Official tasting pictures thread

[MikeG1]

Northeast frozen Hill Farmstead tasting with matt_6, patm1986, and NYCBUCKEYE. Top 5:
1. Flora b5 - incredible. Huge wine presence. The bugs have really done their work well. Light years ahead of b6.
2. CD10 - unbelievably tart and complex.
3. CD4! - Carbonation was perfect for a bottle with this many years on it. Best dark saison I've ever had.
4. Art b3 - expected a much sharper taste. This was very soft and subtly complex.
5. Anna 11/2013 - the "Magic Batch". Wonderful expression of what Anna should always be.

 

[stupac2]

We drank some beer today. It started with Foumosas:

Then a side-by-side with Blauw and 50th Anniversary:

Then an interlude, Coconut Eclipse:

Back to sours, Veritas 014:

Before 1998 Iris (super appropriate swag) and Crianza:

Took a break here with a Firestone 14th Anniversary but apparently I didn't take a picture. Anywho, on to some ****** homebrew and a beer that's only 7 years old:

Another interlude with 2011 Elijah Craig 12 Eclipse:

Getting back to the lambic/lambic-wannabe:

Now we're just slummin' it:

Final damage:

 

[brian4beer]

Good times w mlefevre ,Lefty Hyzer ,rfraga7

-seasons set: all just good to ok
-AT: great
-01 3F: very good
-07 hommage: great nose too sour imo
-malvasia: good bottle
-Uli Orwal: real nice like eszett
-80s Belle-Vue Gueze: bad
-persica b1: great peach beer
-10 CC: not as good as 09
-Rodenbach Alexander: flat **** bottle
-13CFH: thin
-Fremont abominable: very good beer

 

[Lefty Hyzer]

Good times w mlefevre ,Lefty Hyzer ,rfraga7

-seasons set: all just good to ok
-AT: great
-01 3F: very good
-07 hommage: great nose too sour imo
-malvasia: good bottle
-Uli Orwal: real nice like eszett
-80s Belle-Vue Gueze: bad
-persica b1: great peach beer
-10 CC: not as good as 09
-Rodenbach Alexander: flat **** bottle
-13CFH: thin
-Fremont abominable: very good beer

Beer is good.

 

[BusinessSloth]

We drank some beer today. It started with Foumosas:

Then a side-by-side with Blauw and 50th Anniversary:

Then an interlude, Coconut Eclipse:

Back to sours, Veritas 014:

Before 1998 Iris (super appropriate swag) and Crianza:

Took a break here with a Firestone 14th Anniversary but apparently I didn't take a picture. Anywho, on to some ****** homebrew and a beer that's only 7 years old:

Another interlude with 2011 Elijah Craig 12 Eclipse:

Getting back to the lambic/lambic-wannabe:

Now we're just slummin' it:

Final damage:

Is that Canadian maple syrup I see? Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary, FouMosa, and 98 Iris?


Also the last few pages of this thread have been exceptionally ridiculously awesome to read. Please keep it up.

 

[matedog]

attempt to introduce coworkers to the world of sour beer. pretty broad spectrum swipe here - don't judge me

What were their thoughts?

 

[matedog]

We drank some beer today. It started with Foumosas:

Then a side-by-side with Blauw and 50th Anniversary:

Then an interlude, Coconut Eclipse:

Back to sours, Veritas 014:

Before 1998 Iris (super appropriate swag) and Crianza:

Took a break here with a Firestone 14th Anniversary but apparently I didn't take a picture. Anywho, on to some ****** homebrew and a beer that's only 7 years old:

Another interlude with 2011 Elijah Craig 12 Eclipse:

Getting back to the lambic/lambic-wannabe:

Now we're just slummin' it:

Final damage:

What were the highlights? I saw jedwards saying great things about that 98 Iris.

 

[stupac2]

Is that Canadian maple syrup I see?

No idea. belgianthings bought that for waffles, I didn't do an inspection. I'm a syrup layman.

Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary, FouMosa, and 98 Iris?

FouMosa was great. We used juice that had been squeezed about an hour before from some place in Oakland, and oddly it was too high-quality, so it was hard to balance the acidity of the juice and the beer. We ended up doing like 4 parts Fou to 3 OJ, which I think is backwards, but otherwise the OJ was just too strong. It was a great thing to drink on a beautiful morning while eating fritata, waffles, and fresh fruits.

