Up from the Cellar – Page 3 – Beer Search Party

September 10, 2014September 5, 2018

Up From the Cellar – Chimay Blue (Grande Reserve)

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The Chimay characterized “Grande Reserve” or more simply as the “Blue One” is a dark Belgian ale that was initially a Christmas beer and that the website says “improves across the years.”

Chimay goes on to describe Ol’ Blue as an “authentic Belgian beer, whose tinge of fresh yeast is associated with a light rosy flowery touch, is particularly pleasant. Its aroma, perceived as one enjoys it, only accents the delightful sensations revealed by the odour, all revealing a light but agreeable caramelized note. ”

I first reviewed this beer back in October of 2009, This is a strong beer. My glass was from a 2008 jeroboam of the Grande Reserve. Alcohol and yeast flavors dominate with a golden ale taste in the background.

How will my more educated beer palate and the cellaring in the 4+ year old beer change that initial thought?

Let’s see….
The cork popped out of this 09 09 vintage very easily to my immense relief. Cork fighting is not fun. A little whiff of smoke twirled out of the bottle. The taste seems off here. Very light and watery. Cola caramel notes are the main feature with a lingering bubbly ness. What is throwing the taste off are some metallic notes that start small but grow on the palate. If there was more malt heft left, the discordant note may have been hidden but age has taken that out it seems. The Belgian yeast adds a little spice but more cidery notes to the proceedings.

As it warms up, the lightness and bubbles are replaced with a cloying sugary flavor. It mitigates the metallic note but now the taste is more apple / maple and a bit in the syrup side.

The Verdict? – This counts as a failure. Probably the biggest of the series. I can handle metallic but both the wateriness at the beginning or the sugariness at the ends are a big turn-off for me and I will chalk that up to age not the highly esteemed brewery.

August 20, 2014September 5, 2018

Up From the Cellar – 30th Anniversary Black Barleywine from Sierra Nevada

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Originally released in 2010, I bought all four of the XXX anniversary beers from Sierra Nevada, And with Beer Camp rumbling across America, now seemed a good time to open 1/2 of my bottles up. Here is the second of the two a strapping black barleywine…

The initial aroma was not promising for this black barley wine. I had been congratulating myself on my cellar success stories and I felt Karma was coming back around. Jack & Kens was a little too sweet on the nose. Initially there is a swirling mix of caramel and milk chocolate in the pint glass that I am sure (assuming) earlier was balanced out by Cascade hop bitterness. This beer seems just a little off when the hop leaves the building. The barley wine pours a dark brown with a very lasting espresso head. It is still there after 10 minutes of staring. Might be a new record of sorts.

As it warms chocolate milk keeps coming to my mind even though the beer is still nicely carbonated. There is a pleasing smoothness here as well with no notes of barrel or sherry at all. But this is all chocolate all the time. I don’t know if this is what an aged New Albion beer might have tasted like if the brewery had lasted but it is interesting.

The Verdict? – A qualified failure. If you had asked me of the two beer that I cracked open, which I would guess would have held up better. It would have been this one. Alas, I feel the Imperial Helles Bock did more. Maybe the loss of hops was too much too overcome or my expectations were too high but this only sort of worked.

August 10, 2014September 5, 2018

Up From the Cellar – 30th Anniversary Imperial Helles Bock from Sierra Nevada

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Originally released in 2010, I bought all four of the XXX anniversary beers from Sierra Nevada, And with Beer Camp having rumbled across America and into recent memory, now seemed a good time to open 1/2 of my bottles up. I had a hard time picking two but I thought this Bock (Imperial & Helles in one bottle) might be the first to fade so it was plucked first….

At 8.3% this would not seem a suitable candidate for aging and my initial review when I sampled it at a Library Alehouse Sierra Nevada dinner offers a second dissent to having squirreled it away. This is my review from June of 2010, the beer “pours a dark red/brown. It is all over the place to me. It is not heavy but it has an alcohol kick to it. Bock maltiness shows up then fades into a note of hops. Complex but not one of my favorites.”

