Cellared Beer Reviews: January 2015

[stakem1]

Some classic tomer action to start off the new year.

BBB Pop is glorious at ~7 years in the bottle. A very clean and delicate brew that is not showing its age at all. Plenty of floral/fruity notes that seem like a conglomeration of alcohol, faded hops and brett. Minor tartness, cheesy/earthen funk, slight herbal spice inclusion and perfect carbonation collectively make for a downright poundable offering.

The gourmande was an '02 vintage and was vigorously carbonated. Displayed some corky oxidation that blended well into plenty of that classic Fantome funkiness. Some mineral character and zesty fruit like orange. Plenty of caramelized maltiness but zero residual sugar, mostly a dry and grassy/herbal finish with noticeable alcohol warmth.

 

[anteater1]

Just did a Consecration 2009 (750ml) vs. Consecration 2014 comparison. I was worried that the 2009 would have too much vinegar flavor but boy was I wrong. The 2014 was great as always, but the 2009 was far superior. It had none of the alcohol burn of the 2014 and all the flavors were just melded together so well. I may hold on to my 2012 for a few more years...

 

[furley]

found a local hoarder store with New Glarus Berliner in the cooler. what am i in for at this point?

 

[Quatz]

November 2013 vintage. Bone dry but less flavourful than ~6 months old Orval.

 

[furley]

found a local hoarder store with New Glarus Berliner in the cooler. what am i in for at this point?

still good

 

[whitehouse50]

for New Years we opened a Westy 12, cap date is 11.2.14 which is a best buy date of February 11, 2014. Poured into my new spiegelau glasses I got for Christmas. So I'm almost a year late in drinking this prior to the monk's suggestion, but i was not worried. I had this once before and thought it kind of tasted like a dulled version of St. Bernardus 12. This bottle lost even more of its flavors than from what I remember and had a very subtle sweetness to it. It was smooth as hell and I had to stop myself from quickly finishing it. I know people rave about how well this ages for many years, but I think the monks are right and if I do ever come across more bottles I will drink them before the cap date. It was very enjoyable, but not as good as it was.

 

[jedwards]

Some quick reviews from Vail Big Beers:
1994 Triple Bock -- same bottles as last year, same quality. Really exceptional stuff. Got a little more detail and according to what I was told, there's at most a few cases of this left and it's only ever going to be poured at Vail.
2013 Utopias (bottle) -- I quite enjoy the 2013 blend with KMF. Nice slight vinous tartness to offset the usual cloying sweetness of Utopias, good almond/fig flavor, mellow but present alcohol burn. Not noticeably changed from release for me.
2013 Utopias (draft) -- this was a special keg that was the result of taking the leftover 2013 Utopias which wasn't packaged, putting in back in the barrel for "a year and a half", and kegging it off (four barrels total, apparently, no word on if others were packaged or still aging). For whatever reason, it came out way hotter than the 2013 the night prior -- unpleasant fusel alcohol burn, not very drinkable. Not totally sure what happened there. Worth asking at future fests where Utopias is on tap if there's been any special treatment, I think.
2005 North Coast Old Stock -- Thinning out, nice toffee/golden raisin flavor, carb was oddly high. I haven't had the 2005 vintage before to my knowledge so I can't directly compare, particularly since Old Stock varied quite a bit year-to-year back then, but I enjoyed this more than either 2006 version or the 2004.
2012 Wells & Young Courage RIS -- I'm happier with how the 2012 is aging than the 2011. It still shows no signs of being as robust as the old (pre-1993) product, but this didn't have the harsh roasty edge of the 2011 and I got a touch of prune-like fruit flavor. I'll probably do a 2011/2012/2013 tasting sometime soon and see what's worth keeping.
2012 Deschutes Dissident -- This is an odd one. Good tartness, but very little fruit flavor to speak of and a distinct briny note. This bottle, at least, was not doing so well.

Non-vintage note: Ska brewing brought an about-to-be-released barleywine called Ska Face that was a hit of the fest for me, aged nearly three years in whiskey barrels. Would recommend seeking out and cellaring for a couple years.

