Cellar Notes - St Bernardus

Prior 8
Vintage: best before June 2010
Consumed: August 2010

Probably about 3 years old. Holding up well if a little unspectacular. Shows all the usual dubbel traits and also has a nice, albeit it mild, chocolate overlay. Carbonation is a little softer than I remember. Lacks some punch in the flavour department and I'm not sure cellaring any further will benefit.

Cellar Notes - Emersons

Old 95 Old English Ale
Vintage: 2007
Consumed: August 2010

Glad I hung onto a few bottles of this. Looking really good at 3 years although clearly a less malty / porter-like beer than I remember. Hops are in very good shape across the nose and palate although the malt lends a nice sweet supporting hand, albeit in an elegant fashion. Still very fresh to my tastes. Should see out 5 years.

Cellar Notes - Orval

Vintage: November 2007
Consumed: July 2010

Not sure cellaring really worked on this occasion. Aroma is still a wonderful combination of sour fruits, pepper and old wood, but the palate has flattened somewhat leaving a base of mild pepper and slate. Quite fizzy, which perhaps suggests the beer is lively but in reality no really going anywhere.

Unexpected Cellaring Surprise

Two 'old' beers caught me by complete surprise recently; Mountain Goat's 'Old Surefoot' Stout and Young's venerable Double Chocolate Stout. The MG was a 2003 vintage, released after 12 months bottle age in a 660ml bottle, whilst the Young's was simple out of date stock I picked off the shelf to make way for new stock.

Mountain Goat 'Old Surefoot' Stout
Vintage: 2003
Consumed: Oct 2009

Flat out impressive. This is now 6 years old and shows much more appeal when compared to release as a 1 year old. Soft structure and carbination gives the age away a little but a very well defined milk chocolate shines though very strong and gives heaps if immediate appeal. Must have exceeded all expectations, even those of the brewer.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout
Best Before: June 2008
Consumed: Oct 2009

Nothing lost on fresh bottles to my tastes. Plenty of roast and chocolate on the nose; remarkably fresh. More settled and dry in the palate as the mildly tannic roast takes hold. Good presence and length. Not particularly chocolately but the fresh bottles aren't either.

Cellar Notes - Murray's

Wild Thing Imperial Stout
Vintage: 2008
Consumed: September 2009

Just shy of it's first birthday. And I think it's a better beer now. The shackles are coming off and the palate is starting to open up with more obvious chocolate and less astringency. That said, there's still a firmness to the 'fruit' (think bitter chocolate) which bodes well for further aging. I'd hve no hesitation leaving for another 2 years.


Wild Thing Imperial Stout
Vintage: 2008
Consumed: November 2008

Tasted on release. Fantastic looking beer (as most Imperials tend to be) with a choc orange creamy head. Thin but effective. Nose shows some chocolate sweetness, hints of licorice and a touch of roast. All quite elegant. Flavours definitely get better as the beer warms up and you could just about drink this at room temperature. Sweet malts very early, then a slightly weird tangy lemon kick, before the palate slips into dark bitter chocolates. Good length. Flavours are relatively tight and I think this beer needs a couple of years in the cellar.


Icon 2IPA
Vintage: 2007
Tasted: October 2008

Another encouraging result from my modest cellaring efforts on this beer. I actually did not try on release but did sock a 750ml away for 12 months. So, no reference point but this beer looks good. Relatively mild for a DIPA across both the nose and palate. Pours with a massive foamy head that takes forever to quit. Nose shows sweet hops and some lower key sweet malts. Hops are quite settled to taste and don’t really bite at all - impact from the aging perhaps? Quite resiny. There’s also a very interesting funky brett-like character (ie dirty wine like) that kicks in the back palate. The intensity backed off late, sapping my confidence that this beer will benefit from any further extended cellaring.


Grand Cru
Vintage: 2007
Tasted: October 2008

A minor cellaring experiment with a now 14 month old. Glowing oranage in colour and a large fizzy white head. Aromas are really something else: rich apricot, sauturnes, spice and aniseed. Very deep. Palate shows the apricot early beofre some fizz and alcohol-driven aniseed / licorice kicks in. The latter characters are quite pro-nounced. Finishes a little rough and bitter. Cellaring hasn’t hurt this wine at all but the alcohol is a little abrasive.

Grand Cru
Vintage: 2007
Tasted: October 2007

The cork removal process was an absolute bugger just like the Anniversay Ale!! Very expressive and perfumed nose; fruity esters, sweet grapefruit, soft floral characters, and perhaps a faint sugary note. The flavours are a bit more straight forward and the palate, in the early stages, is driven by a sweet malt that transforms into fruity flavours that progressively thicken. Finishes with a touch of heat and bitterness that appears alcohol driven, but that said the near 9% weight is well managed. To my tastes has more in common with the recent double IPA style releases from fellow Oz micros, rather than a abbey tripel. Whatever, I think this beer is interesting and well worth a try.

