The Brew Basement

Name: Vintage Ale

Brewer: Fuller’s

Style: Old Ale

Vintage: 2007

Cellared On: September 1st, 2008

Original Tasting: October 10th, 2008

Wow, it’s a beer in that comes in a cool red box! Caaatchy. I remember my first thought after seeing this was that you better be making a pretty damn good brew if you’re packaging the thing like that.

Fortunately for Fuller’s, it turns out they’ve been making the Vintage Ale for 10 years now, and by all accounts they have pretty much all been damn good brews.

The 2007 Vintage Ale poured a slightly cloudy light brown. It smelled of heavy sweet malts, almost kind of syrupy. Tons of fruit flavors were evident.

The first thing I noticed after taking a sip was the body on this beer (just like the first thing I noticed about my wife was the body on her - WOWZA!). Being more on the medium-bodied side, it was much lighter then I would have thought. It had a wonderfully sweet bready malt flavor to it. There were strong apple, brandy and raisin notes, along with a slight caramel twinge to the sweetness. A nice hoppy bitterness came in mid-palate and rides out the sweet finish. There was also a touch of a boozy warming alcohol on the end.

For a strong brew, this was amazingly easy to drink, and I can’t wait to try the rest of them.

Cellar Outlook: Nothing to fear here, this is a brew made for cellaring. Here’s a bit from the website:

… will mature slowly over time like a fine wine or whisky - well beyond the best before date that we are obliged to state. Here at Fuller’s, we recently opened (in the interests of research, of course) a few bottles of old Vintages: they tasted better than ever so stock up now and you’ll be glad you did in years to come!

If you’d like to see how some of the previous vintages have tasted, be sure to check out the tasting notes from the Fuller’s website.

Next Tasting: September 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Hello everyone. I’m hoping to get one of these tasting updates banged out each week until I finally get current. It’s going to be a long haul, but I’ll get there.

In the meantime, I want to make sure everyone knows just how well the Le Merle from North Coast brewing has been doing - it’s AWESOME. Easily one of the biggest improvements I’ve seen in the cellar. Be sure to add this brew to your collection if you’re able to, I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Stone Old Guardian Barleywine ‘08 (Six Months) - Holding up well, still delicious! There is a hint of “old hop” flavor starting to develop, but it’s just contributing positively to the brews’ complexity for now.

Avery 14th Anniversary Ale (One Year) - Changes, changes, changes. This brew can’t stay still. Right now it feels like a porter - there’s definite notes of toffee, raisin, and light chocolate.

Avery Samuel’s Oak-Aged Ale (One Year) - All of the complexity of this brew has slipped right away. All that’s left is a thick, syrupy, oak-flavored sugar bomb.

Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale (One Year) - No off-flavors to speak of. That’s good, right? Maybe - but unfortunately there are almost no flavors AT ALL to speak of. Definitely not a brew to cellar.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale (One Year) - The pumpkin is pretty much all gone. There’s still some nice spice flavor, but this brew is just barely drinkable.

Weyerbacher Insanity (Six Months) - Much the same except for one major difference - the alcohol burn. It’s pretty much gone. This brew is definitely more drinkable now.

North Coast Le Merle (Six Months) - Just awesome. Awesome. Light and zippy, fruity with an earthy finish.

Stoudt’s Triple (One Year) - Bright and fruity, much like before. The big mystery here is that this tasting was actually sweeter then the six-month tasting, where I had found that the brew had noticeably dried up.

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Black

Brewer: Allagash

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: August 31st, 2008

Original Tasting: September 15th, 2008

So many beer styles, so little time. Even so, it’s a bit amazing that I’ve never managed to get around to trying a dark Belgian brew before now. I guess I should be saying Belgian styled brew because Allagash brewery in Maine is most definitely nowhere near Belgium.

With no surprise given the name of this brew, Black poured very dark in the glass. Not Imperial Stout black, but close enough. What was surprising was the intense, bright fruity smells that were coming from this beer. There were also roasted malts and hints of chocolate in the air, but the dark fruits were easily the most prominent.

The first impressions of Black as it hits your tongue fit right in with the smell. Rich dark fruits (figs, dates) hit you immediately. The roasted malts came on fast after that initial taste, and remained throughout the finish. All of the flavors meshed very well, but were not nearly as intense as the smell had led me to believe. There was a slight smokey/burnt taste underlying the brew, which paired well with the subtle chocolate notes that were also present. A tiny bit of bitterness helped pull everything together.

