Cellared Beer Reviews

[Gonzoillini1]

2012 New Glarus Barleywine, cellared from purchase in a 55degree converted chest freezer.

The American hop profile has mellowed in a pleasant way that is much more subdued than the typical aged hop forward barleywine profile. Lacks the caramel richness I'm looking for in most barleywines, and while it wasn't a rich / viscous beer to start with it's thinned with age.

Have 1 bottle left that I'll likely let hang around for a while, but like most things New Glarus these beers age and mellow on a pretty slow predictable curve.

 

[ASak10]

Drinking a Consecration from 2/11/14. I love this beer fresh, but I'm surprised how much I am enjoying this with a little time on it. When fresh I feel like this beer has some harshness to it that has since been muted. Nice balance of acidity and tartness, with the black currants really coming through to brighten up the beer. Great dry finish as well. I didn't know how I'd like this compared to fresh batches, but I'm definitely a fan.

 

[flexabull]

I've still got quite a few various years of these tucked away, every now and then I grab one to see what's going on.

Started with some carbonation, but it faded fast. Smells like cedar, figs, and tobacco.

Taste is more subdued than I expected, but not in a bad way. No oxidation, some cocoa, sugars, dark bread, and nuttiness. Almost tastes like a Quad.

Different than what I expected, but still tasty.

 

[ASak10]

Drinking a 9/19/13 Expedition Stout. Smooth and creamy as can be. Starts out sweet, and then just turns into a beautiful bitter, roasty, dark chocolate finish. No heat from the alcohol. I have a 2013 Ten Fidy on deck for tomorrow night, will be interesting to compare how it differs from this beer.

 

[Espeer]

2006 3 philosophers. Nose immediately reminds me of a Madeira I just had. Overall, oxidized but still enjoyable.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Drank my last 07 Blushing Monk Sunday. I wasn't in charge of photographing beer, and frankly it looks just like the new ones, so it's not much to look at on it's own, but that flavor is still stunning. Way better than fresh. It dries out nicely from how syrupy it is fresh. Love to give these a good 5 years to sit. Will start cracking into 11's (relatively) soon.

 

[cr0mster]

Drank a 2012 Bruery SiTR. Tried the base beer first and was blown away with how it is drinking. Some of the tartness has fallen off and more flavors are coming though. I then added fresh muddled blackberries into a french press and it was amazing. If you have any bottles that you have been cellaring I highly recommend cracking one open now.

 

[thunderbirdesq]

2002 Quelque Chose big time tart cherry, licorice, and sticky caramel. Pretty delicious mix of cherry pie filling and pipe tobacco. Just the slightest tickle of carbonation.

 

[libbey]

I've still got quite a few various years of these tucked away, every now and then I grab one to see what's going on.

Started with some carbonation, but it faded fast. Smells like cedar, figs, and tobacco.

Taste is more subdued than I expected, but not in a bad way. No oxidation, some cocoa, sugars, dark bread, and nuttiness. Almost tastes like a Quad.

Different than what I expected, but still tasty.

whats the year on that?

 

[ASak10]

Alright, so apparently I had an impromptu 2013 stout tasting this week.

I didn't post on Monday, but had a 2013 BCBS. I can only describe it as liquid fudge brownie. Insane milk chocolate notes, very smooth, and a syrupy mouthfeel that just coats your tongue and lets the sweetness of the beer linger.

Drinking this tonight...

2013 Ten Fidy. Insane creamy texture, and of course that signature Ten Fidy thickness and richness. It's almost the opposite of the Expedition Stout I had last night, in that the roasty flavors hit you right away and then mellows into a sweet, sweet finish that just lingers in the mouth. Amazing.

I'd say of the 3, the Expedition and Ten Fidy were more similar in that they have a lot of bitter and roasty notes, albeit in opposite order. The BCBS lacks that bitterness and makes up for it with more sweetness and syrupy flavor than the other two. All 3 lack any sort of heat despite their high ABV. All 3 are beers that I gladly stock up on to enjoy over 2, 3, 4 years. Not sure I'll go much longer than 4-5 years with any of them, but from fresh to 5 years, I can't get enough.

