Cellared Beer Reviews

[stakem1]

i was going through my bruery sours from 2013-2015, and was checking them out on untapped, either they are all drinking fantastically or being drank by fan boys. i wanna think fantastically because their newer sours aren’t drinking nearly as good. anyone open one of these up recently? i got a 2013 oude tart with cherries on deck. i bet stakem has shelves of these sours!

i think i still have a mother funker and b1 sour in the rye floating in some box too i should probably fish out

I agree with matedog I had cases of sour in the rye and oude tart (along with their fruited versions) that were all 5+ years old. I think the peach one was always my wifes favorite. Anyway, I ended up giving them all away to my buddies who are fanboys or I offered them up in a bulk trade for shelf Fantomes.

Im down to about 2 cases of bruery sours and then they will finally be gone. I have a couple im saving that are tagged for drinking with a buddy: OG batch of bottleworks and its rebrew, the 2 vitis brews (man that first one was still awesome when I last had it.)

I also have a bottle of mother funker that I was saving for my friend who passed away. I think ill keep that one forever unopened as a tribute to him and reminder of what Bruery sours are capable of being.

 

[stupac2]

Had some fun at Falling Rock last night:

'96 Thomas Hardy's, this was served way too cold so all you could taste at first was must, but as it warmed the nice butterscotch/fig flavors started to dominate. It was dead flat so I was a bit worried, but it turned out great.

'97 Thomas Hardy's, after the last one we realized that it needed to warm, but even after giving it time it never hit the high of the '96. The flavors were very similar, just more muted.

'07 Thomas Hardy's. After the last one I wanted to try going much newer, but it turns out this was too new! It still had a bitter finish and the oxidation hadn't really had a chance to take over yet. I've had a lot less Hardy's than JW Lees, but 11 years is plenty for them, I guess it's not for Hardy's!

 

[stakem1]

Black Damnation - the numberless one that was a collab between de molen and struise

I think this is 9? years old at this point. As you can see, its healthy with the carbonation and I did it no service by opening it at cellar temp with no chill down. Despite the hefty carb, its not distracting - its roasty, almost smoked feeling with tobacco, leather, anise and plum/raison and has a long lingering alcohol burn. Damn, I thought I mighta messed this one up and let her sit too long but damn if she cant go even longer...

 

[stakem1]

2014 southampton double ice bock
Buttery caramel and orange zest. It could sit for a couple decades im sure but I enjoyed this quite a bit

2003 World Wide Stout
This was the first batch that had a new label without vim and vigor present and/or crossed off.
Ive opened a number of these over the years and the last one had some soy action going on so I decided to drink another sooner rather than later. This one had zero oxidation/signs of its age... to the extent I had to double check to make sure I didnt accidentally open a younger bottle. Straight port, chocolate and roast. Im down to a mixed six pack of wws from ‘02-06 and that kinda makes me sad as I dont want to wait 5+ more years to see if younger wws has the same potential.

 

[jedwards]

2014 southampton double ice bock
Buttery caramel and orange zest. It could sit for a couple decades im sure but I enjoyed this quite a bit

2003 World Wide Stout
This was the first batch that had a new label without vim and vigor present and/or crossed off.
Ive opened a number of these over the years and the last one had some soy action going on so I decided to drink another sooner rather than later. This one had zero oxidation/signs of its age... to the extent I had to double check to make sure I didnt accidentally open a younger bottle. Straight port, chocolate and roast. Im down to a mixed six pack of wws from ‘02-06 and that kinda makes me sad as I dont want to wait 5+ more years to see if younger wws has the same potential.

*applause*

 

[iong516]

Saw some old items up for cellar sale on FB, and in the post the guy said he had a bunch more mid 2000s-10s stuff he was looking to get rid of. I messaged him asking about lambic, and although he had already gotten rid of his old loons, he had a bunch of cool stuff at reasonable prices. Got this and some 2010ish 'tomes for $30 each, and dug into this tonight. He had mentioned that the last one he opened was significantly oxidized, but this bottle is treating me well. It tastes more charred than I expected, but otherwise all the BA barleywine descriptors one might imagine are here. Raisin/fig/port, a leathery character from the barrel, some lingering spirit heat, no overwhelming cardboard...