Cellar Notes - Coopers Vintage Ale

Vintage: 2008
Consumed: April 2009

I'm back on board. Didn't blow me away like the first time I tried time beer (the 2004 as a youngster) but very solid and I might have to re-weight my view, particularly given the relatively large volumes in which this is made. A bit lighter in colour than the 2004, more in the browny orangey apricot spectrum. Nose shows sweet malts and toffee; Beligian for mine. Palate is light, at least to my tastes, for a 7.5%er but certainly well built. More toffee and malt to taste, along with some bitter malts in the back palate. Might need a little more punch but the palate structure is very good.

Vintage: 2004
Consumed: August 2006
Impressive pour – big creamy head, quite thick, settles to leave a classic flat white coffee layer of thin creamy froath. Chunky lacing. Light brown / tan in colour, dirty texture, small floaties. Belgium strong ale nose with meaty yeasts and malts, some chocolate, quite powerful, certaintly giving the impression of higher alcohol than the quoted 7.5%. Very balanced to taste although the weight of flavours is a touch subdued, relative to the nose, and tails a little on the finish. More classic Belgian malty notes, again a touch chocolately, but just a little too elegant and perhaps dilutive for the style. I’m certain this beer was looking better 6 months ago although its still a very acceptable drink.

2004 Vintage / Tasted November 2004 (17/20)
Cloudy caramel / tan in the glass. Not much going on in the nose, quite restrained. Impressive flavour and mouthfeel. Full of character, and almost has an extracted red wine taste with roasted malty notes and licorice touches, Definately has some sweet touches but heaps of polish and in context, Carries its 7.5% easily. Best beer I’ve had in months.

Cellar Notes - 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze

April 2005 Bottling / Tasted March 2009
Softer palate structure than I expected but still very good. Good sour fruits right through the palate but doesn’t really stray into the intense territory. Good grapey notes as well and finishes with some minerals and pepper. Stil some years to go yet.

Dec 2004 Bottling / Tasted October 2006
Dark in colour for the style; kinda dirty orange. Thin head with decent density. Shows a lot of power with classic sour fruits and bitting acidity but well balanced and very drinkable at the same time. Persistent citrus drive on the finish.
(e.5.0 @ ’t Brugs Beertje).

Cellar Notes - Redoak Baltic Porter

Bottling: 2006 Vintage
Tasted: February 2009 (16/20)


Not as dark as the 2004 when drunk young. Much lighter brown, perhaps almost cola-like in appearance. The effects of age? Nose shows a fair bit; vegemite, varnishy burnt fruits, but there is certainly a salty / olive kick that doesn’t really sit comfortably. Flavours pack a real punch but the beer finishes surprisingly light (in terms of weight). Light chocolate, fruit cake, tangy ’fruit tingles’, hints of yeasty vegemite. All in all still looking pretty good, and probably the best aged local beer I’ve had.


Bottling: 2004 Vintage
Tasted: October 2005 (17/20)


Jet black in the glass with a thin coffee coloured head. Nose is relatively tight with darks malts and a touch of soy. Steps up a gear or 3 on the palate; big, rich malts, more soy, some chocolate and roast. Very good complexity. Well underpinned with an appropriate level of fizz, preventing what wouls surely otherwise be a cloying beer. As per all the comments below this must be a very strong contender for Australia’s best beer (IMHO no contest) but at $14 it bloody well should be. Although perhaps different in style this reminded me of a Stone Russian Imperial or a North Pacific Old Rasputin.

Cellar Notes - Gouden Carolus Classic

Bottling: September 2006
Tasted: Jan 2009 (14/20)

3 years looks about right for this beer. Fresh bottlings have shown a heavy palate with plenty of 'stewed fruit' malts but some medium term cellaring has certainly lightened the beer up. Aromas show a lot of life with funky, meaty, stinky malts and a hint of sarsparella. Chocolate, licorice and cola flavours emerge early in the palate but the intensity thins out as a woody note kicks in. Nice sliver of chocalate runs right through the palate. Not convinced additional cellaring will enhance the beer further.

Cellar Notes - Boon Framboise

Vintage: 2005
Tasted: Jan 2009 (14/20)

Colour is holding up well; a genuine mix of orange and brown. Aromas are very attractive and show a surprising rich level of strawberry fruit, almost of confectionary-like intensity. Good stuff. Palate does a complete about face and is dominated with a bitter, sour fruit. I can’t quite put my finger on the fruit flavour; probably very sour grapefruit comes closest. All in all I thought this beer was looking pretty good if you dig sour fruits. Maybe best drunk inside 5 years from vintage.

