Good Measure Tawny

A couple of years ago, Alex from dontdrinkbeer.com noticed that while there was a Facebook group for seemingly every style of beer, there wasn’t one for Barleywine. So he created Barleywine is Life (#BiL) and the group quickly became a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Seriously, it’s a crazy little group of people and there’s a surprising amount of drama. I know, it’s the internets, what do you expect, but this is still a step above the usual dank memes and inappropriate comments (in, like, a good way).

Anywho, the date 8/17 has become something of a holiday to the group (817, like BIL, get it?) so I figured I’d break out the one VT barleywine I procured during during the most recent Operation Cheddar… Tawny is an English Style Barleywine (that’s good) aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels (very good) with vermont table grapes (Um… I don’t know what to think about that). Let’s dig in:

Good Measure Tawny

Good Measure Tawny – Pours a copper amber color (dare I say, tawny?) with a finger of off white head. Smells sweet with a distinct vinous character, those grapes coming through, and maybe some of that syrupy goodness too. Taste starts sweet, malt and fruit, that distinct vinous character again, some caramel, toffee, oak, and vanilla, finishing with some dry grape notes (a tannic sort of dryness, like a dry red wine). Mouthfeel is rich, well carbonated, and full bodied, a bit of boozy heat, drying tannins in the finish. Overall, it’s good, but I’d rather the grapes were left out of it. B

Beer Nerd Details: 14% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 8/17/18.

It was certainly nice to break up the giant wave of IPAs I’ve been drowning in of late (it’s the struggle, you know?) with something like this, and while I wasn’t a huge fan of the grape addition, it was at least an interesting experiment. I’d be curious to try more Good Measure stuff next time I’m in VT. I’m going to have to plan a trip for cooler months of the year so I don’t overload on IPAs and Saisons the way I tend to do during the summer months.

Kane Object Permanence

Object Permanence is the idea that objects continue to exist even when you are no longer observing them. Unfortunately, beer does cease to exists if you insist on drinking it. Doubly unfortunate when the beer is as good as this one.

Kane was one of the brewers that made this Pennsylvanian take notice of New Jersey, which sez a lot, and I’ve been particularly impressed with their barrel program. A Night to End All Dawns and its associated variants are spectacular, but alas, I keep losing the lottery and have to make due with the generosity of friends at shares to get a taste of the stuff. I’ve had a few tastes of other Barrel Aged goodies from them, which have been uniformly great. Fortunately, I did manage to procure this bit of life, an English Barleywine with a complicated malt bill aged in bourbon barrels for over a year. The beer is gone, but the idea continues to exist even though I can no longer drink it. Or something like that. What is this, a psychology blog? No, it’s a beer blog, so read my dumb tasting notes:

Kane Object Permanence

Kane Object Permanence – Pours a murky brown color with a cap of off-white head. Smells fantastic, rich toffee, caramel, a hint of dark fruit, and a great bourbon, oak, and vanilla character. Taste follows the nose, rich toffee, caramel, dark fruit, and a boozy bourbon, oak, and vanilla character. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, almost creamy, moderate carbonation provides just enough levity, some boozy heat but nothing unwieldy. Overall, this is fantastic, one of the better examples of life that I’ve had. A

Beer Nerd Details: 11.8% ABV bottled (750 ml waxed). Drank out of a snifter on 4/20/18. Vintage: 2016 (batch 1?)

I’ve recently come into a couple of more Kane bottles. One is last year’s vintage of Object Permanence (huzzah), and the other is a BBA anniversary beer from them. Stay tuned. I may not wait two months to write that one up (assuming I drink it soon). Fingers crossed for this year’s ANTEAD lottery too.

Hoppin Frog Barrel Aged InTENsity

And now for something completely different. I know I’m supposed to be writing about this beer, but I’ve been doing this for almost 8 years at this point and thus getting a little repetitive. Please indulge me. Doubly so, because I’m going to talk about the (for some reason) much maligned Dean Koontz. For the uninitiated, he’s a very prolific horror/suspense author that is usually dismissed as a second-rate Stephen King.

