Northville, MI - 12/10/12 Winner was a tie between the Plead and Petrus. We expected the Plead the Fifth to be amazing, but the Petrus Old Bruin was a total surprise!
Somebody should try a complete Miller product horizontal... Night would probably end up with fighting, but hey?
We may have gone over the top. 3F Golden Blend 50/50 Eclipse 18 EC Alchemist Heady Topper Alpine Nelson Bells Expedition Stout Boulevard Double Wide and LC2 Brasserie Trois Dame: Grande Dame and Sauvageonne The Bruery: BT, WC, CR, and 2TD Cantillon Cuvee Saint-Gilloise, Vignorrone, St. Lamvinus CCB BA Church on a Hill and Marshal Zhukov DFH 75 and 120 Eagle Rock Unity FBS HF Arthur Hoppin' Frog BA BORIS JK Boxer's Revenge Midnight Sun Berserker NG Cherry Stout Oude Beersel Panil Barriquee Russian River T25 Southern Tier Pumking Surly Wet Williamsburgs Alewerks Bourbon Barrel Porter Weyerbacher Rapture
So we did this last night...(big ups to OudErnest for the insaaaaaanely generous 2000 Reserva donation) L-R: SN 2010, SN 1984, 2010 Reserva, 2000 Reserva
Well, a bit of a confession first: I've never had Stille Nacht in any capacity up to the point of this tasting. This was a staggering realization that occurred to me earlier in the evening before we even began the lineup. Now, I'm a big fan of De Dolle beers (Oerbier Reserva is probably one of my favorite Oud Bruins), but for some reason SN had escaped me entirely up until now. So anyway, in the order that we opened these: 2010 Stille Nacht: This was basically fresh, for all intents and purposes. Ripe with candi sugar and pretty heavy on the mouthfeel. I can see why people are fond of aging these. Great beer and perfect for the type of seasonal weather that the label suggests. Though, having been aware of the yeast change at the turn of the century, I knew that the next bottle would likely be strikingly different.... 1984 Stille Nacht:.....and it was. These two vintages really couldn't have been more different from each other. For starters, the color of this vintage was significantly darker than the 2010. Whereas the 2010 was clearly classifiable as a BSPA, this was unquestionably in BSDA territory. Aroma? This thing smelled old. Not in a terrible way, but mostly in a "wow, there's a lot happening here" (sherry oxidation, dark fruits, leather...the kind of stuff that gets me totally pumped on uber-vintage beers). Taste was fairly lactic with a pretty distinct richness. Certainly not unlike some vintage Rodenbachs. Though, I was pleasantly surprised to find that after letting my pour sit for a good 15-20 minutes there was a noticeable chocolatey quality that peeked out from underneath. This one was infinitely better just a touch above cellar temps. Not entirely sure on the full provenance of this particular bottle, but I do know that it was acquired by a tasting group member in an IP trade back in the motherland within the last year or two. 2010 Stille Nacht Reserva: I have to admit...I was not fully prepared for how incredibly life-changing this beer was about to be. Immediately, on the first pour, we were remarking on how delicious the liquid itself looked in the glass. Carbonation appeared to be in control and somewhat fluffy. The aroma is off-the-charts. So much wine barrel....it's tough to describe. This brew really does straddle the line between beer and wine. Taste was insaaaaaanely ridiculous....in a good way. Tons of oak dryness (maybe needs to mellow out just a tiny bit) and a tiny bit of fruit (of the pitted variety). Mouthfeel was, for lack of a better word, luscious. I had a difficult time finishing my pour as I did not want this experience to end. I was originally toying with the idea of trading out one of my bottles perhaps for something else that I've wanted to try for a while, but I changed my tune pretty fast. This one falls easily into my Top 5 Belgian beer experiences (not an easy feat). 2000 Stille Nacht Reserva: Where to even begin with this one. Well, this bottle was generously donated by a friend/fellow BA who was regretfully unable to attend this tasting. Remarkably generous, to say the least....and we officially owe him big. Expectations were pretty high as we were all well aware of this beer's elite "whale" status. Pushing all that aside, we tried to approach this as objectively as possible. The cork came out without much work. Poured nicely....but was also noticeably darker in color compared to the 2010 Reserva. Apparently, the recipe/yeast change doesn't specifically apply in this case, but it there was a clear visual distinction in either case. Not sure why that was the case, but we happily shrugged it off. Aroma? Fell right smack in the middle between the 1984 SN and the 2010 SNR....almost as if it was a hybrid of the two. Had some old notes going on, but body was full and had a lactic quality that I really enjoyed (even more so than the 1984). It didn't have the in-your-face vibrance of the fresh 2010 SNR, but we didn't subtract any points for that. This is a vintage beer, plain and simple. Now, as for its place on the "whale" list? I'm not so sure that it warrants the position that it's been given. Difficult to get? Duh. Fantastic beer? Of course! However, it just didn't have the qualities that I would expect something that's (for one reason or another) arbitrarily thrown in with the likes of Framboos '99 etc. Many great qualities, but clearly lacked that "X" factor that you would expect to find in a beer like this. Infinitely thankful for the opportunity to have tried this gem, though. Big ups, Ernie!!! Now, if I had to rate all of these in a lineup? Would probably go something like this: 1) 2010 SNR 2) 2000 SNR 3) 2010 SN 4) 1984 SN The others in the crew may have a slightly different take, however...
