The Brew Basement

Name: Vertical Epic 08.08.08

Brewer: Stone Brewing

Style: Belgian Golden Ale/West Coast IPA

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: August 7th, 2008

Original Tasting: August 12th, 2008

Wow. I can’t believe it’s almost taken me a month to write this review. What kind of cellaring site am I running here? Jeeezz….

Anywho, the 08 Vertical Epic pours just as you would expect, with a pale clear golden color. There’s very little carbonation, and it looks almost like a wine as it sits in my glass.

Unlike its appearance, I find the smells of this beer are a bit surprising. This brew is billed as a cross between a Belgian Golden Ale and a West Coast IPA. You certainly can’t miss the Belgian part of this, there are all sorts of fruity tropical and honey esters in the air. What’s missing is the powerful hops - yeah there are some there, but it seems a bit restrained to me. I’m so used to the big aroma profile of the West Coast IPA’s that I really miss the big hoppy smell I was expecting. I can only imagine that since hop aromas are among the first things to go when a beer is cellared, they didn’t go crazy with the dry hopping.

The taste of the ‘08 is all Belgian up front - more of those light esters coming through as pineapple, honey, lemon, and other citrus flavors. There may be a touch of spice in there as well - maybe ginger? In any case, this brew’s hop presence comes on strong rather quickly after that initial taste. A grapefruity kind of bitter flavor is the most prominent, but there’s a nice floral quality to the hops as well. The interplay between the bitter hops, fruity esters, and light malt touch is fantastic and really quite well balanced. The finish is mostly bitter, but fruit flavor does linger on.

Another winner from Stone, no surprise about that!

Cellar Outlook: I’m just not sure. I know this beer is supposedly built to last until 12/12/12, but I have my doubts. The hop flavors are such a huge part of this brew, and I just can’t see them lasting anywhere that long. Not to mention that there’s also already such a great balance between the different elements I can’t see anywhere to improve in that department.

I fear for the ‘08 over the long run.

Next Tasting: February 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Creme Brulee Stout

Brewer: Southern Tier Brewing

Style: Imperial Milk Stout

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: August 1st, 2008

Original Tasting: August 4th, 2008

Upstate New York can be a great place to live in during the summer. The Saratoga Track is in full swing, and the Adirondack mountains are just a hop away. It’s an even greater place to live in when I can get my hands on a brew as anticipated like Southern Tier’s Creme Brulee Stout.

The CBS looks like a typical stout, but the similarities stop there. Much as you would expect, a powerful sweet vanilla smell just knocks you upside the head when you get a whiff of this beer. Exactly how many vanilla pods did they use to make this brew? I can’t even begin to imagine. You can get some hints of dark malts, but they are just completely overwhelmed by the intense vanilla.

The taste, thankfully, is a bit more balanced. It’s an extremely nice balance of dark roasted malts and sweet vanilla flavor. You get just enough roasty tastes, with notes of chocolate and coffee hiding in the background, to stand up to the tremendous sweet flavors. I think there’s a bit of caramel hiding in there as well. There’s a slight bitter astringency as the finish starts, but it pretty much gets swept away by the tidal wave of vanilla here. Thick and creamy, not too heavy, and a bit of hot alcohol on the end.

Easy, fun, and unique to drink, but one a night is enough with all of that vanilla!

Cellar Outlook: With big flavors and lots of alcohol, I think this one will hold up well. I’m not sure what will happen to the vanilla - it might be interesting if the flavor gets less intense. I’m wondering if some other flavors are hiding somewhere behind it.

Next Tasting: February 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Cuvee de Castleton

Brewer: Captain Lawrence Brewing Company

Style: American Sour Ale

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: July 26th, 2008

Original Tasting: July 29th, 2008

After my big trip downstate to pick up some of this brew I knew it wasn’t going to be very long before I had to try it. I lasted three whole days before I caved.