To me, though, he’s an important author in that he’s the one that got me to start reading books. I wasn’t, like, illiterate or anything, but I mostly only read books when forced to for school, and Koontz got me reading for pleasure. No coercion necessary! Sure, his novels get repetitive, he has some specific bugaboos that he always focuses on (there’s a Scooby-esque satanic bad guy that seems supernatural but often isn’t and then a good guy with Police/SWAT/FBI/CIA/Army/Marine/etc… training takes him on and usually falls in love with a strong single mother with a precocious child and adorably intelligent dog along the way), and the stories can be repetitive, but they tend to be pretty interesting and a lot of fun. Movies based on his books have been almost uniformly bad, which might also be part of why his reputation suffers.

Unfortunately, his prolific output also means there’s a lot of stuff out there that isn’t quite as good as his best (to put it kindly), and from what I’ve read recently, he hasn’t really come close to the success he had in the 80s and 90s. Even given his tendency to repeat himself, when you’ve got about 100 books in print, it’s a little more difficult to find one that suits you, and people these days usually aren’t willing to give an author a second chance (a fair strategy for dealing with media overload, to be sure). For the record, I’d recommend checking out Lightning, Phantoms, Midnight, Strangers, or maybe:

Intensity by Dean Koontz

Pretty much the last great book of his that I remember reading was called Intensity. Granted, he didn’t use goofy capitalization to emphasize a brewery’s tenth anniversary (see? This post is coming together. Kinda.), but I have to admit that when I saw this bottle of beer, I immediately thought of Koontz’s novel. It was one of the flood of serial killer tales that besieged us in the mid 1990s, and to my mind, one of the better ones. A gruesome but well paced and compulsive read.

It’s been a solid twenty years since I’ve read it, but I still remember a lot of details, which isn’t something you expect from popular airport thrillers like this. Some of these details are trivial, like the killer’s choice of music for his cross country murder spree: Angelo Badalamenti (most famous as a film and TV composer for David Lynch, amongst others – and an odd choice to be employed like this). There’s this recurring bit with an albino deer that was mysterious but still evocative. There’s one decision from our protagonist that might be difficult to swallow, but once you get past that the book doesn’t really let up. It’s genuinely tense, and if I remember correctly, Koontz even sometimes reverts to present tense at times to emphasize the tension (a move that could be jarring and cheap, but which I remember working well). For once, Koontz’s obvious love of dogs is subverted by his use of them in a villainous fashion. The killer’s refusal to conform to textbook serial killer tropes (which was becoming a trope of itself at the time, to be sure) was effective, and there were some neat twists in that arena.

At this point, you’ve probably seen a dozen similar tales, so this might be old hat, but it was pretty great for teenaged me. There was a TV mini-series that was pretty much par for the course (not particularly worth seeking out, but not an abomination either), and it’s worth noting that the first half of High Tension is remarkably similar to the first half of Intensity, though the stories diverge considerably from there (even so, this might be the only real worthwhile Koontz adaptation, even though it’s not really acknowledged as such).

That a beer would remind me of a serial killer story is probably something best left unexplored, but since this is, in fact, a beer blog, let’s take a closer look at this beer brewed in honor of Hoppin’ Frog’s tenth anniversary. It’s a hoppy, American-style barleywine that was aged in bourbon barrels for six months, then dry hopped for some extra kick. Of course, this was released in 2016, so that fresh hop character has probably dissipated… or maybe not. Let’s drink it and find out:

Hoppin Frog Barrel Aged InTENsity

Hoppin’ Frog Barrel Aged InTENsity – Pours a clear, dark amber color with a half finger of off-white head. Smells of faded citrus hops, a little toffee, some boozy bourbon, oak, and vanilla edging in too. Taste starts off which rich caramel, crystal malt, and boozy bourbon, oak, and vanilla, the hops emerging more towards the finish, which also has a boozy little bite. Some mild oxidation here gives complexity without turning the whole thing into cardboard. Mouthfeel is full bodied and rich, moderate carbonation, some boozy heat too. Overall, it’s bit on the hoppy side, as American Barleywines tend to be, but it’s quite nice. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 4/1/17.