I'm not sure that he'll ship, but if anyone is looking for a bunch of reasonably priced old BW, and some more expensive other things like old RR, New Belgium, etc, I could ask him about putting folks in contact.

 

[BeersMorgan]

Had my last fumapapa last night. It was excellent. The smokiness had dropped of a bunch since last time I had it a few years ago. Subtle smoke, beautiful mouthfeel, would love to have more before they fall off.

 

[landrewg]

Thanks to libbey for this one. Love this beer fresh and it got smoother with time. Cherries and oak goodness.
I kinda miss the Baltic sharpness but this is really good.

 

[brian4beer]

Xpost.

Checking in on the 07. Have not had this for three or four years. It has definitely lost a lot of the fullness/heat and mouthfeel it had years ago. It is now more thin and past its prime. Still very drinkable but heading towards the old Bcbs cardboard taste.

 

[matedog]

2012 Cascade Figaro

I have only had one old bottle of Cascade and that was a seven year old bottle of Kriek that was pretty alright. This was less so. Quite sour, muddled flavors, with some oxidation creeping in. I wrote a glowing review of this beer relatively fresh, that it had some surprising gueuze like grassy notes. This had none of that. It wasn't bad, but it has certainly gotten worse if it was as delicious fresh as I remembered.

 

[davey101]

09-2016 bottle thanks to civicsitodamax. Nose is light bourbon and toffee soaked raisins. Taste is really smooth and mellow. Raisinettes and a subtle bourbon presence with a lingering toffee sweetness. Warm and coating yet highly drinkable. This beer is awesome!!

 

[JGlitz87]

We got a bunch of their stuff in the Board Game BIF a few years back, I remember liking all of them quite a bit and was surprised that they are not talked about more.

 

[tikk]

Found this in a cooler at a beer spot near my new job. Bourbon has faded to the back, get a bit of vanilla on the tail end. Oxidation has set in a bit, but it isn't all cardboard. They have a few more, probably going to buy them all and see where they go.

 

[user 305963]

i was going through my bruery sours from 2013-2015, and was checking them out on untapped, either they are all drinking fantastically or being drank by fan boys. i wanna think fantastically because their newer sours aren’t drinking nearly as good. anyone open one of these up recently? i got a 2013 oude tart with cherries on deck. i bet stakem has shelves of these sours!

i think i still have a mother funker and b1 sour in the rye floating in some box too i should probably fish out

I had a 13 Oude Tart w Cherries back in August that had lost all its character. Not much cherry, balsamic notes, just straight sour.

 

[brian4beer]

2012

Has lost most of the coffee notes. Tastes a lot like regular Bourbon County, which is not a bad thing. Great heat and mouthfeel. Still a lot of life left.

 

[KevSal]

2012

Has lost most of the coffee notes. Tastes a lot like regular Bourbon County, which is not a bad thing. Great heat and mouthfeel. Still a lot of life left.

man i remember having this beer fresh and just being completely blown away. first perfect 5 beer i had. so ******* good. might need to get to a 2013/2014 i got stashed soon

 

[BadJustin]

Banged this yesterday at a friends wedding, Fred B1. Obvs no carb (shocker). Dried dark fruit and oxidation that was well past the point of wet cardboard but, for this beer, it worked, it was weird. Boozy, somewhat slick a bit of fusel. I was pretty cocked by then but that’s all I got.

 

[PrinceCasual]

09-2016 bottle thanks to civicsitodamax. Nose is light bourbon and toffee soaked raisins. Taste is really smooth and mellow. Raisinettes and a subtle bourbon presence with a lingering toffee sweetness. Warm and coating yet highly drinkable. This beer is awesome!!

We got a bunch of their stuff in the Board Game BIF a few years back, I remember liking all of them quite a bit and was surprised that they are not talked about more.

Ocelot does great barleywines/Scotch and stouts, especially barrel aged. Sadly It's a real pain in the ass to get out there, if you are coming from DC it's an additional 20mins+ past Aslin.