 

[whitehouse50]

De Dolle Stille Nacht

About a year ago I had a bottle that was 3-4 months old, so pretty fresh since it takes almost 3 months to get here on the shelves. From memory it seemed to have a chewy mouthfeel, subtle sweetness, bit of an alcohol burn for 12%, overall was pretty basic belgian ale, flavors seemed to be masked, nothing fancy (yet). I heard good things about aging this one so I had my hopes it would improve for the better.

Over the weekend opened up two bottles with a cap date - Nov. 2013 and Nov. 2011

Nov. 2013 - some nice fruity flavors are starting to appear, alcohol still present, but better integrated into the beer, descent carbonation, this really doesn't taste like anything from the fresh bottle, very different

Nov. 2011 - big increase in fruity flavors and wonderfully melded together, really freakin nice, very complex - many flavors, similar beer overall to the one year old but amplified for the better and more refined, decrease in the alcohol burn but still there, this is the tits, the changes from 1 yr to 3 yrs is incredible, I almost couldn't believe it, its hard to see this getting better but we shall wait and see.

 

[kirbmeist]

found a local hoarder store with New Glarus Berliner in the cooler. what am i in for at this point?

Send to me and I will science the **** out of it and get back to you.

 

[furley]

Send to me and I will science the **** out of it and get back to you.

already scienced
they went down and they went down hard

 

[kirbmeist]

already scienced
they went down and they went down hard

That's what I like to hear.

 

[maximum12]

2011 Parabola Batch 002

My favorite part of Parabola is the "002" part, which implies that they know they're going to be around for at least 100 years. "0001" would have been even better.

We did a blind vertical of this last year & I came to the realization that Parabola is best fresh, but already had a few aging, so, what the hell. This one has had all the rough edges sanded off (& I love rough edges) & is now smooth & slick. The bourbon is still kicking hard, but without the hot booziness that I love in fresh 'Bola. Still a very good beer after a few years, but not quite the world-class brew that it is fresh.

 

[stupac2]

2005 Cantillon Kriek thanks to jedwards:

My experience with Cantillon kriek at less extreme ages (<5 years or so) has been that it just gets sour, and then keeps getting sour, and then it gets so sour that you legitimately think it might actually be a sample of lab acid with food coloring in it. It's generally been unpleasant. But this, man this was great. Still very sour, but not warheads sour, delightfully funky and fruity. It was more like a LPK of this age than a younger kriek. I wonder if that's just a change in the beer or something, I've tended to avoid older krieks because my experience with the newer aged ones has been so negative. Clearly that was wrong, this was excellent.

 

[Espeer]

Trying to burn through my cellar. This was a positive surprise. Chocolate and fruit. None of the thin, tart, or oxidation flavors. Solid mid 4s/5. Milk Chocolate, not roasty.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

We did a blind vertical of this last year & I came to the realization that Parabola is best fresh

/80% of beer.

 

[anteater1]

January 2014 on the left, August 2012 on the right.

Not a whole lot to say on this one other than the 2012 tasted like a faded version of the 2014. I was hoping for more complexity but just ended up with less flavor. 2014 was great, don't age your Orval for much more than a year!

 

[Snarf1]

January 2014 on the left, August 2012 on the right.

Not a whole lot to say on this one other than the 2012 tasted like a faded version of the 2014. I was hoping for more complexity but just ended up with less flavor. 2014 was great, don't age your Orval for much more than a year!

Depends on what you like. I like it fresh, and I like it with a year - 18 months on it. After 18 months, it goes downhill until around the 3 year mark when oxidative flavors start to take over and it becomes something else entirely, which I really like.

 

[Rowingbrewer1]

2005 Cantillon Kriek thanks to jedwards:

My experience with Cantillon kriek at less extreme ages (<5 years or so) has been that it just gets sour, and then keeps getting sour, and then it gets so sour that you legitimately think it might actually be a sample of lab acid with food coloring in it. It's generally been unpleasant. But this, man this was great. Still very sour, but not warheads sour, delightfully funky and fruity. It was more like a LPK of this age than a younger kriek. I wonder if that's just a change in the beer or something, I've tended to avoid older krieks because my experience with the newer aged ones has been so negative. Clearly that was wrong, this was excellent.