Another excellent brew from Allagash. I would definitely recommend this one to somebody who says they don’t like dark beers - I think this one would surprise them!

Cellar Outlook: I think this one will do pretty good for a few years since it’s bottle-conditioned with a decent cellaring ABV (7.5%). I have to admit I’m not really sure where the flavors are going to go, but it’ll be fun to find out!

Next Tasting: September 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Hello all! I noticed a couple of the online beer merchants have some aged brews in stock right now. Since questions asking about where you can purchase aged beers are among the most common inquiries I get, I thought I’d take a moment and point them out to you.

First off, check out the Vintage/Rare section of BottleTrek.com. Selections include a 2006 Samuels Ale by Avery Brewing Company and a 2006 Pike Old Bawdy among others. I’m thinking seriously about putting an order in for both soon.

Also be sure to check out Liquid Solutions, where several vintage beers selections are sitting right in their normal beer lineup. I picked up a couple of bottles of both the 2001 and 2003 vintages of Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barleywine, as well as a six pack of the 2006 Anchor “Our Special” Ale. I can’t wait for them to get here!

If anyone does purchase any of these brews, be sure to let me know how they were!

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Double Dead Guy

Brewer: Rogue

Style: Strong Ale

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: October 6th, 2008

Original Tasting: October 13th, 2008

It was awhile since I’ve had a new brew from Rogue Ales on here. I swear I stare at them every time I walk into one of my local beverage centers, but I’ve just been walking by them lately. I knew that had to change when I saw this very cool bright red bottle from Rogue sitting on the shelf. I love the normal Dead Guy Ale so needless to say I swooped a bunch of these babies up fast!

Double Dead was a very clear amber in the glass. It had a very rich smell, almost reminiscent of an aged barleywine (and I’ve had more then a few of those over the past year). I was a bit surprised at the almost total lack of hop aroma as the malts were totally dominating the smells here.

I have to admit I was a bit taken aback from the taste. Those rich malts I smelled? Not so rich or heavy at all - the hops were much more prevalent then I was expecting. This was a very balanced, drinkable brew. There was still plenty of roasted malt flavors; spicy grains flavors were all over the place. Background flavors of bright fruit added complexity to the malts - notes of orange and apricots came to mind. The bitter hops were flowery with citrusy grapefruit tastes. Tying everything together was a slight caramel sweetness that lasted straight through the finish.

All in all, a surprisingly drinkable, medium bodied, tasty brew!

Cellar Outlook: I’m not sure with this one. It’s around 8% ABV which bodes fairly well, but I’m worried if the malt backbone of this brew can stand up over the years. I get the feeling that we’ll see some interesting stuff happen over the next year or so, but I doubt it’ll be holding up for much more then that.

Next Tasting: April 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Adam

Brewer: Hair of the Dog

Style: Old Ale

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: November 23rd, 2008

Original Tasting: November 24th, 2008

I’ve been waiting to get some Hair of the Dog brew in my cellar for some time now. You just know that it’s going to get my attention for sure when a brewer makes a point of saying that ALL of their brews are suitable for cellaring. I decided to start with Adam because my friends over at Liquid Solutions just happened to have a bunch in stock. Lucky me!

Adam was a dark Cola-brown as it poured, but became a dark black once it was sitting in the glass. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was about to drink a stout. A beautiful (but short lived) cream-colored head topped the beer off.  Interestingly, this brew was a bit more aromatic then other old ales I’ve sampled. Rich roasted malts suggested flavors of chocolate, figs, and dates.

And the taste? Three words: deep, rich, and complex.

Rich roasted malts with strong notes of milk chocolate grabbed at first, echoing the aroma of the beer. It was sweet, but not overly so. Ripe fruit (those figs and dates again) hovered in the background along with light smokey tones. The sweetness came in a bit stronger mid-palette bringing some brown sugar lightness to the taste. Perfect hop levels throughout the brew provided an excellent foil to the sweetness as well as adding some complexity by bringing a bit of a “burnt toast” bitterness. The long finish hit me with more chocolate and dark sugar sweetness. Delicious!

For a full-bodied beer with 10% ABV, it’s amazingly easy to drink. I guess that happens when you have a beer that’s this damn good.