While waiting in line inside the brewery to pick up my Cuvee ration I heard Captain Lawrence head brewer Scott Vaccaro mention to someone ahead of me to be careful because the Cuvee will pour like champagne. He wasn’t lieing. This brew bubbled right up in my glass as I poured and faded away pretty quickly after that. It was a hazy yellow with hints of orange, and looked pretty cool.

I had a feeling this beer would be worth the five-hour round trip, and I knew I was right with just one smell. There were all sorts of different aromas. Smells of fruits were the strongest; it was easy to pick out the grape, lemon, and sour apple notes. There was also a underlying earthy presence which I think was due to the Brettanomyces yeast that this beer was refermented with.

The taste of the Cuvee was even more complex then the smell. Once again, fruit dominated - tart grapes and lemon with hints of apple and honey (not a fruit, I know). It was extremely light, tart, with a very light semi-sweet malt touch. The esters were INTENSE. I could also just make out a slight grassy hop bitterness in the background. As the flavor progressed towards the finish, the earthy and grassy tones started to come more to the forefront with a touch of oak joining the party on the finish.

This was one had beer to describe, and I’m not sure I’m doing it justice with my description. Needless to say, it was awesome.

Cellar Outlook: Here’s what the beer label says: “From our cellar to yours, this beer will age with the best of them”. I would expect the sweetness of the brew to fade away over the next few years as the Brett yeast gobbles up what sugar is left in here. We’ll probably see even more funkiness as time goes by.

Next Tasting: July 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Hello everyone! Here are a total of ten cellar updates - and I’m still not through July’s brews yet. As always seems to be the case, the results were a bit of a mixed bag.

Ommegang Hennepin - (One Year) This brew is holding up fantastically. The bright flavors of the fresh beer have muted somewhat, allowing some of the grassy “earthy” tones to come to prominence.

Ommegang Abbey Ale (Dubbel) - (One Year) Just absolutely terrific after a year in the cellar. The original sweetness of this beer has continued to pull back, revealing a rich range of dark fruity flavors.

Schneider-Weiss Aventinius - (One Year) Nothing changed too much here, the clove flavor is still king in this brew. The sweetness is retreating in this beer as well, with more subtle flavors are coming out as a result. Even more delicious then before.

Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot - (One Year) Another brew that’s holding steady in the cellar. Fading hops seem to be the main flavor movement, but overall it’s just making the beer smoother and easier to drink.

Middle Ages Kilt Tilter - (Six Months) It sure looks darker, but that’s about the only difference after six months.

Southampton Grand Cru - (Six Months) I think this beer has slipped a bit. Both the fruit and spice flavors are not as intense as they were before. A bit of a bummer.

I think I had Dogfish Head on the brain last summer, because here’s FOUR updates for ya! Of course, none of them were strong cellarers….

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout - Not too good. Pretty horrible, actually. Absolutely scary bad, to tell the truth. There’s oxidation all through this beer, and maybe even some contamination.

Dogfish Head Midas Touch - Honey flavors are increasing their domination as the grape flavors continue to fade. Still good, but I suspect this brew peaked after six months.

Dogfish Head Aprihop - Where’s the apricot? This tastes just like a typical pale ale at this point.

Dogfish Head Black and Blue - Even though I think my six-month tasting was an aberration, the flavor of this brew is diminished in almost every aspect when compared to fresh.

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Cellar enthusiasts around the world rejoice!

Why? The lastest release in Stone’s Vertical Epic series is being released this week, that’s why!

In fact, you might be able to find it on the shelves of your local beer store right now. There aren’t many brews out there that are specifically crafted with cellaring in mind, so be sure to pick some up while you have the chance. If you haven’t heard of the series before, be sure to check out my previous article about the Vertical Epic line.

Stone has a cool page set up for this year’s release, along with links to the previous year’s brews. (Thanks to beernews.org for the link)

I made sure to pick up a case of the 07/07/07 last year, and I loved it. This year’s beer is a strong Belgian pale ale golden ale (thanks to Aaron for pointing out my mistake in the comments) that I can’t wait to try. I’ll be doing a mini-vertical of last year’s and this year’s beers together this weekend (hopefully)!