I’m not sure if Hoppin’ Frog still makes Naked Evil, but I remember that as being better than this one. Of course, that was like 5 years ago, and my memory of that is somehow not as distinct as my memory of Koontz’s book.

Siren Maiden 2015

England’s Siren brewing started luring unsuspecting and wary travelers to their doom a few years ago, and the first beer they brewed was a big American-style barleywine – their “maiden” voyage, if you will. They promptly stashed the result away in various wine and spirits barrels and got a crew together to come up with a harmonious blend at the end of the next year. They never fully empty the barrels, though, leaving at least 10% left and refilling the remainder with fresh Maiden for the following year’s batch. A sorta hybrid solera type system going on here, and I find myself reminded of a few big American efforts along similar lines. The solera-esque nature recalls the Bruery’s Anniversary beers, the same-beer-in-different-expressions approach is like FiftyFifty’s Grand Cru, and the whole Anniversary blend thing reminds me of Firestone Walker’s Anniversary beers… Pretty good company, if you ask me.

This particular edition is the third in the series. About 50% is fresh American-style barleywine, the rest was the previous year’s batch aged in a variety of barrels: 33% Auchentoshan (non-peated Scotch that has a reputation as a lighter whisky that makes a good component in blends), 21% Red Wine, 15% Jack Daniels, 9% Pedro Ximenez, 9% Madeira, 4.33% Tequila, 4.33% Glentauchers and 4.33% Banyuls. I’ve been somewhat lax at covering the whole British beer scene on this blog (hey, I’ve got a crapton of American breweries to keep up with here, give me a break), but this is the sort of thing that makes me want to succumb to that Siren song:

Siren Maiden

Siren Maiden 2015 – Pours a dark amber-hued brown color with a finger of off-white head. Smells of dark fruit, toffee, oak, with a little whisky and wine character coming through. Taste starts off rich and sweet, with some oak, fruit, and toffee kicking in, but dries up a little towards the finish, which has the remnants of a bitter hop bite. As it warms, more of that dank, aged hop character emerges. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied up front, but thins out a little in the finish, a little booze heat, but nothing untoward, medium to high carbonation, but on point. Overall, a damn fine, complex barleywine. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 11.9% ABV bottled (500 ml waxed cap). Drank out of a snifter on 7/7/17. Vintage: 2015.

I may have to dig a little deeper into Siren’s catalog, as this was quite pleasant. Would love to try other vintages to see how much the differing blends and barrels contribute.

Sapsquatch

Southern Tier seems to have fallen from the vanguard of the beer nerd scene (you can only drink so much Pumking, you know), but offerings like this could certainly make some waves with jaded dorks on the prowl. It’s an English style barleywine aged in a trio of barrels. A third of the blend was aged in bourbon barrels, another third in bourbon barrels that once held maple syrup, and the final third aged on charred oak staves used in Southern Tier’s distilling program to create whiskey.

There’s a large community dedicated to investigating the existence of the legendary sasquatch, but did you know that they refer to their investigations as “squatching“. I’d call it kinda dumb, but then, I wait in lines for beer. Fortunately not this beer, though. Aged for 12 months and clocking in at a healthy 14.9% ABV, it’s a beer worthy of Bigfoot. Or at least something to bring on your latest squatching excursion.

