Month: June 2020

Brasserie McAuslan St-Ambroise Stout Impériale Russe Special Reserve (2018) – Russian Imperial Stout at 9.2% ABV | 84 IBU (C$5.11 at NLC Stavanger, 341 ml, packaged on 19-Sep-2018, acquired 20-Nov-2018, reviewed 18-Jun-2020)

Appearance: opaque unrelieved black  with one finger of creamy beige head, good retention and moderate lacing. (4/5) Aroma: toasty malt, boozy dark fruit, chocolate, marshmallow, leather and tobacco, oak, bourbon, vanilla. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, high bitter. (8/10) Medium-full slightly viscous body, moderate carbonation, lingering bitter and warming finish verging on astringent. (4/5)

The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine in a (supposedly) sold house, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.

This marks the start of the deepest vertical I’ve ever attempted, and indeed the deepest vertical I’m ever likely to attempt: a nearly-complete run, newest to oldest, of 2018 to 2012 vintages, missing only the 2015. I did a baseline on a brand-new bottle of this a few years ago, and at the time noted definite alcohol heat and slight astringent thinning in the finish, both of which I hoped would mellow with age.

This one is now nearly two years old and so marks a reasonable start to truly cellared vintages. Despite the nearly two years of cellaring, there is still a slight but definite astringent edge, though the alcohol burn seems to have tempered slightly. The carbonation is a little higher than I previously noted, but I’m assuming that’s more likely a batch variation, than a cellaring effect. Ultimately there’s little perceptible change in the overall character or scoring at the two year mark. (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Bières de Chimay S.A. Chimay Première (Red) (2016) – Dubbel at 7% ABV (C$5.99 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 330 ml, best before 31-Dec-2020, acquired 19-Jul-2016, reviewed 14-Jun-2020)

Appearance: hazy ruby-tinged deep amber with one finger of loose white head diminishing gradually to a thin cap and ring, moderate spotty lacing. (3/5) Aroma: caramel, raisins, dark stone fruit, cedar. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, mild bitter. (8/10)  Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, sweetish medium duration finish. (4/5)

The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.

This concludes my attempt at extended cellaring for Chimay varietals. This one indicates no perceptible difference between a ’16 in ’20, than a ’15 in ’19 – which supports my previous conclusion, that these do not improve after three or four years (or more) in the cellar. You can drink them “fresh” after brewer ageing, or you can hold them for a year to four, but beyond that, they’re not going to improve. Continue past that point if you like, but neither I nor they will be held responsible. (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Deschutes Brewery The Dissident (2015) – Sour Brown Ale (Flanders Oud Bruin) at 11.1% ABV (C$20.30 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 650 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 16-Mar-2016, reviewed 14-Jun-2020)

Appearance: clear medium amber with a short, short-lived loose off-white head, no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: cherries, balsamic vinegar, dried dark fruit, leather, oak, caramel. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate tart, low bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium-full slightly slick body, moderate-lively carbonation, off-dry medium duration warming finish. (4/5)

The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine in a (supposedly) sold house, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find/build a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.

I decided to do a vertical, newest to oldest, of the three vintages I’ve been cellaring for a few years, this being the oldest. This one represents a slight but perceptible improvement over the newer ones, with a definite trend towards being smoother overall with ageing. It would probably have been hard to detect from memory or tasting notes, but side-by-side it’s clear that the additional ageing gives a definite improvement. Particularly on the tongue, the caramel sweetness continues to diminish, giving a more appropriate balance to the style, though to my disappointment I’m still not getting a lot of Brett. The high ABV is better integrated again, and has now become very smooth indeed. Somewhat surprisingly, it seems like the carbonation continues to climb with age, which I observed in the subsequent vintage but didn’t record in my notes (another benefit of side-by-side comparisons), and this one is fairly light and bubbly by comparison to the two year newer one. Five years in appears to be the sweet spot for this one, and I doubt further ageing will give a perceptible improvement – though I’m not the one to ask, because I’ve blown my load now, so it’ll take at least six years before I can re-address the issue. (Which, though I’m a middle-aged male, is not an issue that is addressable by a small blue trapezoidal pill – not that I have any experience in that regard, being as far as I can tell still eighteen in mind and body, at least as pertains to the old boom-chicka-wow-wow – except that I last a fuck of a lot longer now. So to speak.) (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Deschutes Brewery The Dissident (2016) – Sour Brown Ale (Flanders Oud Bruin) at 10.9% ABV | 16 IBU (US$15.99 at Specs Main Houston, 650 ml, packaged on 17-Oct-2016, acquired 8-Mar-2017, reviewed 14-Jun-2020)