Vintage: 2003
Tasted: April 2007 (13/20)

Dirty blood red, almost dull brown in colour. Unexpected, perhaps the result of both ageing and a touch of oxidation. Thin persistent head of good depth. Fruit driven nose, a little tart, but the sweet berry fruits are very evident. The first couple of sips were marred (almost severly) but a pongy, bitter sulphuric-like kick. Like bottle stink in wine. This character did subside over time but still always lurked in the background. Otherwise the palate looked decent; aged strawberries, a hint of old wood, and fading tart fruits. I reckon this might have looked better as a 2 or 3 year old.

Cellar Notes - Unibroue Fringante

Bottled: November 2004
Tasted: December 2008 (13/20)

I don't think this beer has changed dramatically over the past 18 months. Appearance as per previous notes although there's plenty of floaties now in the glass. Still a meaty, yeasty, cooked fruits style (ie very Belgian). Finish is relatively modest in terms of intensity although some mild burn from the alcohol lifts the palate a touch. Not sure there is much point cellaring beyond 4 years?

Bottled: November 2004
Tasted: July 2006 (14/20)

Matched the Duvel (glass?) shape well. Big fizzy head, quite creamy in texture early but settles over the 10 minutes and breaks up. Vibrant pale orange, a touch cloudy, very Belgian. Very Belgian again on the nose, rich yeasty notes, and perhaps a trace of nettles of herb hops? Powerful palate; meaty, vegemite like, extracted fruits, earthy malts drive a flavour profile that is also very balanced for a 10%er. Very appropriate fizz levels carry the beer well as I sense it would cloy without the lift from the bubbles. Intensity faded a little over time, forcing a 1 point notch back.

Cellar Notes - Chimay White

Bottled: 2007
Tasted: January 2009 (13/20)

I haven't had a great track record cellaring triples and this is no exception. Looks fantastic; massive billowing head, pure white, and a nice apricot coloured body. Chunky lacing too. Nose shows mild malt sweetness, some spice and a touch of aniseed. All very faint. Palate is dominated by fizz and light, but dirty, sweet malt character. Finishes surprisingly dry with a mild aniseed edge. Not much to advocate further cellaring, let alone hanging onto it for as long as I did.

Cellar Notes - Unibroue La Fin du Monde

Bottled: September 2006
Tasted: October 2008 (12/20)

Better consumed early me thinks. I've had this drop a few times within 12 months of bottling and it is clear this a very smart beer. However, medium term cellaring hasn't really helped here. The sweet chunky malts and yeasty character has largely disappeared in the mouth although still shows in the aromas (albeit in a modest way). Still too much fizz here and I don't think this helps the flavour. Structure is fine but the flavours ain't.

Cellar Notes - Bottling Date Resource (Updated for Oud Beersel)

I find the whole aged beer / cellaring thing quite fascinating. Unfortunately, and unlike wine, determining bottling dates for many beers can be a difficult task. Below I've pulled together a few bottling date conventions:

Note that all data with respect to the trappist beers has been sourced from Danny Van Tricht at http://users.pandora.be/dvt/trappist2007/html/chimaybierene.htm (great job BTW).

Chimay
Dore: 4 years from best before ('BB') date
Blue: as per vintage year
Red: 4 years from BB year
White: 3 years from BB year

St Bernadus (our educated guess - happy to hear confirmations)
Triple: 3 years from BB date
Pater: 3 years from BB date
Prior: 5 years from BB date
Abt: 5 years from BB date

La Trappe
Blond: 2.5 years from BB date
Dubbel: 2.5 years from BB date
Tripel: 2.5 years from BB date
Quadrupel: 3 years from BB date

Orval
As per label bottling date

Oud Beersel
20 years from BB date

Rochefort
6: 5 years from BB date
8: 5 years from BB date
10: 5 years from BB date

Westmalle
Dubbel: 2 years from BB date
Tripel: 2 years from BB date

Gouden Carolas
Classic: 3 years from BB date

Unibroue - See below (unless vintage dated on bottle)
It's easy to translate the bottling date from the code printed on the bottle. For example, 'C08071726Q' translates to:

C = month (ie March)

0807 = day & year (ie 8th March 2007)

1726 = time (ie 5.26pm)

Q = location (ie Quebec)

If anybody has bottling date 'rules' or conventions for any other beers I'd love to get hold of them.

cheers

Cellar Notes - Cantillon Kriek

Bottled: March 2008
Tasted: December 2008 (16/20) (9 months old)

It probably comes as not great surprise that this beer is still very very young. Great colour; bright and cheerful cherry red with goo depth. Aromas are powerful and jump out of the bottle the second the cork is popped. All about tart and dry fruits. Palate is very intense and dominated at the moment by salt, vinegar, acid, spice. Quite medium-bodied despite the sourness, but needs time for the fruit to come through. Another classic.