Southern Tier Sapsquatch

Southern Tier Barrel Works Series: Sapsquatch – Pours an almost clear, very dark amber brown color with a cap of short lived light tan head. Smells fantastic, booze soaked raisins, rich caramel, toffee, brown sugar, molasses, bourbon, oak, and vanilla. Taste hits similar notes, but is not quite as complex as the nose. Sweet, but not cloying at all. Mouthfeel is rich, medium-to-full bodied, perfect carbonation, some lingering but pleasant booze. Balance isn’t a word you’d use for a beer like this, but maybe proportional works. Overall, this is really damn good. A high B+

Beer Nerd Details: 14.9% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 6/23/16. Bottled: April 2017.

I’ve never been particularly in love with Southern Tier, so this was a welcome treat. It seems pretty widely available too, which is nice (I would totally grab another of these for a rainy day). There’s supposed to be another Barrel Works beer called Monstrous that looks like a straightforward bourbon barrel aged imperial stout, my kinda beer. It’s nice to see these folks stepping up their game (and with a minimum of gimmicky adjuncts).

Our Finest Regards

It’s been a little over a year and a half since the famed gypsy brewers of Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project decided to close up shop. Despite speculation, there was no official reason given for the closure other than their note that it was never meant to be a long term thing. As gypsy brewers, their very nature meant that their enterprise was lightweight and not tied down by things like debt, equipment, or real estate. I suspect they had their fill and decided to walk the Earth (you know, like Caine from Kung Fu) basically just because they could. And why not?

They were great brewers though, so it was still a sad thing. I thought I’d long since drank my last Pretty Things beer when I spied this bottle of barleywine at a random liquor store in Maryland. A decidedly English take on the style, this is meant as a tribute to barley (their hot take on American Barleywine: “…normally a sad beer indeed, lots of hops and alcohol but the star of the show is left scratching his chin in the eaves of the theatre.” Burn.) So I think its time to pay our finest regards to this sadly defunct brewery:

Pretty Things Our Finest Regards

Pretty Things Our Finest Regards – Pours a cloudy dark brown color with a half-finger of off white head. Smells of rich crystal malt, a little nuttiness adding complexity along with hints of hops playing in the background. Taste has a nice caramel and toffee character with a distinct malty nuttiness finishing with a bit of dry booze. Mouthfeel is rich and medium-to-full bodied, perfectly carbonated, some pleasant booze. Overall, this is a great non-BA barleywine, one of the better that I’ve had. A-

Beer Nerd Details: ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 5/26/17. Bottled: Nov 2015.

Despite their closure, Pretty Things did put out a pale ale in the UK last year, so it’s possible we’ll see their return at some point. The nimble business model that allowed them to close neatly should also allow them to start up again if they so desire, but I suspect the best we’ll see are limited one-off type events like that pale ale… if that. Still, a beer dork can hope.

Vintage Dogfish Head

Once the darlings of the craft beer community, it seems that Dogfish Head’s fortunes have been on the wane in recent years. Sure, they’re still chugging along and are often the savior of a BMC dominated taplist, but their beers aren’t quite as heralded as they once were. This might be due to the hit-or-miss nature of their sometimes gimmicky approach, or perhaps just plain snobbery. Personally, I tend to enjoy their more “normal” takes on beer, though some of the “off-centered” stuff hits its mark from time to time as well. I had the good fortune to visit the original Rehoboth Beach brewpub last year, and it was a really good time. I had some brewpub exclusives like Porter by Proxy and SeaQuench Ale (now a regular release) that I really enjoyed (and others that were… less successful, like Choc Lobster).

Anyway, I knew that I’d squirreled away a few bottles of Dogfish Head’s more extreme efforts a few years ago, so I lit my torch and made the trek into the deepest, darkest catacombs of my cellar. After fighting off a hoard of mummies and centipede-like creatures, I managed to extricate a few vintage bottles of Dogfish Head from several years of cobwebs and dust.