50th hadn't changed all that much since the last time I had it a couple years ago, it's like taking any older 3F and adding just a touch of mint to it. It's really weird but works. jedwards already wrote something about the Iris somewhere, it was the hit of the day for most people but I'm not the biggest Iris fan. It was right at the edge of being too sour, while still being cheesy-funky and a touch bitter. The "Super Saver" sticker makes the whole thing, though. Can you imagine an importer feeling the need to discount lambic now? ******* I wish I had been into this back then.

What were the highlights? I saw jedwards saying great things about that 98 Iris.

Highlight for me is hard to pick. Maybe the Uli blend, but it wasn't the best I've had. The bottle of Blauw was weirdly clean, instead of awesomely funky (still had a great nose, it was mostly the taste that was clean). Like I said the Iris isn't totally my bag, neither is Crianza.

Weirdly the best beer there might've been the Westly. I took a bottle to the face over xmas and this one was flat-out better than that. If you have a Westly, drink it soon, I think it's peaking and the fruit will start to slowly fade. (Also, MrFootstones pointed this out a while ago, but SARA's fruited beer seems to almost always be released too soon, and it gets better after a few months in the bottle. I think this has been less true lately, but I've noticed it with the fruited Lucybelles, Cellar Palate/Pallet, and now Westly.)

 

[BeersMorgan]

From Saturday night

Bronze: DeGarde/Side Project Saison Desay collab
Silver: BA Abraxas
Gold: Ithaca Brute E!018

(BA Yeti is oxidized as **** and was the only bad beer in the bunch)

 

[ASak10]

(BA Yeti is oxidized as **** and was the only bad beer in the bunch)

From what year? Could have been an infected bottle, there were lots of those going around.

 

[BeersMorgan]

From what year? Could have been an infected bottle, there were lots of those going around.

I think it was a 2011 but it popped up on the shelf at a store around here that isn't known for the best storage. Definitely something wrong though, whether oxidization or infection.

 

[RyanG1]

Small share while at Sante, which is standard operating procedure

 

[kirbmeist]

Nice little Friday night.

 

[deuce92591]

Not quite as nice as kirbmeist, but still a nice little Friday night.

 

[YellowBird1]

My first post in this thread, too drunk too see how much detail is necessary. Here's a pic:

 

[demmons]

4 man team tackled this lineup last night. Had initially been planning on doing all of my TH bottles but ended up leaving the Parageusia releases out until the next bottle releases. Winner for me was The Emptiness is Not Eternal. Westy13 is/was/will always be, putrid.

 

[SocalKicks]

amk wanted to crack CCK this past weekend so we had a little tasting with him and myself and JonathanAmes, angry_lobster, ThePerk, BngrngRufio, PeelBacks, and others.

Highlights after CCK were Nooner 8 (so much hazelnut!), Para1, and Remy's Pappy Batch 2. Full quick and dirty tasting notes in the spoiler.

Spoiler: Tasting Notes

CCK: What a treat. Surprised by how much the cherry flavors were present given the age of the bottle. Vanilla, cinnamon, spices, and a touch of leathery oak and a nice barnyard musty funk to round out the flavor profile. Thanks again amk!

Veritas 012: Side by side with CCK. Completely different flavor profile. This was much more of a sour cherry whereas CCK came off as more funky to me. Still a damn good beer.

05 OGV: 750ml, standard cork, thick ring of mold around the cork. No pop when opened, slightly oxidized. Zero carb present, still has that 3F funk with a nice lemony must.

07 OGV SVC: 750ml, synthetic cork, not much of a pop when opened. This one had faint signs of life with a very soft carbonation. Still the standard 3F lemony must, more oak presence and a little bit of unripe peach.

08 OGV: 375ml, clean standard cork. Audible pop when opened leading to a pour with healthy carbonation. A little less funk than the 07, but the carb was so nice. I got a little ruby red grapefruity profile in this one. Toss up between the 07 and 08 in terms of a favorite of the vert.

2011 Sticker LPF: LPF is consistently my favorite Cantillon to drink and this vintage is no different. Raspberry funky deliciousness.

Caution! Contains Real Pumpkin: Not much pumpkin characteristic but just a pretty damn good beer. Good barleywine nice nutty thing going on and a nice barrel presence.