Cellar Outlook: I don’t think there’ll be any problem with this brew lasting in the cellar. Here’s a quote from the website:

Common beers should be consumed quickly, like milk, to ensure freshness and quality. Hair of the Dog beers can be cellared for years before consuming. The flavor profile of all Hair of the Dog beers changes with time. Indeed, some people assert that Hair of the Dog beers, like fine wines, are better after a few years of careful storage. For best results the beers should be stored in a cool place with few temperature variations, like a wine cellar.

You may ask “how long?” That depends on your tastes and we will not tell you what you like. We have bottles of batch #1 stored at the Brewery still aging, still changing and tasting great. Thank you for your patience, we hope you receive all the benefits that time will bring.

I also have to mention their vintage pages - like this one for Adam - that keep a running list of when every batch of their beer was brewed and bottled. If only all brewers did this!

Next Tasting: November 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

…. well maybe not vacation exactly. Call it a little break, a little time off to focus on some personal things and recharge the ol’ posting batteries at the same time. Thanks to all of you who wrote to check up on me, I’ll be replying to your emails soon.

As you can imagine, I have a bit of a backlog of material to work through. Over the next few weeks you’ll see pleanty of new beer tastings posted as well as numerous updates on my cellared stash.

It’s good to be back!

Jason

Here’s the first half of September’s tastings (since you asked for them James!). Part 2 will be following up soon! As seemingly always, the results were a bit of a mixed bag….

Middle Ages Druid Fluid ‘07 (Six Months) - There’s no mistaking this for a Double IPA now! It’s transforming into a fantastically balanced barleywine.

Southern Tier Jah-Va ‘07 (Six Months) - Big and powerful, I think it still needs a year or two before it peaks. Even given that, it’s really damn good right now.

Southern Tier Backburner Barleywine ‘08 (Six Months) - Here’s a brew that’s not changing much. It’s delicious, but is there anyway that time can improve it?

Dogfish Head Red + White ‘08 (Six Months) - A bit more orange flavor, a bit less spice, and a MUCH creamier body. I like where this is heading!

Lagunitis Brown Shugga ‘07 (Six Months) - Maybe the rumors of Lagunitis Brew’s not cellaring well are true - I know this one isn’t doing well at all. Hop flavors aren’t holding up, and the overall intensity of this brew is fading faster then the NY Knicks in the fourth quarter.

Victory Storm King Imperial Stout ‘07 (One Year) - Smooth and drinkable, with lot’s of chocolate and espresso flavors. It’s a great drink, but is it calming down too much?

Chimay Grande Reserve ‘06 (Two Year) - It’s showing why it’s one of the classic beers to cellar - the rich, complex fruits are paired with a body that keeps getting thicker and creamier. Fantastic!

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Pumking

Brewer: Southern Tier Brewing

Style: Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: September 25th. 2008

Original Tasting: October 1st, 2008

Hello everyone! Fall so far has been a busy time for me, but there’s no way I could let Halloween slip by without stashing another pumpkin brew down in the cellar. Last year it was Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin Ale (unfortunately it’s had somewhat disappointing results so far). This year I decided to keep it in-state and try out Southern Tier’s Autumn Seasonal, Pumking.

Pumking pours a slightly hazy, very light orange. It looks like Fall in a glass. As you might expect, there’s a big pumpkin smell matched up with faint pie spices. The overall impression of the pumpkin reminds me of roasted pumpkin seeds (yummy!).

The beer was much lighter in taste then I thought it would be, but that wasn’t the biggest surprise. It was the flavor progression of the brew that shocked me. It was fast - very fast. There was a bright, slightly sweet pumpkin flavor; but it’s over in a flash. The spice flavors in the smell (nutmeg and cinnamon) were very prominent in the taste, and actually end up lingering for quite a while after the finish. Background pale malts added a light grainy touch to the brew, and really didn’t seem to contribute very much to the flavor overall.

Body-wise, Pumking was relatively light, but had a certain chewiness that seemed a bit out of place. Combine the body with the relative lack of flavor depth, and we have a beer that certainly isn’t one of Southern Tier’s best efforts. Maybe a year or so in the cellar will help shake things up.

Cellar Outlook: Despite the strength of the brew, I’m not holding high hopes for this one improving with age. I expect the pumpkin to start to fade out, and I don’t think there’s anything behind it to help the brew hold up.

Next Tasting: March 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com