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

In quite an unusual move for me, I found myself hopping out of bed fairly early last Saturday morning. I took a quick shower, and then gently shook my wife awake.

She did some grumbling, but eventually she managed to claw her way out of bed. As she slid past me she made the observation about how it’s impossible for her to wake me up on a normal Saturday morning, but I seem to hop right up when we’re zipping off to buy some beer.

Guilty as charged.

In all fairness though, this isn’t a normal beer I was zipping off to. The beer I was after that day was from Captain Lawrence Brewing in Pleasentville NY, just a little bit outside of NYC. It was a gold medal winner in last years Great American Brew festival in the American Sour Beer category. The beer’s name is Cuvee De Castleton, and if any beer is worth the drive, this would be it.

This is a beer you don’t buy in a store. To get a brew like this you watch for word it’s being released and then you high-tail it down early to the brewery and wait in line with all of the other beer geeks.

So that’s how Lisa and I found ourselves making the long trip on Saturday morning to buy a few beers. Normally I wouldn’t have subjected Lisa to such a trip. Unfortunately for her, the brewery was limiting purchases to only four beers per person. By my thinking having eight beers in hand seemed MUCH better then having just four soooo…….

Needless to say, I owe her one.

We arrived at the brewery around 11:40, twenty minutes before opening. This was the scene I found.

I would estimate about 150 certified beer fanatics or so, most of whom were passing around various craft beers amongst themselves (why didn’t I think of that). I noticed that more then a few people brought their entire families, as I saw quite a few kids there. I wonder if their parents were bringing the kids into the brewery so they could score some extra bottles of the Cuvee. Pretty slick!

Anyway, at 12:00 noon sharp Captain Lawrence owner and head brewer Scott Vaccaro popped out to address the masses.

It’s probably not the best picture of Scott, but hey, it’s not like I’m a professional!

Scott spoke a few words, announcing that they should have plenty of beer for everyone and laid out the rules for forming up lines. There was a bit of a mad rush after that, but Lisa has a way of worming her way up a line pretty quickly without pushing people out of the way. Here’s a shot of the line behind us.

Is that guy in the black giving me the evil eye or what? He must not be a BrewBasement fan.

We found ourselves inside pretty quickly. We were waiting in the line that snaked through the tasting room so we could pay with a credit card. I think that was a good move on our part, because we were able to sample all of the tasty beers they had on tap while we waited! As you can see from the pictures below, it was a bit crazy in there. If I had one complaint, it was that there were too many people trying to get their growlers filled as well, which was really slowing things down for the rest of us that were there for the Cuvee.

Eventually, I reached the head of the line, paid for my beers and made my way out of there.

Was it worth the trip? Well, since I just tried one of these a few days ago, I can honestly say I would have driven a heck of a lot further for a beer this good. More on this soon!

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

Name: Russian Imperial Stout

Brewer: Stone Brewing

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

Vintage: 2008

Cellared On: May 9th, 2008

Original Tasting: June 11th, 2008

It took two months, but I finally found it.

I knew this brew was being released Mid-March, so you can imagine my confusion when I had one beverage center telling me this wouldn’t be available until the fall (what?). Thank god Glenville beverage was on the ball, and I was able to swoop in a grab the last few they had in stock.

Stone’s RIS sure looks exactly as you would expect. It’s black, black, black.

This brew may be the most fragrant stout I’ve ever smelled. Espresso and bitter roasted malt flavors dominate, with notes of chocolate in there as well. You can’t miss the booze in this one either. It’s powerful.

The taste of this beer is deep and complex. Heavy malts and coffee flavors are upfront, with subtle chocolate notes coming through. Bitter hoppy flavors join the the party mid-palette, and there’s a pleasant burst of caramel sweetness as the beer finishes. Sweet and roasted malts linger for well after the finish. There’s a slight warming from the alcohol, but it’s not nearly as strong as the smell indicated initially.