Imperial Blu Bu: Trevor does blueberries right. Beautiful color, flavor of the fruit is bright and the oak adds a great touch to the backend.
Vin Lee: Tons of cherry and oak with a very nice tartness. Big red wine profile.

BA Cellarman: Insanely effervescent and refreshing. Great funk profile and lightly tart. White wine, lemon, and oak notes.

Bernice (batch 10?): Not unlike Cellerman, but more apple and pear flavors. Slightly prefer Cellarman, curious how both would do with a minute in the cellar.

DCB DOS: Straight Hershey's chocolate syrup. Big fudge flavors, with a hint of bourbon oak nuttiness. Very thick mouthfeel accompanies this one nicely.

NooNer 8: "I want all the nuts in my mouth." Maybe my favorite of the night. Insane amount of hazelnut on the nose with a hazelnut and milk chocolate flavor. Big rich full body. Would do awful things to get more of this.

Parageusia 1: Extremely pleasant level of tartness with white grapes, green apple, lemony, and white wine characteristics. One of my favorite beers I tried in 2014, glad to drink it again.

Remy's Pappy Batch 2: So much more enjoyable than Batch 1. That extra year in the barrels is extremely noticeable. Full bodied RIS with a big graham cracker and marshmallow thing going on. Really damn good.

2015 and 2013 Fantasia: Big peaches present in both, but the aged version was just a little softer and less acidic than the 2015.

R&D Wild Peach: Roughly six months from the first time I had this one. Great peach nose, with a nice peach skin flavor. Developing a really nice funk that I didn't get the first time.

El Cuatro B1: Lots of oak and red apple with a slight brandy thing going on. Very nice sweet funk.

Kerfuffle: First time with a berkliner from Rare Barrel. Not a big nose, but the flavor was nice a jammy. Raspberry and strawberry combination was nice, no bandaid or rubber from the strawberry to me. Nicely tart and refreshing.

Cheers and thanks again amk!

Bonus:

Spoiler: Goodnight Albert!

amk was KO'd at the end.

 

[deuce92591]

amk wanted to crack CCK this past weekend so we had a little tasting with him and myself and JonathanAmes, angry_lobster, ThePerk, BngrngRufio, PeelBacks, and others.

Highlights after CCK were Nooner 8 (so much hazelnut!), Para1, and Remy's Pappy Batch 2. Full quick and dirty tasting notes in the spoiler.

Spoiler: Tasting Notes

CCK: What a treat. Surprised by how much the cherry flavors were present given the age of the bottle. Vanilla, cinnamon, spices, and a touch of leathery oak and a nice barnyard musty funk to round out the flavor profile. Thanks again amk!

Veritas 012: Side by side with CCK. Completely different flavor profile. This was much more of a sour cherry whereas CCK came off as more funky to me. Still a damn good beer.

05 OGV: 750ml, standard cork, thick ring of mold around the cork. No pop when opened, slightly oxidized. Zero carb present, still has that 3F funk with a nice lemony must.

07 OGV SVC: 750ml, synthetic cork, not much of a pop when opened. This one had faint signs of life with a very soft carbonation. Still the standard 3F lemony must, more oak presence and a little bit of unripe peach.

08 OGV: 375ml, clean standard cork. Audible pop when opened leading to a pour with healthy carbonation. A little less funk than the 07, but the carb was so nice. I got a little ruby red grapefruity profile in this one. Toss up between the 07 and 08 in terms of a favorite of the vert.

2011 Sticker LPF: LPF is consistently my favorite Cantillon to drink and this vintage is no different. Raspberry funky deliciousness.

Caution! Contains Real Pumpkin: Not much pumpkin characteristic but just a pretty damn good beer. Good barleywine nice nutty thing going on and a nice barrel presence.

Imperial Blu Bu: Trevor does blueberries right. Beautiful color, flavor of the fruit is bright and the oak adds a great touch to the backend.
Vin Lee: Tons of cherry and oak with a very nice tartness. Big red wine profile.

BA Cellarman: Insanely effervescent and refreshing. Great funk profile and lightly tart. White wine, lemon, and oak notes.

Bernice (batch 10?): Not unlike Cellerman, but more apple and pear flavors. Slightly prefer Cellarman, curious how both would do with a minute in the cellar.

DCB DOS: Straight Hershey's chocolate syrup. Big fudge flavors, with a hint of bourbon oak nuttiness. Very thick mouthfeel accompanies this one nicely.