Bottled: June 2005
Tasted: April 2007 (14/20) (22 months old)

Fully loaded hard core lambic style. Very kriek in appearance but nose and palate suggests, strongly, unsweetened lambic. High on acid and tart fruits, right through the nose and palate. Very unyielding right now. One of those rare beers that seems far too young to consume.

Cellar Notes - Cantillon Iris

Vintage: 2003
Tasted: May 2008 (16/20)

On tap at the Football Pub in Rome. Best example of Iris in living memory for me; lively, tangy, mild yet balanced sour cut right through the beer. Intriguing aromas of perfumed hops, or so it seems. Vinegar and salty lining to finish. Looks 'middle aged' at 5 years.

Vintage: 2004

Tasted: Jan 2008 (16/20)

A classic of the genre. Pongy, sour and citrus fruits; ultra tangy. Quite and stern sour fruits run right through the palate, all serious stuff. Low fizz, as expected. Has at least 3 years left in it.

Cellar Notes - Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru

1999 Vintage / Tasted May 2008 (16/20)
Sweet nose, relatively speaking of course, and not miles away from dessert wines based on botrytised semillon grapes. In fact the similarity is striking. Colour is certainly developed with darker apricot but this 9yr old beer. Palate is dead flat and shows great aged apricot and wine characters. Good tangy, spicy fruits throughout. Slight pong on the finish.

2003 Vintage / Tasted May 2007 (12/20)
Ok, I admit, I am a complete nuff when it comes to the style, but the completely flat palate effectively kills the beer for me. Strictly medium strength in terms of acid, sour fruits and intensity, particularly in the contex of a Cantillon offering. Orange apricot hue with no head. Sour and citrus fruits on the nose. Much more bitter and firm to taste; citrus and acid in abundance early, but the palate suffers from a chronic lack of fizz which flattens and dulls the palate. Flavours tail off as a result. Disappointing (yeah I know, unblended lambic should be flat).
(purchased at the brewery in late 2006)

Web Bytles - Beer Cellaring Sites

I found this site a while back. Heaps of interest here as it pretty much focuses on cellaring beer and in particular focuses on some of the science behind the aging aspects of beer. Lots of care and effort is put into the content.

Not surprisingly the site is mostly US centric but regardless it works well as another reference point.

http://www.brewbasement.com/

Cellar Notes - Westmalle Triple

Bottled: July 2005
Sampled: April 2008 (14/20)

I didn't have huge expectations given my sense is that this beer generally drinks better fresh. Appearance hasn't suffered over time; glowing orange and a thin creamy head of light density. The nose is really, really impressive with sweet malts, hints of toffee, and some darker aniseed fruits that are probably driven by the alcohol. Not unexpectedly the flavour power doesn't quite match the nose but is still solid; drying malts and a marked firm bitter sliver, almost bitter in the stone fruit mould. Plenty of fizz, as per usual, and a drying finish. Can't see a lot of sense cellaring beyond 3 years but this was worth the effort.

Cellar Notes - Coopers Best Extra Stout

Bottling Date: Best After June 2006
Consumed: March 2008 (11/20)
Clearly starting to dry out as a 2yr old but this beer is still in good nick. Some lightening at the rim as dark brown fades towards a tokay-like burnt orange brown. Nose is driven by dry roasted malts that are quite mild although a hint of milk chocolate remains. Palate is lean and dry with mild roast and some milder astringency. Certainly fading when I compare to the previous tasting. Notwithstanding hard to be critical given the age.

Botting Date: Best After June 2006
Consumed: July 2007 (12/20)
Poured well again with a big thick coffee coloured head. Didn't last long but looks good. Soft friendly nose of milk chocolates and just the faintest hint of grainy roasted malts. Once again perhaps the palate doesn't stack up to the nose. Some fizz, only a fraction on the high side; this may subdue the chocolate and malt. Medium length and strength finish. Not going anywhere but won't blow your socks off. In good nick for its age (probably 18 months since brewed).

Bottling Date: Best After June 2006
Consumed: August 2006 (12/20)
Pours very nicely with a thick, light tan head. Breaks up very quickly. Attractive chocolate brown in colour. Aromas are a touch underwhelming; mild chocolate and dry roasted malts. Good length. Fairly fizzy palate for the style and probably subdues the flavours from really hitting their straps. Again what should be obvious stout characters of chocolate and roast is mild. Not really deserved of its top 5 Oz status (as per ratebeer.com) on this tasting. Given this beer was drank relatively young I can only assume in needs a little time to show its best.