Appearance: clear medium amber with a short, short-lived loose off-white head, no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: cherries, balsamic vinegar, dried dark fruit, leather, oak, caramel. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate tart, low bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium-full slightly slick body, moderate carbonation, off-dry medium duration warming slightly astringent finish. (4/5)

The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine in a (supposedly) sold house, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find/build a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.

I decided to do a vertical, newest to oldest, of the three vintages I’ve been cellaring for a few years – this being the second-oldest. Nearly identical to the newer, though perhaps slightly smoother. Like the newer, it’s not bad, but not the greatest of examples of the Oud Bruin style, with a slightly inappropriate sweet caramel, and slightly restrained balsamic vinegar. Again, I’m not getting a lot of indicia of the Brett, though the wine barrels are emphatically present. The high ABV is slightly better integrated, with very little burn present. Bottom line, an additional year has made this a little better, but not enough to bump the over-all score. (15/20)

7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Deschutes Brewery The Dissident (2017) – Sour Brown Ale (Flanders Oud Bruin) at 10.5% ABV | 16 IBU (C$24.46 at Andrew Hilton Wine & Spirits, 650 ml, packaged on 28-Aug-2017, acquired 22-Nov-2017, reviewed 14-Jun-2020)

Appearance: clear medium amber with a short, short-lived loose off-white head, no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: cherries, balsamic vinegar, dried dark fruit, leather, oak, caramel. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate tart, low bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium-full slightly slick body, moderate carbonation, off-dry medium duration warming slightly astringent finish. (4/5)

The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.

I decided to do a vertical, newest to oldest, of the three vintages I’ve been cellaring for a few years – this being the newest, and hopefully rawest. Not bad, but not the greatest of examples of the Oud Bruin style. In particular, the sweet caramel strikes me as being a little unbalanced and inappropriate to the style. We’ll see whether that improves with cellaring. I can’t say I’m getting a lot of indicia of the Brett, though I am getting the wine barrels. On the up side, the high ABV is fairly-well integrated, with little burn present. (15/20)

My 268th from the 2010 Edition of 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die, 257th from the 2013 Edition, 253rd from the 2018 Edition, and 289th combining all three editions.

7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Bières de Chimay S.A. Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue) (2015) – Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 9% ABV (C$5.15 at NLC Stavanger, 330 ml, best before 31-Dec-2020, acquired 12-Apr-2016, reviewed 13-Jun-2020)

Appearance: clear ruby brown with one fat finger of fluffy ivory head, good retention and spotty lacing. (4/5) Aroma: bready yeast, cherries, raisins, cloves. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-lively carbonation, sweetish medium duration warming slightly astringent finish. (4/5)

The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.

This will nearly conclude my attempt at extended cellaring on Chimay varietals – it’s the last of my Blue, and I have just another 2016 vintage Red left. I last tried this same vintage almost a year ago, when I directly compared it, at four years’ cellaring, to the subsequent year’s vintage at three years’ cellaring. At the time, I concluded these are already aged sufficiently when bottled, and there’s little or no benefit to be gained by further ageing. Now, at five years, and approaching the BB date, I note just a hint of astringency in the finish, that suggests it might have turned the corner and started a long slow decline in quality. It’s subtle, but regardless it’s clear that keeping these for more than four years (or maybe three) accomplishes nothing. (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Brasserie Cantillon Cuvee Saint-Gilloise – Straight (Unblended) Lambic at 5% ABV (C$31.00 at Zyn, 750 ml, packaged on 17-Feb-2014, best before 1-Feb-2024, acquired 29-Jul-2014, reviewed 13-Jun-2020)

Appearance: clear medium gold with two fingers of rocky white head, excellent retention and spotty lacing. (4/5) Aroma: horseblankety funk, stone fruit, oak, doughy yeast. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, mild tart, low bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium-light body, lively carbonation, dry mildly tart finish. (4/5)

The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.