 

[Previously]

2009 Alaskan Barley Wine Ale is pretty, pretty, pretty good.

barleywinefiend

 

[stakem1]

whats the year on that?

2009

If you look at the label, "Old Stock Ale" is written overtop of the lager font year identifier.

 

[flexabull]

whats the year on that?

2009, it's faint, but it's listed where it says Old Stock in red.

 

[Der Fuchs]

Batch 2 anchorage love buzz saison is quite nice, but the spices (which i loved) are being overwhelmed by the yeast. 7/10
Batch 1 will be drank soon.

 

[davey101]

2002 Quelque Chose big time tart cherry, licorice, and sticky caramel. Pretty delicious mix of cherry pie filling and pipe tobacco. Just the slightest tickle of carbonation.

Local store still has a case of these. I've been buying a bottle every few months for the past few years. Kinda wanna try it warmed like they suggest.

 

[beeerear]

avery 5 monks
burnt brown sugar, molasses, sweetness has died down, more dark fruits and an almost cinnamon roll filling flavor, also waaaaayyy smoother

 

[Gonzoillini1]

Xpost from DDT today.

Been working on organizing the cellar today and pulled some stuff I'm not quite sure why I kept all these years.

2011 Double Bastard that actually is pretty good, think aged crystal malt character with lightly oxidized American hop character and a reduced booziness compared to my memory of this beer.

Reminiscent of aged Three Floyds Behemoth for me personally.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

Round 2 of Cellar Cleaning Saturday.

2011 Stone Imperial Russian Stout

Cocoa / roasted grains / light oxidation in the background and enough hopping to keep it from being too sweet. This is about perfect for this beer.

 

[thewimperoo]

X-post with DDT



9/6/12 BC

Drinking phenomenally right now. So smooth. All flavors are integrated perfectly, no heat, no oxidation. I think this is the third or fourth bottle I've had of 2012's this year. They are all doing really well.

 

[user 305963]

Alright, so apparently I had an impromptu 2013 stout tasting this week.

I didn't post on Monday, but had a 2013 BCBS. I can only describe it as liquid fudge brownie. Insane milk chocolate notes, very smooth, and a syrupy mouthfeel that just coats your tongue and lets the sweetness of the beer linger.

Drinking this tonight...

2013 Ten Fidy. Insane creamy texture, and of course that signature Ten Fidy thickness and richness. It's almost the opposite of the Expedition Stout I had last night, in that the roasty flavors hit you right away and then mellows into a sweet, sweet finish that just lingers in the mouth. Amazing.

I'd say of the 3, the Expedition and Ten Fidy were more similar in that they have a lot of bitter and roasty notes, albeit in opposite order. The BCBS lacks that bitterness and makes up for it with more sweetness and syrupy flavor than the other two. All 3 lack any sort of heat despite their high ABV. All 3 are beers that I gladly stock up on to enjoy over 2, 3, 4 years. Not sure I'll go much longer than 4-5 years with any of them, but from fresh to 5 years, I can't get enough.

I think I still have a 4pack from June 2013 buried in the cellar somewhere. Had one last winter and it was divine. Glad to hear its still holding on.

 

[ASak10]

I think I still have a 4pack from June 2013 buried in the cellar somewhere. Had one last winter and it was divine. Glad to hear its still holding on.

Yeah I'm definitely going to buy a couple 4 packs this year to stash away. I'm just bummed I somehow missed putting any from last year away...I'm hoping some random stores around town may have some stashed away.

I also ended up having a 2013 Narwhal a week before I had the Expedition/Ten Fidy/BCBS that I forgot to mention. I don't remember much except that there was a lot of nice bitterness and roast (I feel like I use roasty to describe every other stout I drink...I either need a new word or need to learn to describe flavors better, I suck at this ). I also have The Abyss, Black Butte XXV, Chocolate Yeti, Oak Aged Yeti, and The Czar from 2013. Part of me wants to let them sit longer, but part of me really loves a lot of these stouts with just a couple years on them, so we'll see what part wins out.