In 2014, this beer pours a very hazy orange with tints of brown to it. There is still a bit of head to this beer with an island of foam floating on the surface as I sip it. The aroma is strong and a traditional bock / German notes. I get a bit of what some may characterize as caramel while others call it butterscotch. I also detect a little bit of sherry and a smidge of citrus as well.

This bock is pretty thin but still lively. The alcohol kick that is sensed over four years ago is but a lingering memory. There is a bit of sharpness left but only just hanging on. It is almost as if someone took a sherry or port and put it over ice and an hour later I am tasting a much lighter and diluted spirit.

The Verdict? – I like it better now. It has a certain dessert / by the fireplace feel to it without being a sugary, syrupy mess. It is sweet for sure much like a maple bar is sweet. Which is why I would pair this with donuts which may seem odd but I think the malt and sweetness of the beer would really echo the same in a donut.

July 10, 2014September 5, 2018

Up From the Cellar – 2011 Parabola from Firestone Walker

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The theme for Up From the Cellar for July is a year. 2011 to be specific. Also Imperial Stouts. A favorite style amongst beer geeks and snobs alike. And we start with a barrel-aged Imperial from Firestone Walker.

This 12.5 stout pours jet black with a beautiful espresso rim of foam. That foam quickly dissipates and you are left with impenetrable darkness. The aroma is incredible. This decidedly falls into the camp of beers that you can smell and be satisfied without ever taking a sip. Though you will want to.

This beer spent 12 months in barrels before I even thought about cellaring it. And it shows. Big bourbon and rum notes intermingle. Some coffee bitterness is in the background as well but this is a barrel show.

There is some serious warming here as well. Each sip brings a flare of heat. But it fades quickly allowing for the bourbon and late flavor addition of chocolate and tobacco notes to power through. You cheeks will warm. But they won’t be red. Even when another warming spice sensation emerges as the beer warms up.

The Verdict? – Parabola in all it’s yearly versions, tastes fantastic. The fact that sitting for an additional three years hasn’t changed that, is almost a moot point. Of course it’s gonna taste great. It’s a barrel-aged stout from Firestone Walker. I don’t think that even a rank amateur cellarman could do any appreciable damage to this beer.

July 8, 2014September 5, 2018

Get it Now, before it’s Gone

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I am a fan of Firestone Walker. For two reasons. 1- the beer is great. 2 – they treat bloggers well.

And a third reason is that their barrel aged beers are fantastic to cellar. And one you had better grab plenty of is “the third and final bottled release of Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s barrel-aged Double DBA begins on July 12, setting the stage for an as-yet-unchosen replacement next year.”

D-DBA is being squeezed out due to room. Even with the major growth of the brewery in Paso Robles and Barrelworks in Buellton, other beers are begging to be bottled and released. Ones like….Bravo, Helldorado, Parabajava, PNC, Saucerful of Secrets and Brownie Wine.

I have never tasted the last one, so I would vote for that one. But before we jump ahead, here is the description of what is in the 2014 version of the D-DBA bottle, “the imperial special bitter is Firestone Walker’s flagship DBA brewed at double strength, using twice the amount of malts and hops. As with the regular DBA, the 2014 Double DBA was partially fermented in a union of new American oak barrels. After fermentation, the beer was racked and returned to the union barrels as well as bourbon barrels, where it aged for one year. The barrel mix for the 2014 Double DBA included vessels from Woodford Reserve, Elijah Craig and Four Roses.”

If you don’t get Double DBA now, it is also the base beer for Reginald Brett, a bretted barrel-aged ale which is coincidentally to be released later this year from Barrelworks.

June 13, 2014September 5, 2018

Up from the Cellar – Vintage Ale from Trader Joe’s 2010

The private label beers at Trader Joe’s fall into two camps. The “Really cheap and it Shows” and the “I Can’t Believe They aren’t Charging More.”

The Unibroue beers fall into the latter and I have squirreled away 2010-2012 vintages that were labeled as Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale. I will only review the two oldest though. Maybe save 2012 and get 2014 to compare against each other.

