cellar
Cellar Update: Bush de Noel
Monday, January 19th, 2009 | Beer, The Cellar | 1 Comment
I was delighted when my wife surprised me with a Brasserie Dubuisson Bush de Noel for my cellar. I mean really, how often does that happen? I believe she may have originally been attracted to the bottle by its shiny, colorful label, but then decided to purchase one upon hearing that Erik found it cellar worthy. This is an epic addition to my cellar, Scaldis Noel being the first beer added (of four total) that I haven’t consumer prior, only to buy another for ageing. I have finally learned my lesson, that strong beers develop more complex and interesting flavors with age. I’ve also found of late that I enjoy high alcohol content beers more once they’ve aged for a good while, which I find helps take the edge off the alcoholic taste. Bush de Noel (or Scaldis Noel) is a strong Belgian Amber Ale (12% ABV) that I look forward to drinking in a year or so. Reviews I’ve read indicate that this one will have a sweet, spicy, fruity taste. I can’t wait.
I also recently added a Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine to my cellar, after drinking one of course. This Northwest style Barley Wine was sweet, hoppy, and full of flavor. I recommend that you immediately buy at least two, one for now and one for later.
Cheers,
Chris
The Beer Cellar Updated
Sunday, January 11th, 2009 | Beer, The Cellar | 5 Comments
Further to Erik’s great post on cellaring beer and his creation of The Cellar page, I thought I should post about my philosophy on the beer cellar and what beers I am currently aging. Until very recently, my philosophy on cellaring has been to not cellar anything. I’ve realized recently that I was flawed in my thinking because aging can definitely enhance the flavors and take the edge off of a strong beer. What really helped me realize the greatness of aging beer was the Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine we recently enjoyed at Central City Brewing, which was fantastic. I had the opportunity to compare this barley wine, aged 18 months, to other younger barley wines, where the aged beer far surpassed the young beer in smoothness and in flavor.
I’ve learned the hard way that strong beer should be aged, having impatiently consumed a Fullers 2008 Vintage Ale, a Philips Burley Barley Wine, and a Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron far too early. In fact, I’ve noticed the pattern that I always immediatly drink a strong beer worthy of aging, only to have Erik realize my folly and buy the same beer for his cellar. This works out well for both of us, Erik gets to taste the young beer I hasten to enjoy, and then I get to taste Erik’s aged bottle a year or so later. Look forward to some great reviews of aged beer in the coming year, complete with first hand insight on how the beer has matured with age.
As for my cellar, it is humbly located in a dark, tucked away corner of my garage where the temperature ranges from 10-20 degrees Celsius throughout the year. I may have to make other arrangements in the summer during heat waves. My cellar consists of very few beers at this point in time, but my stockpile will grow. The meager number of bottles in my cellar has to do with my lack of patience and the knowledge that Erik will probably share his aged goods with me.
My cellar currently contains:
- Phillips Burley Barley Wine (November 2008)
- Fullers Vintage Ale (2008)
The stock in my cellar will surely grow this year. That being said, old habits die hard. I have a Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine in the fridge right now, ready to be warmed up and consumed at a moments notice. When will I learn?
We’ll be updating our Cellar Page with new acquisitions as they arrive. Please check back with us for reviews of aged brews as we consume them. Also, we’d love to hear of other worthy candidates for our cellar if anybody has any recommendations.
Cheers,
Chris
Review: Granville Island Brewing Merry Monks Doppelbock – Aged
Friday, January 9th, 2009 | Review | 2 Comments
This is the first review of an aged beer on this site- there will be many more to come, but sadly we will have to wait at least six months for more beer to mature. For an impatient person such as myself, this is quite a challenge. During this waiting period, we will be busy stocking up our cellars providing updates about our most recent cellar additions in our new page The Cellar.
Year Brewed: 2007
Time in Cellar: 13 Months
This Christmas I poured the first beer from my cellar, Granville Island’s Merry Monks Doppelbock. I tried this big lager while visiting Granville Island’s tasting room November 2007 – it wasn’t my favorite beer that day. The malt flavour was intense, as a doppelbock should be, but the alcohol taste was overpowering. I put a single bottle of the beer in my cellar hoping that the alcohol taste would mellow and more complex flavours would develop.
The strong alcoholic flavour is still present, although somewhat more subdued after sitting for a year. The powerful malt flavour has mellowed a bit, taking on a rich toffee taste. As expected, the mild hop flavour present in the fresh brew is almost nonexistent in the cellared beer. The beer is smooth and almost creamy, but one year was probably not enough time in the cellar. Granville Island no longer brews this seasonal beer, if you happen to have one in your cellar I recommend letting it age for a few more years.
Erik
The Beer Cellar: how to cellar beer and why
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 | Beer, The Cellar | 5 Comments
My Cellar - A Cool Basement Closet
Over the past month we have commented a fair bit on cellaring or aging beer. Most beer drinkers, mainly those who drink generic lager, don’t know that beer ages just as well as wine. A passionate beer drinker will almost always have a beer cellar, and if not they will have tried aging beer only to discover their pallet is not fond of cellared beer. Aged beer tastes dramatically different than fresh beer, and there is no shame in disliking aged beer, but there is shame, lots of shame, in not trying it. Being an inquisitive person, I searched far and wide, the internet mainly, for information about how to properly cellar beer, and to learn what is actually going on in a bottle while beer ages.
