how have the firestone anni beers been holding up?

[tinypyramids1]

see title. i've got 15-17 (18 on the way) and i'd like to do a vertical tasting at some point in december. is it worth trading for 14 at this point? i've heard reports a long while ago that essentially 10 and 11 are garbage, 12 is past prime but still drinkable, and 13 is on the way down.

 

[danbanana]

As of 6 months ago, 15 was still the best beer I've had from them.

 

[stakem1]

I dont think they are holding up well at all.

Man...15 was a bag of **** within a year of its release. I cant imagine what its like now. I think I still have a bottle of 13 and 14 that I am too afraid to open due to how bad 15 was...

But strangely enough the bottle of 11 wasnt "that bad" around the same time period that I drank the 15.

 

[JulianB1]

Opened 13-17 on my birthday (June 2nd). My thoughts are in here:

http://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/cellared-beer-reviews-may-2014.10136/page-2

TL;DR: 14 easily the best, 13 and 16 good, 17 good but not as nice as it was on draft, 15 easily the worst.

I've also had 11 and 12 recently (tasting in May) and both of them were dull and muddled, but not offensively bad or anything.

 

[tinypyramids1]

thanks for the reports. is 14 especially hard to trade for? would i be able to pick one up with, say, a dark lord or something like that? i remember 15 sitting in some places for months, but i don't think 14 ever got chicago distro (so an ip trade might be more difficult, and since i don't do shipping trades anymore, there you go).

 

[beerinnv]

Opened 13-17 on my birthday (June 2nd). My thoughts are in here:

http://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/cellared-beer-reviews-may-2014.10136/page-2

TL;DR: 14 easily the best, 13 and 16 good, 17 good but not as nice as it was on draft, 15 easily the worst.

I've also had 11 and 12 recently (tasting in May) and both of them were dull and muddled, but not offensively bad or anything.

Your birthday is the day before mine, but I've got a few years on you

 

[barleywinefiend]

I had great luck with 15! Going strong. 14 was a bit muddy. My 13 had a light oxidatiion.

 

[Arbitrator]

There are at least 2 strong opinions (Tastes great! vs Aged like ****!) for each anniversary, so I suspect you'll work through all
256 possibilities if this thread stays open long enough.

My personal opinion: 18 fresh tastes like a shitty 17, and none of the others have ever aged well past a year, with some falling off faster than others (11 and 13 having the fastest decline). Don't age Firestone anniversaries. If 14 is tough to obtain, then skip it. You're "paying" for the name more than the taste at that point.

Also, it's not a vertical if the beers are all different, but I guess I'm just being pedantic.

 

[owens99]

thanks for the reports. is 14 especially hard to trade for? would i be able to pick one up with, say, a dark lord or something like that? i remember 15 sitting in some places for months, but i don't think 14 ever got chicago distro (so an ip trade might be more difficult, and since i don't do shipping trades anymore, there you go).

Pretty sure that 14 did see Chicago distro - I did an in-person trade in Chicago a couple of years ago and the Chicago trader was able to pick it up off the shelf to include in the trade. So it may be easier than you think. I've only tried the 13 and 14 once or twice each and the 13th was just ok, while the 14th was pretty good. But that was over a year ago for each one.

I've got one bottle left of each and am not particular excited about opening them. If you find yourself in Columbus, OH I'm sure we could swap something. Or I should be in Chicago in May and could bring them with me if you're still looking at that point.

 

[Number45]

FWIW, had 14 about a month ago and it was AWESOME. I had been storing it at 45-50 degrees in a mini fridge since I traded for it about 18 months earlier. I've loved every FW Anniversary beer I've had, which is 14-17. That 14 was the only one I didn't have within a year of release though.

 

[JulianB1]

To add a bit more context to my 14 praise, I had it on draft at Barrelworks roughly a year before opening that bottle on my birthday (but alas never had it fresh). It was as good then, maybe better. Drank it next to '12 and '13 Parabola and it went toe-to-toe with '12 as the best beer of the day ('13 still needed about 6 months of aging at that point, for my tastes).

 

[voldemortadella]

I had my last bottle of 13 a couple of weeks ago and it tasted like straight up Vegemite.