NooNer 8: "I want all the nuts in my mouth." Maybe my favorite of the night. Insane amount of hazelnut on the nose with a hazelnut and milk chocolate flavor. Big rich full body. Would do awful things to get more of this.

Parageusia 1: Extremely pleasant level of tartness with white grapes, green apple, lemony, and white wine characteristics. One of my favorite beers I tried in 2014, glad to drink it again.

Remy's Pappy Batch 2: So much more enjoyable than Batch 1. That extra year in the barrels is extremely noticeable. Full bodied RIS with a big graham cracker and marshmallow thing going on. Really damn good.

2015 and 2013 Fantasia: Big peaches present in both, but the aged version was just a little softer and less acidic than the 2015.

R&D Wild Peach: Roughly six months from the first time I had this one. Great peach nose, with a nice peach skin flavor. Developing a really nice funk that I didn't get the first time.

El Cuatro B1: Lots of oak and red apple with a slight brandy thing going on. Very nice sweet funk.

Kerfuffle: First time with a berkliner from Rare Barrel. Not a big nose, but the flavor was nice a jammy. Raspberry and strawberry combination was nice, no bandaid or rubber from the strawberry to me. Nicely tart and refreshing.

Cheers and thanks again amk!

Bonus:

Spoiler: Goodnight Albert!

amk was KO'd at the end.

 

[JonathanAmes]

amk wanted to crack CCK this past weekend so we had a little tasting with him and myself and JonathanAmes, angry_lobster, ThePerk, BngrngRufio, PeelBacks, and others.

Highlights after CCK were Nooner 8 (so much hazelnut!), Para1, and Remy's Pappy Batch 2. Full quick and dirty tasting notes in the spoiler.

Spoiler: Tasting Notes

CCK: What a treat. Surprised by how much the cherry flavors were present given the age of the bottle. Vanilla, cinnamon, spices, and a touch of leathery oak and a nice barnyard musty funk to round out the flavor profile. Thanks again amk!

Veritas 012: Side by side with CCK. Completely different flavor profile. This was much more of a sour cherry whereas CCK came off as more funky to me. Still a damn good beer.

05 OGV: 750ml, standard cork, thick ring of mold around the cork. No pop when opened, slightly oxidized. Zero carb present, still has that 3F funk with a nice lemony must.

07 OGV SVC: 750ml, synthetic cork, not much of a pop when opened. This one had faint signs of life with a very soft carbonation. Still the standard 3F lemony must, more oak presence and a little bit of unripe peach.

08 OGV: 375ml, clean standard cork. Audible pop when opened leading to a pour with healthy carbonation. A little less funk than the 07, but the carb was so nice. I got a little ruby red grapefruity profile in this one. Toss up between the 07 and 08 in terms of a favorite of the vert.

2011 Sticker LPF: LPF is consistently my favorite Cantillon to drink and this vintage is no different. Raspberry funky deliciousness.

Caution! Contains Real Pumpkin: Not much pumpkin characteristic but just a pretty damn good beer. Good barleywine nice nutty thing going on and a nice barrel presence.

Imperial Blu Bu: Trevor does blueberries right. Beautiful color, flavor of the fruit is bright and the oak adds a great touch to the backend.
Vin Lee: Tons of cherry and oak with a very nice tartness. Big red wine profile.

BA Cellarman: Insanely effervescent and refreshing. Great funk profile and lightly tart. White wine, lemon, and oak notes.

Bernice (batch 10?): Not unlike Cellerman, but more apple and pear flavors. Slightly prefer Cellarman, curious how both would do with a minute in the cellar.

DCB DOS: Straight Hershey's chocolate syrup. Big fudge flavors, with a hint of bourbon oak nuttiness. Very thick mouthfeel accompanies this one nicely.

NooNer 8: "I want all the nuts in my mouth." Maybe my favorite of the night. Insane amount of hazelnut on the nose with a hazelnut and milk chocolate flavor. Big rich full body. Would do awful things to get more of this.

Parageusia 1: Extremely pleasant level of tartness with white grapes, green apple, lemony, and white wine characteristics. One of my favorite beers I tried in 2014, glad to drink it again.

Remy's Pappy Batch 2: So much more enjoyable than Batch 1. That extra year in the barrels is extremely noticeable. Full bodied RIS with a big graham cracker and marshmallow thing going on. Really damn good.