As per usual, there are two sides of the coin when drinking well-aged beer. On one side, it’s always an interesting and sometimes sublime experience. On the other, while it’s always a different beer than it was fresh, it’s rarely a better beer. I’m happy to report that, in this case at least, Dogfish Head’s wares held up remarkably well. Of course, you’ll also have to note that these are among the more extreme varieties they make in terms of ABV and thus are particularly good candidates for aging. I suspect most of their other offerings would not fare so well. I’ve got some comments about each beer that are incorporated below, so read on, fearless drinker:

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine – A barleywine brewed with figs, I always found the label’s “Directions” charming: “Open bottle, pour contents into two snifters. Enjoy. Or: Walk hand-in-neck into the middle of the woods. Use a shovel to dig a 2×2 hole three feet deep. Seal the bottle in a plastic bag. Place in hole & pack with dirt. Memorize location & leave. Return exactly one year later. Dig up bottle, open & enjoy.” Well, I didn’t pack it in dirt and I left it in the catacombs of castle Kaedrin for 5 years instead of just 1, but this still held up pretty well. I’d probably recommend a little less time in the cellar if you’re looking to age your own, but it definitely takes on age gracefully. This is probably one of Dogfish Head’s more underrated beers. This is actually the last beer from Dogfish Head that I did a proper review for, and it’s from 2012… I may need to remedy that, but for now, let’s look at our well aged 4-5 year old bottle.

Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

Pours a very murky brown color with a half finger of off white head. Smells of dark fruits, those figs and prunes, crystal malt, dank resinous hops (typical of aged beers, but it’s a subtle presence here, lending complexity). Taste hits that fruity malt character, rich caramelized figs and prunes, crystal malt, light on the resinous hops, followed by a heaping helping of booze. There’s a little oxidation going on here, but it’s not overwhelming the beer. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, lots of boozy heat but nothing unapproachable. A sipper for sure. Overall, this has held up remarkably well. Would try again. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 15% ABV bottled (12 ounces). Drank out of a tulip glass on 2/4/17. Bottled in 2012B.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA – Perhaps Dogfish Head’s most famous beer, it’s one of the few that does seem to still command a devout following. One thing you’ll hear a lot of people say about this beer is that it’s almost undrinkable when fresh, which I’ve always counted as an exaggeration, but I never did manage a well-aged version until new. This has to be one of the most remarkable transformations I’ve ever seen in an aged beer. When fresh, it’s certainly boozy and hot, but it’s got lots of great citrus and pine hop character going on. I liked it. With age, especially once we start talking about 5-6 years, it essentially turns into a malt-forward barleywine. Even just the color of the beer changes dramatically. I managed to dig up a picture from ye olde digital catacombs that shows what it was like with about 6 months on it (you can click to embiggen all the images in this post, but I’m afraid this one isn’t exactly high quality. Please direct complaints to my old cell phone):

2012 Picture of a freshish bottle of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

And with 6 years on it (these two bottles were from the same 2011B batch), oxidation takes hold and turns this a much darker color:

A six year old Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA from the same batch as previous picture

Whoa. Pours a murky, very dark amber color with a finger of white head. Smells like a malt-forward barleywine, lots of oxidized aromas, a little bit of dank, resinous hops (way different than fresh). Taste is rich and sweet, again, malt forward, more like a barleywine, certainly a little oxidized, a little faded, dank, resinous hops, finishing boozy. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, full bodied, and quite boozy, not as hot as fresh, but plenty of warming sensations as I drink. Overall, I may have kept this just a bit too long, but it’s still quite interesting. I’d like to try one with 3 or so years on it to see how it compares. For now B or B+

Beer Nerd Details: 18% ABV bottled (12 ounces). Drank out of a tulip glass on 2/18/17. Bottled in 2011B.