 

[DougOLis]

Also, it's not a vertical if the beers are all different, but I guess I'm just being pedantic.

Would that be a diagonal? Not quite a vertical and not quite a horizontal?

 

[Arbitrator]

Would that be a diagonal? Not quite a vertical and not quite a horizontal?

Dat dere bishop maneuver

 

[willseph]

Opened a XV last weekend, enjoyed it quite a bit. Got lots of vanilla and barrel taste. I did get just a hint of oxidation, but admittedly, I haven't kept great care of the bottle as I've moved three times since I bought it.

 

[ExcuzM3]

Had XV this past week at Brouwer's in Seattle. Granted it was from a keg, so likely to age differently...but I thought it tasted like mainly Stickee Monkee. It was still good, but mainly just sweetness to me. Got a little of old hop flavor to it, not exactly sure. Wasn't overly impressed with it, versus when I had it ~1.5 years ago.

 

[waltersrj]

IMO FW barrel aged beers fall off hard. 3-6 months and the barreling "hotness" falls off but after a year the barrel flavor is gone entirely. A couple years old and they're really bad. Did a full parabola and Abacus/Sucaba vertical with friends and the batch 1's were just awful.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

Can comfirm what others have said about 14, it's awesome. Doing a 14-18 in a couple of weeks. I never liked 15, and it wsas my least favorite. 17 comes in next, then 16. Hope this helps.

 

[CheapBeerBuzz]

14 upvote here.

 

[black_cascade]

Had XV this past week at Brouwer's in Seattle. Granted it was from a keg, so likely to age differently...but I thought it tasted like mainly Stickee Monkee. It was still good, but mainly just sweetness to me. Got a little of old hop flavor to it, not exactly sure. Wasn't overly impressed with it, versus when I had it ~1.5 years ago.

I was pretty letdown by XV that night, tasted pretty oxidized to me. That '13 Parabola was drinkin real nice though.

 

[ExcuzM3]

I was pretty letdown by XV that night, tasted pretty oxidized to me. That '13 Parabola was drinkin real nice though.

Agree with you 100%, had very high hopes for XV. The parabola was fantastic. Mainly just enjoyed that, fresh Double Jack and Agrestic was pretty awesome.

 

[falc0n26001]

Has anyone had 18 yet? I bought one because it was $19.50 and last year BevMo was charging $24 or something like that.

 

[ghawk162002]

XIV>>XVI>XVIII>XIII>>>XVII>>>>>>>>>>>XV. I have a XIII aging. Also have a XII coming so will be interesting to try that. I've also hear that they start REALLY falling off after XIV. If you can trade for a XIV, do it! XIV is FANTASTIC. Had it at the XVIII release party and I couldn't get enough. The had XIII as well and I liked it too, not as much as 14 as it was a bit thinner and the taste had fallen off a tad. XVIII will age great as it's Parabola based, but is a tad hot fresh. I think the last Anniversary to be Parabola based was XIV.

 

[blue_bleeder]

Has anyone had 18 yet? I bought one because it was $19.50 and last year BevMo was charging $24 or something like that.

I thought it was great but as most people on here know, I don't know **** about beer. I thought it was a burnt marshmallow bomb. It was a tad hot but I don't mind that. I bought a case.

 

[BadJustin]

mborden just did a mini vert of 15-17 I believe. Perhaps he can chime in.

 

[mborden1]

There are at least 2 strong opinions (Tastes great! vs Aged like ****!) for each anniversary, so I suspect you'll work through all 256 possibilities if this thread stays open long enough.

This^ from what I've read in the thread haha. As BadJustin mentioned I recently did 15-17 and liked the 15 the best of the bunch. So I guess I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from a bunch of you. However, since you already have 15-17 and I can't help with your question about the 14, I guess I'm just adding noise to the signal.

 

[deepsouth1]

I guess it's safe to assume that I held onto my 11 and 12 too long.

 

[anteater1]

I've found most of the anni beers to be almost too mellow, if that's a thing. Although XVIII was actually a little hot, and not in a bad way. I think XVI was my favorite out of the 5 or 6 I've tried, any earlier than XVI at this point I think would start to have too much cardboard flavor.