3 rounds, 5 beers per round, each one blind. Round 1: Wanted to do all Citra beers, but couldn't find enough regionally. Three Floyds Zombie Dust American pale ale Westbrook Single Hop: Citra rye pale ale Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA Terrapin So Fresh, So Green, Green (2012 Citra fresh hop) IPA Alchemist Heady Topper DIPA Round 2: All Belgian quadrupels, obviously. Rochefort 10 Straffe Hendrik Westvleteren XII Pannepot 2011 St. Berbardus Abt 12 Round 3: Founders Breakfast Stout (2010) Goose Island Bourbon Country Brand Stout (2009) Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel Founders KBS Founders Breakfast Stout (2012) My friends were appreciative.
Left to right: Heady Topper Bourbon County 2009 Bourbon County 2008 Juicy Luscious (aka Hell and High Water) Kabert King Henry Bourbon County 2007 Kate the Great Coolship Red Bourbon County Coffee 2012 Bourbon County Rare Bourbon County Bramble Rye'd Da Lightning Huge thanks to BeerMeFitz! I haven't even heard of Kabert, so imagine my surprise. Thanks to moefriedman for releasing the King. Thanks to dlello2 for hitting us with the Godzilla of palate cleansers. Last, but certainly never least, thanks to The22Lou for helping us out.
4 of us had a nice afternoon/evening: Herfst Lente BA Plum Klaus GBS BBGBS Syx Lolita Westvleteren 8 Vera Mae Racer X 1995 Triple Bock FW16 MOAS Rapture Bolt Cutter Rahr BB Winter Warmer For me, Syx was the most disappointing and Rahr's BBWW was the surprise stunner. FW15 is better than 16. Bolt Cutter is exactly what others said about it. BA Plum Klaus was interesting...DDBA's brother beer. MOAS was ok, not great. 95 Tripel Bock is not good, but not as bad as expected...although it's a Frankenstein: soy sauce, teriyaki, salt, crushed up Milk Bones (don't ask how I know that) is what I got. No booziness. Would make a nice beef marinade.
Little tasting 5 of us had last night. (paying for it today). The Bourbon County is a 5 year vert 2008-2012
Damn... you know you're a HF homer when the thing I notice most out of that incredible lineup was the CD vert. So, how did they all stack up? I'm assuming CD2 was left out?