Im glad I have like 3 or 4 of these in the cellar

 

[CruisaC]

Cross post from the DDT

Very pleasant light raisin with some more vinous component. That characteristic pannepot yeasty flavor I can't exactly place but I like. Have a semi horizontal/vertical I was holding onto for no particular reason. I may dip into these one bottle at a time.

 

[Rowingbrewer1]

Had a 2010 samichlaus tonight. It was my first experience with this beer and my last. It was a sweet mess non heat but just like drinking syrup. Will post a better clad review within a month to make up for this garbage

 

[jedwards]

Hmm, interesting. I had an '04 Samichlaus about a year ago that was the first post-2000 (Eggenberg) bottle I'd actually enjoyed -- up until that point I'd pretty much written off the new stuff as overly sweet and not aging well. I wonder how much year-to-year variation there is.

 

[Rowingbrewer1]

not sure on variation, but for a beer that I would only see myself moderately enjoying at best I would not bother buying more to check. I will stick to quads and barleywines when I want a sweeter age-able beer

 

[stakem1]

Ahhhhh thats the beer I forgot to open at Christmas this year! I have a pair of remaining 96/97 bottles and maybe 1 last bottle from 2000. Last time I drank a 2000 I was taken back by how much chocolate character it had.

 

[jedwards]

Drinking a Stille Nacht from the '03-'05 era (four asterisks on the cap, but that typically just means the batch from within the year's production). This is from the years without a souring culture, and shows it -- big, big cognac nose, lots of cidery apple as well. Taste is quite sweet, just at the point of cloying, with low carb. A bit of golden raisin, some orange peel, golden syrup, and a finish made quite complex by the interplay of sugary sweetness and drying alcohol. I get almost no negative oxidation from this, and honestly my inclination is to let it go another 5-10 years at this point, but I can't see it ever being up to the quality of the soured years.

 

[Snarf1]

Drinking a Stille Nacht from the '03-'05 era (four asterisks on the cap, but that typically just means the batch from within the year's production). This is from the years without a souring culture, and shows it -- big, big cognac nose, lots of cidery apple as well. Taste is quite sweet, just at the point of cloying, with low carb. A bit of golden raisin, some orange peel, golden syrup, and a finish made quite complex by the interplay of sugary sweetness and drying alcohol. I get almost no negative oxidation from this, and honestly my inclination is to let it go another 5-10 years at this point, but I can't see it ever being up to the quality of the soured years.

Dat glass!

 

[CruisaC]

Honestly a little thin. Still dat Pannepot yeasty flavor. In fairness I kept it in the fridge a little too long, so I'll let it warm up a bit before final judgements. Making me a little nervous about my remaining '05 GR. It was a very memorable beer experience for me when I last had one about 2 years ago.

 

[SeaWatchman]

2005 Cantillon Kriek thanks to jedwards:

My experience with Cantillon kriek at less extreme ages (<5 years or so) has been that it just gets sour, and then keeps getting sour, and then it gets so sour that you legitimately think it might actually be a sample of lab acid with food coloring in it. It's generally been unpleasant. But this, man this was great. Still very sour, but not warheads sour, delightfully funky and fruity. It was more like a LPK of this age than a younger kriek. I wonder if that's just a change in the beer or something, I've tended to avoid older krieks because my experience with the newer aged ones has been so negative. Clearly that was wrong, this was excellent.

2005 is unquestionably one of the best years for cantillon's fruited beers I've ever had. Every single fruited lambic they bottled or released that year had been amazing and has held up beautifully.

 

[PHBoiler]

It's tough to call this a true "cellar" review but Side Project Biere du Pays has really progressed since the bottle release in October. The carb is beautiful, foamy, and prickly. There's a nice light tartness that brightens the beer up. This beer is pretty close to perfect for my drinking style right now. Great tart/funk balance at 4% ABV with beautiful carb and dry as a bone. I look forward to seeing where this beer heads as I have a few for the cellar, but if you got your hands on one I'd say it is ready to show you what it is all about right now.