How to Build a Basic Cellar
I have been cellaring beer for just over a year now. My cellar is probably one of the most popular styles; it is a closet in my basement. There is a heap of information available on the internet on how to build a cellar, some is good and some is over the top ridiculous. Creating a basic cellar is quite simple; find the coldest place in your house, turn out the lights, place beer in the cool dark room and patiently wait. Ideally a cellar should be between 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit with minimal temperature fluctuation. If the room used as a cellar, a crawl space for example, drops to around 40 F or colder, it is not well suited for cellaring beer. Most homes have a room or closet close to an appropriate cellar temperate, so please feel no need to renovate.
There is great debate about aging bottles standing up or laying down. I don’t think it matters a great deal either way. Beer Advocate has a good article in support of the bottles standing up approach.
What Beers to Cellar
Any beer can be aged, but generally speaking the best choices are bigger ales. Barley wines, old ales, imperial stouts, big IPAs, and most strong Belgian ales are great candidates for aging. I have a small preference for bottle conditioned ales, beer that has been re-fermented in the bottle, as the yeast sediment helps in the aging process. With beer there are no rules, only guidelines, so feel free to experiment with your favorite brew – pick beer that agrees with your pallet.
Many people recommend buying two or three bottles when cellaring beer. One for immediate consumption, one after 6-12 months (if you bought three) and the final one for as long as your patience can last. I have heard of beer being aged well past 10 years successfully. If you only have enough money for one bottle, that is perfectly acceptable – drinking good beer is not a pastime reserved for the elite.
What is Going on in the Beer Bottle
Anyone who has made a stew will know that it always tastes better the next day. The big flavours in a stew need time to blend together and develop – beer is the same way. This is simplest explanation; the flavours in beer blend together creating distinct new and often more complex flavours.
Many of the unique flavours in ale, fruit, floral and spice, come from esters in the beer. Esters are a byproduct of ale yeast fermentation – lager yeast does not create esters. These esters give ale a unique flavour and aroma and are intended to be there, they are not off flavours. As beer ages, esters break down and their flavours begin to disappear. Yeast helps to break down esters, explaining my preference for bottle conditioned ales. Flavour compounds from the hops also fade relatively quickly. Many other reactions take place in a bottle of beer while is ages, changing its flavour profile. As a result aged beer is often smoother, almost creamy, in comparison to young beer. Common flavours in cellared beer are coffee, toffee, chocolate, spice, vinous (Sherry like) to name a few. In general, it is the malt flavours that become more pronounced in aged beer. The only real way to find out what aged beer tastes like is to visit your favorite beer store, refrain from drinking all of your newly purchased beer, and keep a few bottles in the cellar. It is that simple.
We are planning on putting together a page dedicated to our cellars – discussing and reviewing how well different beers age. This should be up shortly. For additional information on cellaring beer I recommend visiting brewbasement.com, a great site all about cellaring beer.
Erik
Review: Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2008
Friday, December 26th, 2008 | Review | 1 Comment
This years 2008 Fuller’s Vintage Ale is the eleventh annual release of it’s limited edition bottle conditioned ale. I’d seen them in stores and in Erik’s cellar before, but this is the first year that I bought one. Being a bottle conditioned ale, yeast remains in the bottle in dwindling quantities, meaning the beer changes (gets better) over time. Fuller’s states on the box (yeah, it comes in a cool box) that they can only legally recommend aging the beer for three years, insinuating that this delightfully crafted ale will last much longer and improve with advanced age. I showed absolutely no patience or self control by opening mine last Tuesday. How could I resist not opening my individually numbered bottle, one of only one hundred and forty four thousand, for any length of time?
It felt good to take a beer bottle out of a box and peel off a “limited edition 2008″ label to get at the cap. It was also comforting to know that this level of snobbery is the exception and not the rule when it comes to beer. Upon opening the box, I also noted that there was a pamphlet enclosed describing the previous ten vintage releases. I thought that was pretty cool. The beer itself had a lovely medium brown, amber color and produced minimal head. What I noticed right away was the delightfully rich malty, fruity smell. This is by far the best and most powerful smelling beer I have had the pleasure of sniffing. The taste was similar to the smell, with a rich malty and fruity flavor. What struck me about the taste was that the high alcohol content really came through. I really enjoyed the taste at first, but after a few more sips all I could taste was the alcohol, which lessened my enjoyment of this beer. Upon reading the enclosed pamphlet, I learned that the alcoholic taste would smooth out over time, like say a year or two of aging.
I can tell for certain that Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2008 will be much improved in 2010, which isn’t to say that it isn’t drinkable or enjoyable now. Hopefully by then I will also have garnered the self control needed to save drinking a Vintage Ale for two years down the road. Luckily for me, Erik bought me another one for Christmas. I do believe I will abandon my childish ways and adopt his practice of buying each year’s Fuller’s Vintage Ale and saving it for two years before drinking. Check out Beer Advocate’s tips on beer storage if you, like me, have also never had enough patience to save beer for any length of time.
Cheers,
Chris
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