2012-12-22 End of the World Tasting thank you to mikeymikee for hosting us and to the participants (capra12, mikeymikee, pete27lax, therealwildbill, maddogg, Sidebordz, scott) hell of a night. although the mayans may have been wrong, it sure felt like they were right this morning! here's what we ripped through: IMG]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f219/cosmicevan/IMG_20121221_231734.jpg[/IMG] Gilgamesh happened here (missed the photo op) Taking photos of the damage: Final Lineup New Glarus: Enigma (while we waited for everyone to arrive) Hill Farmstead: Susan (people started to arrive) Hill Farmstead: Twilight of the Idol (stragglers still showing up) Cigar City: Hunahpu 2011 (F You Mayans!!!) Russian River: Consecration Lost Abbey: Cable Car 2012 3F: 1959 Oude Geuze (hand bottled from a different tasting not too long ago) Sammy Smith: Organic Chocolate Stout Pelican: Storm Watcher 2008 Pelican: Mosther of All Storms 2010 Pelican: Mosther of All Storms 2012 Cantillon: Blabaer 2012 Stone: Double Barrel Aged Bastard 2009 Stone: Lucky Bastard Cantillon: Fou Foune 2008 Cantillon: Fou Foune 2010 Southampton: Black Raspberry Lambic Kuhnhenn: Santa's Sack Mead Olde Hickory: Olde Rabbits Foot 2008 Foot Hills: Olde Rabbits Foot 2012 AleSmith: BA Speedway Stout 2006 AleSmith: BA Speedway Stout 2012 Charleville: Box of Chocolates Upland: Persimmon Lambic De Struise: Black Damnation V - Double Black Upland: Gilgamesh (not pictured) Portsmouth: Kate the Great 2010 not pictured: Dark Horse: BA Plead the 5th 2012 (as people were leaving) Hill Farmstead: Anna think this covers it: may have missed something?
Sadly I was too drtunk to operate a camera, but here's the lineup from last night's edition of our weekly tasting. R&D Golden Ale Coffee Eclipse Shot in the Dark Beachwood Tovarish Iron Springs The Fuck Moonlight Misspent Youth Five Squared Alpine Keene Idea Crooked stave oculus dexter 7th sun intergalactic pale ale 7th sun extreme saison HF Juicy NG Barrel Kriek Crooked Stave Sentience Saison du Swamp Swamphead Midnight Sun Moscow Ithica Lebleu Ithica Brute Cantillon Cuvee de Saint Gilloise De Cam Kriek 09 7th Sun Starlight Surette Saison Reserva New Belgium Black Folie Logsden Peche and Brette Upright Fantasia 7th Sun Hand Shandy Alesmith BA Wee Heavy Fifty Fifty Iced BART Nepenthe Lotus-Eater Fantome Extra Sour Alpine BA Odin's Raven Epic Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout Pegs Pink Street Berliner Weissr Cisco Brewers Island Reserve Double Oaked Kate the Great Westy 12
so many highlights, but most of all just so much fun. some things that stick out in my mind as super awesome were: Lost Abbey: Cable Car 2012, 2008/2010/2012 Mother of All Storms/Storm Watcher side-by-side, Cantillon: Blabaer 2012, 2008 & 2010 Fou Foune, Southampton: Black Raspberry Lambic, 2008 & 2012 Olde Rabbits Foot, 2006 &2012 BA Speedway Stouts, the Uplands...and Double Black and Kate were cool but was pretty spent by then. it was pretty cool that the world didn't really end since i was in no shape to do any driving to try and hide from the apocalypse.
08 Abyss CBS Dogfather Big Hugs Tart of Darkness Event Horizon 50/50 Elija Craig 18 Darkness Rauch Geek 11' Hunphu Lindley Park BA Speedway Black Tuesday Abduction BA Sexual Chocolate Dark Lord Expedition Cherry Rye Berserker One hell of a night!
I'm assuming this happened during the MMA portion of the event? Strategic mastermind if I've ever seen one...
wow, i literally just spit beer (brown sugga) across the room. i had totally forgotten about that part of the evening until you mentioned that. you gotta admit, sh*tting on a guys head in MMA would be great strategy!
Awesome reviews here I love Del Dolle(mostly Oerbier and Bos Keun) need to revisit Still Nacht it seems.
Last night with my cousins. 2011 La Folie - Unique and amazing sour warhead assault. Harvest Dance - Best by 6/12, so a bit past, but 100% fine. Easy drinking and quite mellow. Ithaca Alphalpha batch E!019 - About 2.5 years since bottling, as far as I can tell. Tasted like a rabbit cage, but not in a bad way - very grassy and got a good amount of honey in the nose and taste. Bitter Monk - Smelled and tasted like a funky urine soaked bum, in that good/interesting way. Victory at Sea - World class indeed. Rye'd Da Lightning - Happy/lucky to have had this, sad to know I will never have it again.
Yeah, last night was pretty fun. A nice start to the long Holiday weekend. Didn't have '02, but we got over it. Not a bad one in the batch.