2015 and 2013 Fantasia: Big peaches present in both, but the aged version was just a little softer and less acidic than the 2015.

R&D Wild Peach: Roughly six months from the first time I had this one. Great peach nose, with a nice peach skin flavor. Developing a really nice funk that I didn't get the first time.

El Cuatro B1: Lots of oak and red apple with a slight brandy thing going on. Very nice sweet funk.

Kerfuffle: First time with a berkliner from Rare Barrel. Not a big nose, but the flavor was nice a jammy. Raspberry and strawberry combination was nice, no bandaid or rubber from the strawberry to me. Nicely tart and refreshing.

Cheers and thanks again amk!

Bonus:

Spoiler: Goodnight Albert!

amk was KO'd at the end.

Beers were great the company was god tier. Tough to find a group of guys that are more fun to hang around with.

 

[Michigan1]

Bay Area guys are the best/worst. Carl's Jr. should be illegal.

Thanks everyone!

 

[lopejuice1]

had a couple friends over to drink some beers yesterday. Not pictured are growlers of Vanilla Rye and BCBCS.

Art was amazing, pretty much a perfect BA Saison. Flora Satsuma is drinking better than it was fresh IMO, still some citrus left but the base beer is really shining. Flora BB was drinking better than fresh also, starting to get some nice tartness, I think this one will be incredible in another year. Florence was the magic batch (12/2013) and *******... lemony wheat goodness. Not gonna lie I think it was even better than the new batch of flora

my friend texted me this very cool pic he got of Vig vs Castleton. CdC was b5 and Vig was 2011, both drinking incredibly well right now. Can't say there was a winner, loved them both for different reasons.

 

[Soto]

caaam brought the taller bottle pictured to our tasting tonight:

What a swell guy.




































He'd filled it with this:

Moral: don't trust this guy.

 

[caaam]

caaam brought the taller bottle pictured to our tasting tonight:

What a swell guy.




































He'd filled it with this:

Moral: don't trust this guy.

I'm da best

 

[rmaste6282]

rcubed airfoil kevo2007

 

[Quatz]

Opened up some bottles from my cellar tonight. It was a good night.

 

[matedog]

Got to go to a quasi-whale tasting yesterday:

Highlights for me were Framboos, VSB, and Atrial. Love sours, but I'm thinking my preference for in your face fruit conveys a lack of taste sophistication. Oh well.

Other notes -

• Crianza was the whaliest offering. I can't say it stood out from a lot of the other gueuze we had. It was more mellow and smooth, almost buttery (not in flavor, but mouthfeel).
  
• Armand Lente was my favorite season, followed by fall. Fall and Winter were pretty harsh (in a good way), so having Lente after was a pleasant change.
  
• T25 is still drinking well. None of the stale almost waterness of T20, though it didn't reach the levels of a lot of the other offerings.
  
• No surprise but 2012 Cable Car was a lot better than 13. 2013 had a weird (someone described as "baking soda") aftertaste. 2012 had a way superior, clean finish that was just an extension of the more forward flavors, where as 2013 morphed into something weird.
• I thought I was a sour champ, but man my insides were feeling rough by the end of this.

Good times all around. I think there were some other TBers there, so hello if you see this.

 

[jmgrub]

Nice "little" share just now for drewone's birthday. Thanks to Coolioman, Rado, @grg1313, wethorseblanket Roy and jmgrub for the bottles.

I have acid reflux now.

 

[wethorseblanket]

Nice "little" share just now for drewone's birthday. Thanks to Coolioman, Rado, @grg1313, wethorseblanket Roy and jmgrub for the bottles.

I have acid reflux now.

Me? i don't think so! Apparently I chose this name and a guy from BA has the same one, so people think I'm him.

 

[jmgrub]

Me? i don't think so! Apparently I chose this name and a guy from BA has the same one, so people think I'm him.

My bad! Someone from here was encouraging the BA wethorseblanket to join this site and when I tagged him and it worked, I figured that he had finally joined. In any event, maybe someday we can get both wethorseblankets together in the same place for some beer drinking. Cheers.

 

[wethorseblanket]

I do send out a lot of de Garde, do we have that in common?

I thought it was a funny name, was surprised it wasn't taken. I actually registered for this site before I ever did on BA, so I had no idea he was over there.