Cellared Beer Reviews: May 2014

[barleywinefiend]

LOL. I've flown around the world for much less...

 

[barleywinefiend]

Love me some aged Bigfoot. '14-'06

Everyone like this better and better as we opened the next older bottle. The hops kept fading making it more carmely and smoothing out the beer.

The fact that the beer doesn't fall apart after 4-5 years is a huge testament to how well made it is.

An erection of historic significance has just happened....

 

[matedog]

Getting ready to move out to SF at the end of June, so expect to see a lot of cellar-clearing by me in the next six weeks or so.

Had some folks over last night to open a couple older bottles...

That's four versions of Bass No. 1 Barleywine separated by almost 120 years -- from right to left, the Bass No. 1 "Best By 1 Dec 1987" (which should be a 1984 bottle), the 1929 Prince's Ale, the 1902 King's Ale, and the 1869 Ratcliff Ale.

And the Ratcliff... this is not a bottle from the 2006/2007 auction of the White Shield find. Our understanding of the history of this bottle is that it was given to a long-time employee of Bass by Bass in the 1970s, and stored in a cellar by him until his death. We have some very nice photos of the bottle & capsule that I'll post here once they're processed, but suffice to say that the capsule (lead, wax, & cork) on this bottle was better than any King's I've ever opened or seen. We held the bottle at a shallow angle to keep the cork damp for several months and while we were not able to get it out in one piece, it didn't disintegrate and we were able to keep it out of the beer. Right after pouring, it had a huge vinous port nose and some nearly fresh fruit (plum & peach). It maintained good levels of oxidative tartness throughout the drinking process but that incredible first impression of port faded fairly quickly and we were left with the more standard raisin/prune fruit flavors. Lots of good peaty smoke and a wet tobacco flavor that became more prominent as it breathed. I got umami/smoked meat flavors (possibly amplified by the smoked elk sausage and bacon-wrapped dates that were paired with it) but no direct "soy sauce", though I will say that at this point I become thirsty for old stouts when I open a bottle of soy sauce, so maybe don't trust my impression on that one. Some folks at the tasting filled out BJCP sheets so we should have some additional impressions coming as well. Overall, up with the best King's Ales I've had, with some really interesting unique qualities. Couldn't be happier that the one time I'm going to drink this beer it was a great bottle.

Did you ever end up posting the photos?

 

[jedwards]

Did you ever end up posting the photos?

Some of the good photos are in pdawson's article: http://beerandbrewing.com/VRCJ8ikAAHkq_V01/article/19th-century-beer-in-a-21st-century-world

I have some more, will try and recall where I stashed them.

 

[matedog]

Some of the good photos are in pdawson's article: http://beerandbrewing.com/VRCJ8ikAAHkq_V01/article/19th-century-beer-in-a-21st-century-world

I have some more, will try and recall where I stashed them.

Cool article.

"After short negotiation, forty-five bottles of American beer (the first two years of the Crooked Stave Cellar Reserve and a few miscellaneous whales) were en route to England." Out of curiosity, is there any chance you can divulge the full trade?

 

[jedwards]

Honestly, I don't totally remember. I'd been picking up the CS reserve beers as well as various other American beers for Kirk all year (I'd be doing the same for him again if I was still trading much), and he was looking out for old UK stuff for me, so it really just worked out well that was talking about it with Corey, who was also interested in old beers and happened to have a bunch of earlier CS stuff.