What to do with a 2002 bottle of Bigfoot Barleywine?

I went through my bottle collection today, and found a 2002 bottle of Bigfoot Barleywine that I had forgotten about.

IIRC, a friend who originally introduced me to craft/microbrews gave me a couple of bottles of Bigfoot. I couldn't finish the first bottle, and so stuck the second bottle up on the shelf with my collection.

I have never posted a poll here before, so I hope that it comes through. If not, I will post the poll options in a later post.

Wait for an occasion, and crack it open!

Hang on to it until January and drink it side by side with a 2012 Bigfoot for a 10 year tasting.

OK, poll options are up now. Thanks for the feedback so far!

strat_thru_marshall said:

Hang on to it until January and drink it side by side with a 2012 Bigfoot for a 10 year tasting.

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Winner!

In my experience BF doesnt make it any better than 5 yrs or so, even in the fridge, so I dont mean to quench your experience but it may be pretty bad

rambler said:

In my experience BF doesnt make it any better than 5 yrs or so, even in the fridge, so I dont mean to quench your experience but it may be pretty bad

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dunno what happened with yours, but last month I had one from 1996 and it was amazing

Thats good, I may have had a bad bottle or something, or it just may have been a bad year.

The general consensus of the poll seems to be that I should drink it now.

To be honest, I haven't drank a barleywine since the time that I put this one up, and I didn't like it then. My "beer palate" has definitely changed since then, but I would hate to pour this beer and not enjoy it, which is why I am leaning toward drinking a few different barleywines to develp an appreciation for the style. I am sure that this post will earn me a few Option #6 votes, LOL.

Anyway, what is the preferred serving temperature for barleywines?

Just picked up a sixer of 2012 over the weekend, and am drinking the first one of those now. Resiny, raisins, licorice are a few of the tastes that I am getting.

I drank a sixpack of Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball some months ago, that was really good.

Anyway, when an occasion occurs, I will be opening the 2002 bottle in the not too distant future.

Wow this is an old thread! I would pick up a bottle of 2012 BF and taste them side by side, or perhaps even make a clone of it and wait it to age out, then do a tasting of a fresh version, yours, and your '02 bottle. Though that sounds like too much work and sounds too good on paper - in reality, I'd probably just drink it, at the most with a fresh version for comparison.

Flat licorice and black currant. I am trying to make it through the bottle, but since I poured a 2012 at the same time, that tastes pretty good, it is going to be hard to do.