Fellowship of the Drink VI: All Crying Samwise's will be Flogged

[tlucarelli]

I finally got my 5th beer. So whoever gets my offer may or may not get that middle guy...

View attachment 1494368046552.jpg

 

[jimyson]

I finally got my 5th beer. So whoever gets my offer may or may not get that middle guy...

I had a sneaking suspicion that your trip out of town was to HH.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Pic sent. Apologies for my lateness. Work travel is making me technologically inept, and mobile only, but is likely to add a pretty sweet Easter Egg to my offer.

So ah, who'd you send the pic to??

 

[TBC]

So ah, who'd you send the pic to??

I found it!

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Just as good! CPU savies could probably piece a pic together for the dude..

 

[fourfarthing]

I sent it to your gmail.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I sent it to your gmail.

Ahhh...my bad. Would've like to see what its creative crowd would come up with! Give me 2min..

 

[fourfarthing]

Let them make theirs and if its better don't post mine

 

[TBC]

Let them make theirs and if its better don't post mine

Dogfish Higher Math!

 

[fourfarthing]

Exactly.

 

[PatrickGoss]

Dogfish Higher Math!

Need.

 

[fourfarthing]

I have two left after this (the beer not the babe). If you want to trade PM me. If the babe, I wish you luck.

 

[cegan09]

I'm curious, you really thought higher math got better with a year? I threw a 4 pack in the cellar to save. Tried one at a year and did not think it got better. Everyone's different though. Still have 3 more, so we'll just keep trying them.

 

[fourfarthing]

I did. First year i thought it was too harsh and sharp. It smoothed well for me in year two. My gut says this is a year five beer (and then you regret drinking the first couple of years).

 

[Relampago]

Looks like a good round

 

[PatrickGoss]

I have two left after this (the beer not the babe). If you want to trade PM me. If the babe, I wish you luck.

I was talking about the girl. Already have the beer and wasn't a fan.

 

[jekeane]

I dumped a higher math last night neither my wife an I could stomach it. Thankfully we didn't buy two to find out if it would be better in four more years.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Dogfish Higher Math!

Always loved multi-flavored drinks..

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I don't buy beer to stare at. Some imperial stouts, especially with flavors, I'll age for an entire week..oh the agony.. just to say I did, otherwise down the hatch it goes! My HB imperials definitely come into their own after 4 months, had some after 6 with not much change. Hard for me to believe the chemistry changes that much between 6 months and 2 years. We need to ask the resident PhD..@RevKev your take?

 

[cegan09]

Some beer absolutely changes, there is no question. But some will be more pronounced than others. Henniker puts out a beer called company every year that is a belgian quad aged on cherrywood. First year fresh it was harsh and not well melded. A year later it was amazing and super well blended.

The ones that will be most pronounced are big beers, imperial stouts, belgian quads, barrleywines, etc. And they absolutely do change. I know some people have no interest, and then there's the other side where people just hoard and never drink. I'm in the middle. I have about 110 bottles/cans sitting right now, but they all have a target age associated and I will drink them when they hit that. Some have been hugely worth it, some I shouldn't have bothered. All were worth the experiment.

 

[fourfarthing]

I feel like I need to edit my offer to minimize debate!

 

[fourfarthing]

I did a one decade vertical on Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout that wowed me on flavor change.

 

[jimyson]

I did a one decade vertical on Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout that wowed me on flavor change.

How much of that could be attributed to batch variances?

 

[fourfarthing]

At a brewery of that scale, likely not a ton given the flavor shifts. Most of it was interesting to see how the alcohol rounded out the harsher elements over time.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Some beer absolutely changes, there is no question. But some will be more pronounced than others. Henniker puts out a beer called company every year that is a belgian quad aged on cherrywood. First year fresh it was harsh and not well melded. A year later it was amazing and super well blended.

The ones that will be most pronounced are big beers, imperial stouts, belgian quads, barrleywines, etc. And they absolutely do change. I know some people have no interest, and then there's the other side where people just hoard and never drink. I'm in the middle. I have about 110 bottles/cans sitting right now, but they all have a target age associated and I will drink them when they hit that. Some have been hugely worth it, some I shouldn't have bothered. All were worth the experiment.

Good point! Apparently, I need to buy a bigger house or kick someone out of a spare room! Do you cellar at cool temperatures? Something impossible in Central Texas.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I feel like I need to edit my offer to minimize debate!

Let me know soon...

 

[RevKev]

I don't buy beer to stare at. Some imperial stouts, especially with flavors, I'll age for an entire week..oh the agony.. just to say I did, otherwise down the hatch it goes! My HB imperials definitely come into their own after 4 months, had some after 6 with not much change. Hard for me to believe the chemistry changes that much between 6 months and 2 years. We need to ask the resident PhD..@RevKev your take?

Haha I know not a whole lot about aging beers, I'm too impatient to actually adopt the practice just like you it seems, but from what I gather aging should be done with bigger complex characters. Strong ales, wild fermented ales and smoked beers all have the potential to develop over time. Partially due to oxidation and partially due to degradation and life cycle of metabolites throughout the age of beer. Muting more prominent flavours and allowing subtle undertones to come through or be produced.

If there is no complexity I see no point in aging, but those who have done this extensively know much better than me..

I could however formulate a LC or GC-MS method and test brews over time for notable compounds and identify their metabolic breakdown and levels. But.. I think I'd rather just drink the beer haha

 

[fourfarthing]

No change required. I will stick with my knitting and supplement with other items outside of the posting.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I could however formulate a LC or GC-MS method and test brews over time for notable compounds and identify their metabolic breakdown and levels. But.. I think I'd rather just drink the beer haha

Sounds like a great thesis opportunity!

 

[cegan09]

Good point! Apparently, I need to buy a bigger house or kick someone out of a spare room! Do you cellar at cool temperatures? Something impossible in Central Texas.

I'm in an apartment still. I started with a small beverage fridge that I installed a controller on to keep it at ~54F. Then i filled that.... So now I have a bunch in boxes that were cool enough in the winter (I keep the place a little chilly), and in the summer I'll move them to the basement which remains cool enough. Within a year I'm hoping to buy a place and I'll just devote an area of the basement.