It’s a thick beer, but not nearly as dense as I thought.

All in all, a fantastic stout and well worth tracking down.

Be sure to check out the Stone web page for additional cellaring and tasting notes.

Cellar Outlook: There’s really not much doubt here - this one will last for years. I expect that some of the harshness and boozy flavors will fade a bit and let some fruit notes start to come through.

Next Tasting: May 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

This past weekend my wife and I hopped in the car with a couple of friends and took a drive out to the Finger Lakes area of Western NY, otherwise known as NY Wine Country. Our specific destination was Watkins Glen, where the Finger Lakes Wine Festival was being held this weekend.

This was truely a massive affair. Running on both Saturday and Sunday, about 90 or so wineries had some mammoth tasting booths setup. If you like wine and are anywhere within driving distance, I would highly recommend attending at least one of the days.  Despite the massive crowds you never really had to wait for a tasting, and the purchasing transit system they had in place assured all of your purchases greeted you on you way out - no carrying heavy bottles around all day.

There were even options for a beer lover. Ithaca brewery had their own little area, and it sure looked like they were doing a hell of a business. I grabbed a pint of their Cascazilla, and it provided a well needed switch from all of that wine. I was able to purchase a few bottles of their tenth anniversary ale, which I’ll be reviewing soon. Wagner winery also brews their own beers, and I was able to sample a very tasty dopplebock there. I’ve been eyeing their triplebock over at Oliver’s Beverage in Albany, I might just have to get it now!

Anyway, the true highlight of the weekend for me was the Friday light festival kickoff even - the toga party! I can’t even begin to describe the craziness at this thing. Every sort of toga imaginable was there. The wife and I went as caveman and cavewoman - and a shot of us even made the local paper!

Hope your weekend was as fun as mine!

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

It’s a bit hard for me to believe, but the Brew Basement is now officially one year old.

Running a site like this has been an interesting experience. I’ve received more attention and traffic then I thought I would. Between all of you regular subscribers (check out the upper right-hand corner of this site if you would like to become one yourself), daily visitors, and the various syndication sites I would say that right now my writing gets between 300-400 views per day, which is a bit humbling.

What I didn’t realize is exactly how much effort a website takes up. I completely understand why most small sites stop updating within a few months after starting up. If I didn’t have a passion for this topic there is no way that I would have continued. Between keeping up with the basic site administration (updating and patching the code, fighting spam, tweaking the performance and security) and performing the background research for my topics I felt like at times I barely had time to write.

On the other hand, I’ve been able to drink a lot of really, really good beer. That alone has made this worthwhile.

So what can you expect in the next year? A lot more of the same, but with perhaps a bit of a different emphasis.

For one, I have a bunch of cellaring experiments bubbling around in my head, and I plan on devoting much more time to rolling those out.

Secondly, while I’ve been purposely focusing on the US beer scene (and New York brewers in particular) I plan on spreading my wings a bit more. Specifically, you can expect more Belgian brews being stashed in the cellar this year. It’s a crime I only have one lambic down there right now.

Thirdly, there’ll be a new look to the site itself coming out pretty soon. Expect a less “texty” (as Lisa likes to put it) feel to the main page.

And finally, you can eagerly anticipate the release of my first e-book within the next few months. I’m in the process of reformatting my online content in a book/outline format that can be easily distributed and referenced. I plan on updating this book a couple times of year to reflect the latest thinking and trends in the cellaring world.

I’d like to end this by saying thanks to you, my readers, and I hope you stick with me for an even better second year. I’d also like to thank my fellow members of the beer community, whose support and suggestions have been invaluable. Please take some time to visit some of their sites in the “blogroll” section of the website, you’ll find some incredibly entertaining and informative writing there.

And lastly, I’d like to thank my wife Lisa, whose enthusiastic support has been beyond belief. How I talked her in to letting me buy all of this beer I’ll never know!