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout – Of the Dogfish Beers I’ve aged, I’d expect this one to do the best. It ticks all the right checkboxes for the ideal beer-aging candidate: dark malt-focused ale with extremely high alcohol, no flavor additives likely to fade too much over time (i.e. coffee, vanilla, etc…), and so on. This is the sort of beer that drinks pretty hot fresh, but ages considerably well. At 2 years old, it was a really tasty treat. With 5-6 years under its belt, it’s even better. This appears to be one of the few beers that actually does get better over time.

A vintage bottle of 2011 Dogfish Head World Wide Stout

Pours a very dark brown, almost black color with a half finger of tan head that disappears quickly. Smells rich and malty, caramel, dark fruit, even some roast and dark chocolate remaining. Taste is very sweet, caramel, dark fruit, almost port-like character here, again, still a little roast and chocolate. Mouthfeel is rich, full bodied, and chewy, plenty of booze but it does not at all feel like 18%. Overall, this has held up remarkably well, could probably last much longer! A-

Beer Nerd Details: 18% ABV bottled (12 ounces). Drank out of a snifter glass on 5/1/17. Bottled in 2011A.

So there you have it. I’ve depleted my entire supply of Olde School, but I still have a 120 (same vintage) left, and a 2010 WWS slumbering in the cellar. I’m guessing the WWS could take several more years before showing significant degradation, but the 120 should probably be drunk soon (and if I had Olde School, that seems to be at its limit as well). All three of these beers are good for long term aging though, and my recommendation would be to pick up a 4 pack of each, and drink a bottle every 1 or 2 years.

Vintage Victory

So I’ve been aging beer for a while now, both intentionally and unintentionally, and it’s often an interesting exercise. However, it’s also pretty rare for a beer to get better over time. It’s usually different and sometimes worse than fresh, but better is, again, rare.

In general, my advice continues to be to drink fresh. If you can only get one bottle of something special, drink it fresh. If you can get a second bottle, it’s a fun exercise to age it, but seldom does a beer age incredibly well. At least, not for very long periods of time. Lots of beers can get better or be just as good over a few months, but not many will last over a year and the ones that can last 5 years are even more rare. Of course, there are many variables. My “cellar” doesn’t exactly have ideal conditions, so you may have better luck. Bottle variation exists, especially when it comes to wild ales. Some people don’t like harsh booziness and time can clear that up sometimes. And so on.

Since Victory is local, I’ve stockpiled plenty of their offerings over the years. Readily available, not too pricy, and quality beer – they make good candidates for aging experimentation. Let’s see if this patience has paid off:

Victory V-Twelve 2011

Victory V-Twelve (2011) – This is a special one. I loved it fresh back in the day and squirreled this away to see how it would age. High alcohol, darkish beer, I thought it would do well. Naturally, I haven’t thought too much about it in the intervening time, especially as my tastes evolved over the years. In a recent attempt to drink down a bit of my cellar I noticed something curious. The bottle sez “Should be enjoyed within 5 years” and the bottling date was Nov 11 2011. So of course, I popped the cork on Nov 11 2016. Nailed it.

Victory V-Twelve Bottling Date

Pours a murky amber orange brown color with just a cap of off white head. Smells nice, lots of yeast-driven, rich, dark fruit, brown sugar, maybe even a little floral aroma, toffee too, hints of spice. Taste is rich and sweet, ample malt backbone, dark fruit, raisins, dates, yeasty esters, a little oxidation definitely showing, but nothing overwhelming, sherry, toffee, brown sugar, finishing with hints of Belgian yeast spice and a bit of booze. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, a sipper for sure. Overall, this is still fantastic. I haven’t had it fresh since, oh, 2011, but it’s holding up pretty darned well. A high B+ (I originally rated this an A, but taking into account ratings inflation puts this about on par with my feelings on it fresh.

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/11/16. Bottled: Nov 11 2011. “Should be enjoyed within 5 years” (Nailed it.)

