The Brew Basement

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 [...]

Hello everyone!
Hey, I’m only a month late with my August tasting updates - that’s not TOO bad, right? It’s hard to believe that as long as I get September’s tastings up within a week or two I might actually get caught up with my notes.
Anyway, check out my August tastings below. There were a lot [...]

I’m so far behind on my tasting updates I had to break this into two parts to get through ‘em all!
As always, my results were a bit of a mixed bag….
Smuttynose Scotch Ale (Six Month) - The sweet malt flavors have started to pull back letting the peat smoke really come to the forefront. It’s [...]

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, [...]

Here’s my latest batch of aged beer tastings. As usual, I had a mixed batch of success and failure.
Ommegang Ommegeddon - Six month tasting - Six months have immensely improved this beer. Complex and subtle, it was really fun to drink. Increased Brett character has helped this brew round out very well.
Bear Republic Hop Rod [...]

Hi everyone. For my latest round of updates I have six beers cellaring well, and only a single one going downhill. I had fun with these tastings, as you can imagine!
Unibroue La Fin Du Monde - Reduced carbonation is really allowing the fruit flavors and sugar-cookie like sweetness to come through.
Stone Double Bastard Ale - [...]

OK, so they look the same, but how do they taste?
The minute I saw the 2008 vintage of North Coast’s Old Stock Ale on the shelves earlier this spring, I knew this article was coming soon. I just couldn’t wait to pour one of my 2007’s to see how it was matching up with this [...]

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 [...]

Here’s my latest round of six-month tastings! It’s amazing what seems to happen on these vintage tastings - there’s always a mixed bag of success and failures.
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja - Big disappointment here. Diminished sweetness has left this brew wildly unbalanced and extremely sour.
Victory Weissbier - Just forget it - drink this fresh only. [...]

Hello everyone! I’m taking a break from my recent writing about smoked beers to bring you the latest results from the cellar. This batch is comprised of mostly six month tastings - except for the Chimay Grande Reserve, which is a 2006 vintage. Enjoy!
Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale - The spiciness of this brew is still [...]