Here is what I said about this beer years ago, Aroma is not malty or roasted. Rich smelling. Pours dark brown close to black. Alot of plum type flavor in here. A faint touch of spice. The cheeks warm up but only after a few sips.

Now it is time to see how 4 years has treated this Canadian Dark ale with spices…..

First off, the cork came out beautifully. Two seconds later it was a grade school science fair exhibit that delayed my drinking whilst I cleaned up sticky beer from the counter.

Once I had it in the glass, the smell of cherries and plums greeted the nose. Almost juice like in aroma. A pretty taupe pattern of lacing on the glass. Taste wise, the Belgian yeast influence seemed to have faded a bit. There was a bit of thinness too that I don’t remember from before and the booziness isn’t as apparent. After the fruit notes the biggest flavor is a wine tannin hit. The spice which was faint has completely left the building.

Coming in at 9%, this beer shows signs of losing strength. Still plenty of flavor here but the complimentary notes which rounded out the taste are gone, leaving a more acidic ale with a fruit focus in its place.

The Verdict – I think I let this one sit for a year too long. The fruit forward nature is a bit too much.

May 22, 2014September 5, 2018

Up From the Cellar – The Abyss 2009

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Deschutes Brewery is in the Up From the Cellar spotlight this month and we again hack through the wax to the bottle cap underneath. Today it is The Abyss from way back in 2009!

Per the beer’s description from their website, The Abyss is brewed with” licorice and molasses with 33% aged in oak and oak bourbon barrels.” and it pours an lighter shade of black that no light gets through with tinges of dark brown on the edge. When I first popped the cap, an unmistakable hit of licorice greeted the nose from a couple feet away. It isn’t as prominent in the aroma as it warms up but it is there lurking in the background. I say this because licorice and anise can really overpower a beer to negative effect. Here it is a component not a star. What I really get hits of in the aroma are cigar and tar notes. Not BBQ smokey and not campfire but essence of cigar being lit.

The taste has coffee grounds and a hint of cherry like sourness. Molasses sneaks in a bit as well but this has a fruit tinge that I was not expecting at all. A taste that eclipses the licorice. I am not getting any off notes here either which I take to mean that I didn’t hold onto it for too long and that it might last past the 5 years I held it.

Colder, the flavor drifts more to fruity than the dark with an almost Oud Bruin quality to it. Warmer it really showcases a dark smoke and caramel fig viscosity that is quite after dinner drink worthy. This is a fireplace with friends discussing world events type of beer.

VERDICT – This is a success! I have had Abyss (in various incarnations) in the past five years and this stands up with them in taste. There are multiple flavors intermingling. It isn’t “hot” in the alcoholic sense and it flat out tastes great. It fared much better than the Stoic did and it does encourage me to want to lay down a bottle of this year’s model if I can find one.

May 8, 2014September 5, 2018

Up From the Cellar – The Stoic from Deschutes

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Deschutes Brewery is in the Up From the Cellar spotlight this month and we first cut through the wax on the bottle of The Stoic. Now this bottle had a “Best By” date of August 2012. So we are a year and half past their expert opinion. Which I trust because they deal with this beer more than I do. That doesn’t bode well for the taste on this beer though.

Thankfully, my Ratebeer review of the beer comes from around the time that I bought this bottle. So now I can compare what I thought then to now with a little more accuracy.

From 2011: This is a big and smooth beer. Slightly viscous. Big raisin and prune type flavors intermingle with just a touch of oak in the background. A by the fireplace beer.

Oh the wax seal on a bottle. How I am fearful of and challenged by you. I actually was able to gain a foothold for the opener to pry off the cap without having to hack off too much wax which was an accomplishment. As I cleaned up, a gentle cork sized bubbling very slowly foamed up the neck. I would have had to wait another 30 minutes probably for anything to actually gush out.

This version had pomegranate added and 16.5% was aged in oak wine barrels and another 16.5% was aged in oak rye whiskey barrels. Why that very precise amount, I don’t know. Maybe they tasted 17% and said that was too much.