 

[luwak1]

So i was lucky enough to have 14 thrice this year.
I think it is way past its prime (unless every source had poor storage). its falling apart on the paalate as many old ales and barleywines seem to do as they age.

This is a huge shame as 14 is the one everybody usually sems to say is the best of all of them
I loved it three years ago myself.

Side note: Am I the only one who thinks 18 is a awful nightmare?
It tatses like somebody poured some mid grade bourbon (and way too much of it) into a kinda thin black IPA.
It's really awful.
I actually tried really hard to drink half a bottle. I couldnt do it.
It is actually really thin and the aftertaste...ugh....

 

[SAISON FUCK]

I have a FW 14 in my basement if you are still looking tinypyramids. Not looking for Dark Lord, but could possibly work something out IP Chicago.

 

[Ziggy]

XIV>>XVI>XVIII>XIII>>>XVII>>>>>>>>>>>XV. I have a XIII aging. Also have a XII coming so will be interesting to try that. I've also hear that they start REALLY falling off after XIV. If you can trade for a XIV, do it! XIV is FANTASTIC. Had it at the XVIII release party and I couldn't get enough. The had XIII as well and I liked it too, not as much as 14 as it was a bit thinner and the taste had fallen off a tad. XVIII will age great as it's Parabola based, but is a tad hot fresh. I think the last Anniversary to be Parabola based was XIV.

I've had 2012 parabola and 2014 parabola. I can honestly say, the fresher the better. The 2012 was a lot less "hot", but not as rich in flavor as the 2014. I haven't had the XVIII yet, but seeing as it is a parabola base, it might be better fresh. But hey, it's all subjective an what not right?

 

[sacrelicio]

Always enjoyed them starting with 15, but after trying 18 this year, I realized that they all kinda taste the same, and just have a generic BA strong ale flavor. I much prefer the component beers on their own with their unique attributes.

 

[errantnight]

There are at least 2 strong opinions (Tastes great! vs Aged like ****!) for each anniversary, so I suspect you'll work through all
256 possibilities if this thread stays open long enough.

My personal opinion: 18 fresh tastes like a shitty 17, and none of the others have ever aged well past a year, with some falling off faster than others (11 and 13 having the fastest decline). Don't age Firestone anniversaries. If 14 is tough to obtain, then skip it. You're "paying" for the name more than the taste at that point.

Also, it's not a vertical if the beers are all different, but I guess I'm just being pedantic.

Disagree with a lot of the specifics in this post. 18 is a better 17, 11 didn't last the longest but it was probably perfect AFTER about a year. 12 was the worst fresh and fell off fastest. From 14 on they've all held up well (if not necessarily wildly improved).

All that said, they don't handle aging quite as well as their individual blends and I'd recommend you drink them, not sit on them, and avoid trading for them as they seem particularly susceptible to poor cellaring conditions.

 

[Arbitrator]

Disagree with a lot of the specifics in this post. 18 is a better 17, 11 didn't last the longest but it was probably perfect AFTER about a year. 12 was the worst fresh and fell off fastest. From 14 on they've all held up well (if not necessarily wildly improved).

My prophecy is coming true!

There are at least 2 strong opinions (Tastes great! vs Aged like ****!) for each anniversary, so I suspect you'll work through those 256+ possibilities if this thread stays open long enough.

 

[errantnight]

My prophecy is coming true!

I just wanted to get it out of the way in one post for you

 

[cosmicevan]

a fun vert for certain. had them on 12/.28

For me, 18 takes it. They are all good. Top 3 are 18, 17, 14...14 is the 4 spot. 15 and 16 at the bottom

 

[AlCoBro]

Blue Palms, in Hwood, has a vert starting at 14 which is priced crazy low at $40.

Anyway, 14 is incredible, 15 is good, 16 okay, 17 is great and 18 good.

I HAVE OPINIONS

 

[danbanana]

Blue Palms, in Hwood, has a vert starting at 14 which is priced crazy low at $40.

Anyway, 14 is incredible, 15 is good, 16 okay, 17 is great and 18 good.

I HAVE OPINIONS

I'm not arguing that you don't have opinions, just that they're really wrong.

 

[Jnorton00]

Did 14-18 last weekend and they were all holding up really well I thought.

 

[teddymc9]

My bottle of 16 was phenomenal at Xmas time.