tastes almost watered down at this point. Not bad but no where near as good fresh.

 

[danbanana]

Just opened a Backwoods Bastard bottled 9/28/12.
It's really a shell of its former self. Missing a lot of the barrel character that it has fresh. It can be a touch hot when fresh, but the alcohol heat is well integrated, and works well with the style. No need to age this one, folks.

Full disclosure: fresh BB is one of my favorite beers.

I just did an '11 and '12 side by side and the '11 held up much, much better. I really don't think it had anything to do with age, though. I think there was a dramatic drop in the quality of that beer after the '11 batch.

 

[thechrislife]

thanks for the input guys. i have a bottle or two of 2013, and 2014 should be dropping soon, so a side-by-side is in order.

 

[JBP]

Drank an original BCBVS on Saturday. Waaaay over the hill. General group consensus. Not a bad beer by any means but not even close to the elite level you would hope. Barely got any vanilla at all from it. Surprisingly was still super hot and boozy. I'm assuming the bottle had been properly cellared the whole time since release, because I bought it right from the official GI booth at a Migration Week in-store tasting ($17 off the shelf in 2014 FTW!) I would strongly advise against giving up much for it and would definitely just wait for the new version. If a cellared bottle was this disappointing I wouldn't want to get one that's been in some guys closet for 4 years.

 

[DanzBorin]

Drank an original BCBVS on Saturday. Waaaay over the hill. General group consensus. Not a bad beer by any means but not even close to the elite level you would hope. Barely got any vanilla at all from it. Surprisingly was still super hot and boozy. I'm assuming the bottle had been properly cellared the whole time since release, because I bought it right from the official GI booth at a Migration Week in-store tasting ($17 off the shelf in 2014 FTW!) I would strongly advise against giving up much for it and would definitely just wait for the new version. If a cellared bottle was this disappointing I wouldn't want to get one that's been in some guys closet for 4 years.

I thought the bottles we opened in May were still quite vanilla. We did all the variations and quite a few vintages and it was a noticeable difference. That said, I agree that it's not earth shattering, but still quite tasty.

I would hope that trade value is a bit more down to earth by now, but I know this often isn't the case.

 

[MikeC1]

JBPortland I recently was at an event where GI brought cases of Vanilla, 09 bcbs and KH straight from their cellar. I would agree that Vanilla is over the hill as it was barely discernible from the 09.

 

[DanzBorin]

JBPortland I recently was at an event where GI brought cases of Vanilla, 09 bcbs and KH straight from their cellar. I would agree that Vanilla is over the hill as it was barely discernible from the 09.

That's pretty amazing as we did both Vanilla and 09. Maybe I just notice vanilla a lot. lol

 

[MikeC1]

DanzBorin I'd say I'm pretty sensitive to vanilla as well, love it as an ingredient or if is imparted through the barrel. Maybe there was bottle variation or environmental differences that gave us different perceptions. For me, I know for certain I wouldn't pursue another bottle save for the upcoming release. More for you I suppose =)

 

[DanzBorin]

DanzBorin I'd say I'm pretty sensitive to vanilla as well, love it as an ingredient or if is imparted through the barrel. Maybe there was bottle variation or environmental differences that gave us different perceptions. For me, I know for certain I wouldn't pursue another bottle save for the upcoming release. More for you I suppose =)

I'd never trade what it takes to get it either. We just did a big blowout and everyone at the tasting had to bring a hard to get bottle. We got lucky and had 2 rare, 2 Vanilla, and 2 Prop.

I will say Vanilla was the weakest of those 3, but still noticed it.

I'll save my money for rye goodness!

 

[boogercrack]

a few months ago some friends did an 09/rare/vanilla blind, trying to pinpoint each.. 100% of them got the 09 and vanilla mixed up and pinpointed the rare correctly.

thought it was interesting.

at this point, dropping a half vanilla bean split in two into a bottle of 2013 bcbs and recapping for a day or so is better than actual bcbvs and so much easier to obtain .