Victory Java Cask (2015) – The story on coffee beer is that the coffee tends to fade over time and hoo boy is that the case here. For the coffee ambivalents like myself, that’s not a huge deal, but this was a huge coffee bomb when fresh, and while the coffee character is still there if you look for it (or if you’re particularly sensitive to it, ahem), the bourbon barrel stout character is now the majority of this beer. It’s actually quite pleasant, but then, I’m one of the aforementioned coffee ambivalents, so I would be like that. I’m still hoping that Victory will put out a non-coffee version of this same beer someday, but that’s not in the cards this year (FYI, this was written in November 2016 – ed.). We’ve got a Rye barrel variant this year, as well as a rebrew of this, but I hold out hope. Still, I’m quite enjoying this and won’t even drop the grade. Again, coffee-heads will be disappointed by an aged bottle of this stuff (and anecdotally, I’d say most of the dropoff had occurred within 6 months). A-

Beer Nerd Details: 14.3% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a charente glass on 11/8/16. Fucking election day. Enjoy by: 10 Nov 2016, cutting it close.

Victory Otto (2011) – A smoked dubbel? Not your common style, and at the time, the smoke completely overwhelmed any Belgian yeast characteristics. Pours a dark amber color with a finger of almost white head. Smells of belgian yest, raisins, and just a bit of smoke. Taste goes similarly, the smoke has really mellowed out over time (fresh, the smoke was potent and overpowering, now it’s barely there). Proooobably held on to it too long, but it’s held up much better than your typical dubbel. Will try the Bourbon Barrel version next (it was a massive improvement over the original). B- (Update, I brought Otto in Oak to a share recently and it has fared a little better, but is also well past its prime. Solid B material.)

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/1/16. Bottled: Sept 21 2011 (I think that’s what it sez)

Victory Old Horizontal 2013

Victory Old Horizontal (2013) – No fancy stories here, just realized it had been about 3 years, which is plenty for a beer like this. Turns out, I think it could probably stand up to more, but I’m still really glad I opened this when I did. Pours a dark amber color with a finger of white head. Smells of caramel and toffee, hints of dried, candied fruit. Taste also has that rich caramel and toffee character, sweet but not cloying, some modest hop character too. Some oxidation present, but nothing overwhelming and it ends up adding complexity. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, moderate carbonation, hints of booze. Overall, this has aged very well, would do again. I still have a couple of Oak Horizontals laying around, so I should probably strap one of those in next. B+ or A-

Beer Nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/22/16. Enjoy by Oct 25 2018. (deduced bottling date: October 25 2013)

So there you have it. 5 years probably too long, even for something like V-Twelve. Three years, though, seemed fruitful. Stay tuned for more vintage drinking, including one that was 7 years old (and still drank incredibly well).

A Trip to Hidden River Brewing Company

Hidden River brewing opened its doors a little over a year ago. So many local breweries have opened recently that I’m having a hard time keeping up, but I’d been hearing some buzz about these beers of late. These guys aren’t in the most convenient location (Douglassville, PA, not quite the middle of nowhere, but far enough from me), and I’m the worst so it took me a while to get in gear, but now that I’ve been there, I will most definitely be making return trips.

Hidden River Sign

It’s still a tiny operation, located in the beautiful Historic Brinton Lodge. It’s a deceptively large facility though, broken up into a small bar area, several dining rooms, and a pretty great outdoor bar. The lodge is supposedly haunted and the owners apparently run various events along those paranormal lines, which I’ll most certainly have to take advantage of next Halloween. So it’s a great space, and the decor works too.

Charcuterie Plate

The food menu is somewhat limited, but everything I had was great (charcuterie plate and a panini, great bread too). A solid and ever-rotating taplist helps things along (more on that below). All in all, it reminds me a lot of the original Tired Hands location, before the hype and expansions.

I’ve now been there twice, and while I didn’t take formal tasting notes, I’ll give you a broad overview of what I got:

Hidden River Green Mass

Green Mass – A 5.9% pale ale made in the Northeast IPA mold, super cloudy, juicy hops, and so on. Would love to try a higher ABV version of this, but this was quite a nice first impression.