Anyhoo, yeah, the beer. An interesting one, and very dignified, actually. It’s pretty much a straight two-year Lambic, instead of a blended Gueuze, hopped with classic German Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops and bottle-charged with sucrose (but no fructose) to kick up the carbonation. I quite like the back story, of it being created to celebrate league championships and promotions for the Royale Union Saint-Gilloise football club, but “seeing as the club doesn’t quite always perform like a champion, it was decided to change the name for a third and final time to Cuvée Saint-Gilloise”. (Which strikes me as very Belgian: to be a fifth-generation supporter of a football club, but having realistic expectations about their performance.) And, that’s not a bad analogy for this beer: it’s certainly got no negatives, and in particular the very restrained tartness is much more civilized than the much more aggressive acidity sometimes found in American Wilds and even other Belgians. But, at the same time, it could stand to be a bit more flamboyant, and suffers a bit by comparison to other Cantillon offerings. A very functional table beer perhaps, but it’s not really going to be the star of anybody’s cellar. (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Cascade Brewing Figaro Ale (2014) – American Wild Ale at 9.1% ABV (C$32.03 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 650 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 18-Aug-2016, reviewed 12-Jun-2020)

Appearance: clear pale amber with a short, short-lived loose white head, minimal spotty lacing. (3/5) Aroma: vinous white grape must, figs, oak, raisins & dark fruits. (9/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate tart, low bitter. (9/10) Palate: medium body, lively carbonation, off-dry tart finish. (4/5)

Well, the house is sold (theoretically) so I guess it’s time to start drinking down the cellar. This one has been patiently waiting for four years, and though I can’t say for certain that it’s improved in that time, it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s been harmed by it. Not a lot of fig presence, so maybe the extended cellaring has allowed the oaky white wine notes to dominate a bit more than when it was fresh, but there’s still nice complexity present. (17/20)

8.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Cabin Brewing Company Triple Threat – American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.5% ABV | 60 IBU (C$5.17 at Collective, 473 ml, packaged on 1-Jun-2020, acquired 5-Jun-2020, reviewed 11-Jun-2020)

Appearance: hazy pale gold with one fat finger of fluffy pale ivory head, good retention and moderate soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: juicy citrus, tropical fruit, pine, coconut. (9/10) Taste: moderate sweet, high bitter. (9/10) Palate: smooth medium-thick body, moderate carbonation, lingering and building bitter warming finish. (4/5)

Brewer notes say this is hopped with Sabro, Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin, to which I respond, well, hell, yes! Much to my approbation, this contains all the elements that blend would suggest: dominant citrus, with tropical fruit and pine closely following, and some coconut in the finish to shake things up. It’s a little thick, sure, and has a definite alcohol burn, but nothing outside the realm of what you’d expect (or, indeed, want) for a beer of this style. It finishes with an enthusiastic if not bombastic boozy bitterness, which, though not quite a return to the IBU arms race of a few years ago, contains at least an echo of some sabre rattling. I could drink a lot of these – until I went cross-eyed and fell over, anyway. Cabin cranks another one out of the park. (17/20)

8.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Spectrum Beer Co. Chocolate Milkshake Ale – American Pale Ale at 5% ABV | 20 IBU (C$2.95 at Collective, 355 ml, packaged on 20-Jan-2020, acquired 5-Jun-2020, reviewed 11-Jun-2020)

Appearance: hazy pale gold with one fat finger of fluffy pale ivory head, good retention and moderate soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: sweet milk chocolate. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-low bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, mild bitter finish. (4/5)

That’s wild! It looks like a typical hazy APA, but smells and tastes like a chocolate ale, and blindfolded I’d’ve sworn this would be brown and creamy. One of the most milkshake-like of the so-called that I’ve ever had, and despite that the sweetness is actually fairly restrained and well-balanced. It’s all adjunct chocolate and lactose, of course, but it’s well done. I’m probably rating this a bit high, because it really doesn’t even smell or taste like beer, but it’s just so unexpected and fun that it made me grin. (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com