The pomegranate is potent in this. Sticky and sweet. In both aroma and taste. Still has some bubbles to it which helps alleviate that minor flaw. There is a minor undercurrent of tannic wine notes but it is below the surface for sure. It doesn’t taste boozy at all though. Which I thought it would be from the whiskey barrel. The more it warms up in the glass, the more prune type of notes rise up. But they never reclaim the top spot from the pomegranate.

THE VERDICT – I guess we learned today that pomegranate doesn’t drop out of aged beers. Good to know! Both of the barrel aged portions must have though which robbed this beer from being balanced. I mentioned viscous in my initial review and that is still here too. It is quite silky in the mouthfeel. It is less a “fireplace” beer now and much more of an after dinner sweet drink in the vein of a sherry. I would have to label this experiment as not working. I should have took the labels word for it.

April 23, 2014September 5, 2018

Up from the Cellar – Cuvée Renee from Brouwerij Lindemans

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Brouwerij Lindemans is coming up from the cellar in April! I started with the Faro and now we tackle the Cuvee Renee. A refermented in the bottle Gueuze that the label declares “Improves in bottle with age”

I always dread corked bottles. You never know if the cork will behave or if there will be a geyser. But this cork came out easy and cleanly. No trouble at all. It pours a really clear orange with a bit of lacing around the edge of the glass after the initial pillow of foam recedes. The aroma is pure funk. I get grass, hay and barn wood. And this probably sounds strange but I also get that smell just before rain starts. Weird.

Boy, this a puckery inducing beer. My first thought was of sucking a lemon. It has that citrus note that is punctuated with tart. It is twisting my mouth into different shapes. It is really sharp at the front of the mouth which makes finding other notes a little harder. But I do get some oak wood notes. Very minor but there. A little bit of apple cider vinegar as well. I have had beers that are more sour but this is definitely at that end of the spectrum. Not an easy drinker and a sharp contrast to the sticky sweetness of the Faro from earlier this month.

Both were bought at the same time. So I will “assume” that they were close vintages. And yet they couldn’t be further apart to me. This is super tart and that doesn’t let up much as it warms either. In fact, I start to get more grapefruit pith notes now. My palate is in a state of sour shock.

The Verdict – Part of me thinks that this beer has turned a little too vinegary and that I may have held it a good half year too long. But the acid isn’t super high and I still do get some citrus notes and the barnyard funk is in full bloom. So, I am conflicted. Let’s split the difference and say that this would have been better back in January.

April 11, 2014September 5, 2018

Up From the Cellar – Brouwerij Lindemans Faro

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Brouwerij Lindemans is coming up from the cellar in April! I start with the Faro and move on to Cuvee Renee later in the month. Now per the description from the excellent resources at Beer Advocate, here is what a typical Faro should be, “A blended Lambic with the addition of candi sugar for a lighter, quite sweet and more palatable beer. Commonly spiced with pepper, orange peel and coriander.”

Now I have had this beer for just over 2 years. I purchased it and the Cuvee Renee at the same time from Vendome Liquors near Toluca Lake.

It was a multi-step process to get the beer in a glass. First you peel off the silver foil protecting the neck of the bottle. Then you pop the cap. And then you pry the cork off. (That is something that I still have yet to master gracefully). Once open it pours an amber orange color with little to no head to it. The initial aroma is simple syrup to me. Also a touch of apple cider Very sweet smelling.

The taste is also extremely sweet. But it is counteracted by a bubbly character and a slight bitterness at the back of the finish. There is a slight hint of tartness tucked into as well. But overall this is not that far removed from an apple cider that uses a more sugary varietal of apple.

The Verdict: Between the sweet and the bubbly, the sweet is winning the time war. I have not had many Faro’s so I do not have a comparison vs. what a vintage from 2012 would have tasted like. (I did not have the foresight to buy one to taste then). But I have the sneaking suspicion that this lambic would just keep getting sweeter and would also probably get drier as well. I can totally taste how this would be a gateway to stronger and tarter lambics though.