Hidden River Fresh Press

Fresh Press – A 6% dry-hopped saison, very nice. Again with the super-cloudy beer (does look like orange juice) and juicy hop character, along with some nice saison yeast character. Definitely a highlight.

Hidden River Kings Watch

King’s Watch – An 8% Baltic Porter that really impressed me. I’ve often noted that many local breweries aren’t great at dark beer, but this is a really impressive take. Not quite HF Everett or Maine King Titus, but along those lines. Fantastic.

Hummingbird High – A 9.5% DIPA, this one doesn’t quite live up to the expectation built up by my first three tries. It’s certainly a fine beer, but not a top tier DIPA (and, perhaps tellingly, seemed like less of a Northeast IPA style).

Golden Oak Magic – I suppose if they were really aping Tired Hands, they would have named this “Golden Oak Magick”, heh. A 4.8% saison brewed with Shiitake and Black Poplar mushrooms, cilantro, and a bunch of lime zest, this one appears extremely clear, and has a more traditional saison yeast character too it, with some savory earthiness (but not really funky and you can’t exactly pick out the mushrooms…)

Melt Banana Face – A 7.6% IPA made with, you guessed it, bananas. And they do come through strong, though that means they sorta overwhelm the Northeast IPA base. All in all, a very interesting beer, would drink again, but sorta one-dimensional…

Hidden River Rum Barrel Aged Mapping the Past

Rum Barrel Aged Mapping the Past – An 11% English Barleywine aged on coconuts in Rum Barrels. My initial reaction was of sugary, rum soaked raisins, but once I figured out the coconut component (didn’t see that in the description before ordering), I really started to get that too. Not sooper boozy or anything, and could probably use a little more malt backbone, but it’s still a pretty fantastic offering that I enjoyed immensely…

So there you have it, everything was very good to great, one of the better hit to miss ratios I’ve seen at a new(ish) brewery in a while. I greatly look forward to sampling more of their wares in the future. I do not look forward to making the trek out there, but the results do seem worth it!

Union Chessie

To celebrate their underrated brewery’s anniversary, Union brewing makes a barleywine named after local legend Chessie, a sea monster said to live in the midst of the Chesapeake Bay. As with most local legends of this ilk, there are many sightings but no actual evidence of its existence. Funnily enough, speculation meant to explain the sightings sound even more far fetched than a legendary sea monster and include a “mutant eel” theory, large river otters, prehistoric Zeuglodons, and South American anacondas escaping from 18th- and 19th-century sailing ships.

Fortunately, there’s plenty of evidence for the beer’s existence: namely that I was able to purchase and drink a bottle. It’s a little over a year old and I get the impression it would be better fresh, but as it is now, it occupies that same strange territory in the DIPA/TIPA/Barleywine triangle. Regardless, Chessie’s come out to play and behold! Photographic evidence:

Union Chessie Barleywine

Union Chessie 3rd Anniversary Barleywine – Pours a dark amber brown color with a finger or two \ of fluffy off-white head that sticks around for quite a while. Smells of faded citrus and resinous pine hops with some crystal malts lurking in the background. Taste also hits the citrus and pine hops pretty hard, with a light crystal malt backbone and dry, bitter hop finish. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, medium bodied, and surprisingly dry for the style. Not red wine dry, but still much more attenuated than your typical barleywine. Overall, this is an interesting beer, somewhere in that DIPA, TIPA, Barleywine triangle, tasty too. Would like to try fresh (or aged in a barrel). B

Beer Nerd Details: 9.8% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a snifter glass on 9/23/16. Released: August 2015. Bottle No. 336/800.

This was the third anniversary beer, but they also released the second anniversary Chessie that had been aged in Elijah Craig 12 barrels last year. Here’s to hoping I can snag the BA version later this year…