I think they are a slow and steady brewery who is making what they can move in a timely manner, and are smart to not expand massively, which requires winning in Total Wines and grocery stores, since as we are seeing there are way more established brands who are hurting since those avenues for sales are anything but guaranteed.

 

[holldy01]

B2 Sticky Drippy. Clean and tart. The past few ones I’ve opened have been having cardboard notes but this one isn’t showing that. Minimal mustyness. Honey is present but faint and the floral notes have faded. This bottles held up nicely, getting down to the final few bottles.

 

[Lutter]

Banged this yesterday at a friends wedding, Fred B1. Obvs no carb (shocker). Dried dark fruit and oxidation that was well past the point of wet cardboard but, for this beer, it worked, it was weird. Boozy, somewhat slick a bit of fusel. I was pretty cocked by then but that’s all I got.

I think I've still got 1 or 2 of these B1s in my cellar. Mine talk about Ratebeer.com on the back (I got them from a bud who was a moderator over there). Not sure if it was an private bottling or what.

 

[tikk]

Love this beer with 3 years on it. Snarf prefers 5. Super oxidated, cardboard for days. Still tasty, but I prefer them a bit more fresh.

 

[Snarf1]

Love this beer with 3 years on it. Snarf prefers 5. Super oxidated, cardboard for days. Still tasty, but I prefer them a bit more fresh.

Almost pulled an Old Stock last night. I forget what I grabbed instead, it's still in the fridge. Brought some De Dolle up earlier this week that didn't get opened either, so I'll try and report back.

Tasted the Willetized the Mrs had last night, no green pepper, but little coffee either. Drink 'em if ya got 'em. I'll probably let a few keep going, but don't see it doing anything.

 

[stakem1]

Cracked this Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva last night. 13 years old at this point, it has been 6 years since I last drank one. 7-8 years ago, this was one of if not my #1 pick as favorite quad.

The calvados aspect in this bottle was muted in comparison to other bottles ive had. Instead it was filled with raisony caramel sweetness. Unfortunately, I walked away from my glass and when I returned to it some ******* fruit flies got into it and made it smell like ****. I picked them out, decanted it to another glass but it still smelled like fruit flies. Those ******* terrorists are lucky I still have another bottle or 2 of this vintage to drink in the snow when the threat of these **** bags getting into my beer is over.

 

[Lutter]

I really need to participate in this thread more... I have soooo much beer down in the cellar.

 

[matedog]

Love this beer with 3 years on it. Snarf prefers 5. Super oxidated, cardboard for days. Still tasty, but I prefer them a bit more fresh.

Weird, I did a tasting of 2001/03/05/07/09 about a year ago and they were all holding extremely well with minimal to no oxidation.

 

[Lutter]

Weird, I did a tasting of 2001/03/05/07/09 about a year ago and they were all holding extremely well with minimal to no oxidation.

Yeah... I've had the same experience with this beer.

 

[matedog]

Yeah... I've had the same experience with this beer.

I went in with low expectations. I didn't think Americans were making and packaging beers in a way that would stand 10+ years. Especially since much younger stuff from the early 2010s from other brueries, sorry, breweries has held up far less well.

 

[Lutter]

I went in with low expectations. I didn't think Americans were making and packaging beers in a way that would stand 10+ years. Especially since much younger stuff from the early 2010s from other brueries, sorry, breweries has held up far less well.

Yeah.... I'm kinda weary of a lot of things pre-2008.

I need to crack some of my older Jester King bottles.... those are right about 6 years old right now.

 

[Shakedwnst]

man i remember having this beer fresh and just being completely blown away. first perfect 5 beer i had. so ******* good. might need to get to a 2013/2014 i got stashed soon

Found some 14 on the shelf recently and think the coffee is mostly gone from those too. YMMV

 

[user 305963]

2012

Not terrible? Still flavors of oak and chocolate. Slight bourbon notes, but no heat at all. Touch of oxidation creeping in. Very little carb. As Founders says, don’t age KBS kids.