 

[jbeezification1]

In my experience Narwhal ages terribly. I very much prefer it fresh.

 

[lazerviking]

Perfect amount of age on this. Rum raisins, toffe, bitter orange, faint hops. Worlds better than the 2012 bottle I recently opened, which was still far too bitter.

 

[stakem1]

In my experience Narwhal ages terribly. I very much prefer it fresh.

I havent drank all that much of it. But my limited exposure leads to an opinion that is polar to yours. I thought it was an average beer fresh and fantastic with almost 2 years on it. When the BA version came out, we drank a batch 1 plain bottle, fresh bottle and the BA version. I liked the OG bottle the most followed by the BA and then the fresh plain bottle was unanimously the least favorite among the folks who participated in the tasting.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

I havent drank all that much of it. But my limited exposure leads to an opinion that is polar to yours. I thought it was an average beer fresh and fantastic with almost 2 years on it. When the BA version came out, we drank a batch 1 plain bottle, fresh bottle and the BA version. I liked the OG bottle the most followed by the BA and then the fresh plain bottle was unanimously the least favorite among the folks who participated in the tasting.

Agreed, I think it ages just fine.

 

[phing]

Consumed a 2009 Allagash Gargamel recently (first Allagash 375ml release). What was once a juicy raspberry treat had changed drastically. Color was now brown from the vibrant red when fresh. Caramel, vanilla, seedy nose, oxidized. Hint of raspberry still in the taste. She's seen better days but was still interesting in a very different way. Fun to revisit, but much better fresh.

 

[sacrelicio]

I havent drank all that much of it. But my limited exposure leads to an opinion that is polar to yours. I thought it was an average beer fresh and fantastic with almost 2 years on it. When the BA version came out, we drank a batch 1 plain bottle, fresh bottle and the BA version. I liked the OG bottle the most followed by the BA and then the fresh plain bottle was unanimously the least favorite among the folks who participated in the tasting.

Does BA age OK? I didn't like it fresh but I still have a bottle.

 

[libbey]

Special Oerbier Reserva 2007

A: The beer poured a muddy auburn brown with a beautiful cap of head that settles into a big fluffy pillow. Great lacing.

S: Tons of dark fruit and tannin from the oak. Sherry like wine qualities. Really good.

T: Taste follows suit. Big sherry notes with a dry bite from the oak. Finishes with a touch of tartness.

M: Mouthfeel is perfect. Smooth velvet carbonation. Dry snappy finish. At 13% this beer has zero heat, super smooth.

O: Overall for being over 8 years old this beer has aged incredibly well. Zero signs of oxidation. Very tasty and a true treat to try.

It should be noted this is the first time I've had this beer so I have no baseline to compare against.

 

[jbeezification1]

I havent drank all that much of it. But my limited exposure leads to an opinion that is polar to yours. I thought it was an average beer fresh and fantastic with almost 2 years on it. When the BA version came out, we drank a batch 1 plain bottle, fresh bottle and the BA version. I liked the OG bottle the most followed by the BA and then the fresh plain bottle was unanimously the least favorite among the folks who participated in the tasting.

Interesting. I held a couple of bottles from batch one and drank one when batch 2 was released and I didn't like it nearly as much as fresh so I gave the rest to my brother, who had the same opinion.

Of course I very much enjoy fresh Narwhal and didn't care much for BA.

 

[stakem1]

Interesting. I held a couple of bottles from batch one and drank one when batch 2 was released and I didn't like it nearly as much as fresh so I gave the rest to my brother, who had the same opinion.

Of course I very much enjoy fresh Narwhal and didn't care much for BA.

Thats the beauty of beer, everyone has unique taste preferances. Unfortunately I never documented specifics about what I enjoyed in the aged bottle verse fresh. Though, the past couple of years have taught me that I enjoy old cruddy beer much more than any person should.