So we had one of our bi-monthly beer tastings this evening. For all the regulars that stuck around, we ended the tasting with quite the proverbial 'bang'. We dipped into the cellar stash and pulled out some real gems.

First up: A 1997 Vintage Petrus Triple. Served from a 250mL (8.5 fl. oz) brown bottle.

Next up: A 1999 Vintage Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine. Served from a 7 fl. oz brown bottle. This stuff checks in at a healthy 120ibu and is recommended best after 1 year of aging.

Last up: A 1989 Vintage Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale. I was a bit skeptical on this one. First off I LOVE Bigfoot fresh as out of all the American Style Barleywines I have tried, this one has the biggest hop punch when fresh. Second, this stuff is 18 years old!

All of them aged amazingly well. The Bigfoot had to be poured with care as there was some definite sediment in this one. All of them had totally different flavor profiles. The two barleywines reminded me of a nice vintage Tawny port. Very full bodied, lots of sweetness and molasses flavor, but the alcohol was not as apparent as when fresh. I think the Bigfoot was passed it's prime, as you could tell there was some funk going on in there, but it wasn't bad at all. Nothing that would make me want to throw it away.

Overall a wonderful experience shared with some friends and fellow craft beer lovers a like. What a wonderful way to end a busy and stressful week. Just thought I would share with my e-beer buddies.

wow! 18 year old bigfoot....crazy!!! i had 2006 last night hahah

Devon wrote:
wow! 18 year old bigfoot....crazy!!! i had 2006 last night hahah

I know right? I went DIGGING last night. I think we forgot it was even in there.

Like for example the other week I was cleaning out my rack and reorganizing it and somehow a bottle had fallen on it's side and rolled to the back. It was a Thomas Hardy's ale from 2000. I didn't even know I had it. It's pretty bad when you need to start an inventory of your personal stash to even remember what you have.

We also had a '05 Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout and an '05 Avery The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest. The DFH was good. The Avery was AWESOME. It's been so long since I've had one, I can not remember what a fresh one tasted like. This two year old one was GREAT though.

Yeah I actually had an 05 Immort Ale, at least i think it was an 05 the date was pretty worn, very good though. Had a 2004 Heavywight Old Salty as well, looks like yesterday was a good day for aged beer

Devon wrote:
Yeah I actually had an 05 Immort Ale, at least i think it was an 05 the date was pretty worn, very good though. Had a 2004 Heavywight Old Salty as well, looks like yesterday was a good day for aged beer

Nice! I can't wait to try a couple of my aged Immort Ale's. See if they've mellowed out any at all. I am waiting to get at least 3-5 on them. Heavyweight...they out of Jersey? I've never had anything from them before.

So I wrote a huge thing, and my computer had a hiccup and I lost it. Let's just say that's all amazing beer! I've had a good bit of it with some age on it, and it's delicious! The Bigfoot is only 7 years younger than me... crazy! Good looking out on showing people about aging beer, always a good way to work on behalf of the industry.

how did you like that? I've got one ready to be drank. Also an 07. will probably do a little vertical when the 08 comes out..which i cant wait for. I actually like it pretty fresh!

BigQuaffy wrote:
how did you like that? I've got one ready to be drank. Also an 07. will probably do a little vertical when the 08 comes out..which i cant wait for. I actually like it pretty fresh!

Yeah, I love it fresh, but also dig it with a year on it... I really haven't tried anything older, but want to, haha.

It was different I'll say that.

I love my Barley Wine's. I tend to age all of them except for the big foot. I've got some different year Old Foghorn's, Millenniums, Oaked Milleniums, Old Crustaceans, Blithering Idiots, Insanities, Old Schools, Monsters, Old Horizontals etc... Most of them are stellar with about 1-3 years on them. The Big Foots are awesome with age as well, but I love them fresh. I tend to consume hoppy beers withing months of purchasing them.

I'm so stoked. A buddy of mine just scored me a 2001 Vintage Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine. I haven't been able to get any of them around here for the last two years now.

Mr Hammond wrote:
I'm so stoked. A buddy of mine just scored me a 2001 Vintage Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine. I haven't been able to get any of them around here for the last two years now.

That's pretty damn cool! I've only had the barrel aged one that we reviewed, haha. I definitely want to try the regular, I'm fairly sure we get it around here. I just get caught up with too much beer around.

Jeff wrote:
Mr Hammond wrote:
I'm so stoked. A buddy of mine just scored me a 2001 Vintage Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine. I haven't been able to get any of them around here for the last two years now.

That's pretty damn cool! I've only had the barrel aged one that we reviewed, haha. I definitely want to try the regular, I'm fairly sure we get it around here. I just get caught up with too much beer around.

You guys should be seeing it soon. Just bottled a fresh batch on Friday. Snagged a six pack off the assembly line. It's different from most of the hop bomb triple digit IBU barley wines. Similar to a Brooklyn Monster Ale. Only 35 IBU's so lots of malt and alcohol flavors. Good stuff though.