The Brew Basement

Name: Druid Fluid
Brewer: Middle Ages Brewing Company
Style: Barleywine
Vintage: 2008
Cellared On: March 1st, 2008
Original Tasting: March 21st, 2008 (or June 11th, take your pick)
Sometime back in March I started my first review notebook. If you looked at it now here in June, it’s page after page of beer tasting, all very neatly organized. Of course, I [...]

Name: La Merle
Brewer: North Coast Brewing
Style: Saison
Vintage: 2008
Cellared On: April 11th, 2008
Original Tasting: May 19th, 2008
It was a gorgeous spring day. It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold, and the sky was bright and flawless. It was the kind of day that could only get better with a beer in my hand. But what [...]

Name: Insanity
Brewer: Weyerbacher
Style: Barleywine
Vintage: 2007
Bottled On: December 8th, 2007 (Date printed on case)
Cellared On: March 21st, 2008
Original Tasting: April 26th, 2008
Every year, Weyerbacher takes a portion of their Blithering Idiot Barleywine and age it oak bourbon barrels before bottling. And since I’ve enjoyed aging Weyerbacher’s Blithering Idiot Barelywine it was only natural that I’d [...]

Name: Old Guardian
Brewer: Stone
Style: Barleywine
Vintage: 2008
Cellared On: March 7th, 2008
Original Tasting: March 29th, 2008
I wasn’t sure if this brew would make to Upstate NY or not. Not every Stone offering seems to make it this far (no sign of the Russian Imperial Stout yet), so I was pretty happy to see this in my [...]

Name: Baltic Thunder
Brewer: Victory
Style: Baltic Porter
Vintage: 2008
Cellared On: March 3rd, 2008
Original Tasting: April 13th, 2008
This is one brew with a history - that’s not something you can usually say with a new brewing!
In this case, Baltic Thunder is Victory Brewing’s take on a well known brew by the now-closed Heavyweight brewing. The beer was called [...]

Name: Jah Va
Brewer: Southern Tier
Style: Imperial Stout
Vintage: 2007
Cellared On: March 3rd, 2008
Original Tasting: April 4th, 2008
The very first stout I tasted for this website was Dogfish Head’s Chicory Stout. Despite being a very tasty coffee-flavor brew, it just hasn’t been holding up well in the cellar. I have a bit more confidence in Southern [...]

Name: BackBurner
Brewer: Southern Tier
Style: Barleywine
Vintage: 2008
Cellared On: February 20th, 2008
Original Tasting: March 12th, 2008
Even though my main mission on this site is obviously aging and cellaring beers, some of you may have noticed my secondary mission - exploring the fantastic beers local to me here in Upstate NY. I consider myself incredibly lucky to be [...]

Name: Red and White
Brewer: Dogfish Head
Style: Beats the hell out of me
Vintage: 2008
Cellared On: March 13th, 2008
Original Tasting: March 15th, 2008
One of my big regrets last summer is that I didn’t get a chance to cellar any of the original vintage of Dogfish Head’s Red and White. It sold out pretty fast here in Upstate [...]

Name: Imperial Baltic Porter
Brewer: Southampton Publick House
Style: Baltic Porter
Vintage: 2007
Cellared On: February 7th, 2008
Original Tasting: February 29th, 2008
Baltic Porters are strong and dark beers brewed in the style of a porter but fermented with the use of lager instead of ale yeast. This particular porter was brewed by Southampton, and I figured if the other [...]

Name: Bigfoot
Brewer: Sierra Nevada
Style: Barleywine
Vintage: 2008
Bottled On: January 18th, 2008
Cellared On: February 12th, 2008
Original Tasting: February 22nd, 2008
It took a month and a half, but I finally have my 2008 vintage beer to review! Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot is one of the most popular beers to cellar among enthusiasts here in the US, I’m very happy [...]