A few years ago I was at an event where they offered flights of Dogfish Head 120 of four different vintages. The first sip of each you could really tell the difference, with the oldest being far smoother. Then, as we drank we became far less discerning. It was fun!
Heh. When I got married in 2011, I had Dark Lords from 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 at the after-party at my house. (I had thought ahead and saved them up for just such an occasion.) A bit of a vertical tasting, I guess. You could definitely tell the difference from one vintage to the next, but I also think their recipes varied a bit from year to year. But there was a point where the beer tasted “too old” or something. Like the '06 and '07 seemed past their prime. '08 and '09 tasted fantastic, and the others were solid. But, like you said, as we all drank them (and one 2007 bottle even got knocked over and broke, spilling its sweet, sweet nectar all over the concrete–luckily, that was one of the vintages I had two bottles of) our ability to discern one from the other faded … Fun experiment, but I’m curious what it would have been like stone-cold sober.
You’re roughly a 7 hour drive for me. If you ever repeat a similar event, I’d make the trip.
But I don’t drink beer to get drunk. If that was my goal, I’d stick to whiskey or gin. I drink beer I like, in moderate quantities, and I find that once beer goes north of about 7-8% the taste of the alcohol itself starts to assert itself unless the flavor of the (rest of the) beer is quite strong. So Chimay Red - good; Chimay Triple, okay; Chimay Blue, no thank you.
You’d certainly be welcome! Sadly, I have not had the foresight for the next life event that would encourage such stockpiling, so I’ve got absolutely nothing saved up. I kind of got a bit tired of Dark Lord that year, so stopped buying four bottles (which was the limit at the time–or maybe it was six) and saving two for the years to come. I do remember, though, checking eBay at the time to see what my collection would go for, and a set of those years would have gotten me around $500-$600 (which, actually, in terms of collectors terms is not that much, but consider I paid $20 each for them.) I still remember when you could show up on the loading dock of Three Floyd’s when Dark Lord came out and buy however many you wanted with no crowds. Granted, that was just 2005 and 2006, from what I remember. Then it became a to-do.
Kayaker and pulykamell, it’s a little more of a drive for you (OK, a lot more), but if you find yourself in Portland at the end of November, stop by the Holiday All Festival. Deschutes has brought several vintages of The Abyss the last few years, so you can have a vertical tasting without any foresight.
Again with the names, Figueroa Mountain another local (for me) brewery features I Dunkeled In My Pants. Idk why I like the risque themes, but the locals seem to encourage the trend. And they’re actually very good beers.
Local loyalty (Philadelphia): I don’t pass up Dock Street Man Full of Trouble porter or their rich Prince Myshkin imperial stout, though the latter is only packaged in large bottles and a large bottle of it can finish you for the evening.
A newer local brewery, Conshohocken Brewing Co. (their ESB has been in my steady rotation since I first tasted it) has several seasonal or sporadically available darks with ominous names: Burn Everything rye porter, Day Without A Dawn “imperial American black ale” (a strong black IPA; they are one brewer that resists the term “black IPA”). Day Without A Dawn is one of the few IPAs I will drink regularly; when I do drink IPAs they’re usually black–something about the roastiness of a dark beer seems to balance the hops better.
Speaking of seasonals, has anyone else tried the latest Ommegang Game of Thrones beer, Mother of Dragons? I expected to dislike it–it’s a weird blend of a smoked porter (I don’t usually care for smoky beers) and a sour kriek (cherry ale). Somehow it works, at least for me.
The holidays are also my season for indulging in chocolate stouts. After thorough comparison studies I think Samuel Smith organic chocolate stout has a hair-thin edge over Young’s Luxury Double Chocolate, but either one is excellent. Southern Tier Thick Mint is also worth trying if you like chocolate mint as much as I do. Much as I like the recent trend to canning craft beers, chocolate beer is one style that I believe is not well served by cans–something about canning seems to dull the chocolate flavor. So I stick to bottles as much as possible.
Well, this is all very interesting. American beer was always famous in the UK for being Bud, Coors Lite, Rolling Rock, etc. Latterly, it’s becoming known for being all excruciatingly hoppy IPAs. I knew neither was the whole truth, but it’s nice to hear!
By far my favorite is Brash’s Vulgar Display of Power. I got lucky enough to get a keg of it once…pricey. I guess really my favorite is the barrel aged version, Hammer Smashed Face, but I can only get a few of them a year.
I’m drinking a Michelob Amberbock right now.
Hoppy IPAs are soooo 2012, though still prominent. All about sours/gose/etc, and “juicy” NEIPAs.
Local place that has happy hour deals, that or Killian’s are the best cheap beer bangs for your buck.
Sipping a Lagunitas Imperial Stout right now-most excellent!
Well, I went and special ordered the Old Rasputin but it won’t be in until I get back from vacation. While at the beer store, I grabbed some Carton Brewing Milk Stout. No bad stuff at only 4% ABV.
The Old Rasputin finally arrived and its all its cracked up to be. It was the perfect brew for our first winter storm here in the NE. I was surprised by the lack of an alcohol bite, given the 10% ABV. So many beers, so little time. Cheers!
Just reviving this thread to note that I had to take a work trip over to Bend. Current in the Deschutes Pub enjoying The Abyss. Outstanding recommendation!
Right in front of me is Eviltwin Brewing’s Even More Jesus, an imperial stout. Tasty.
Whenever I’m in the neighborhood of one of the Heartland Brewery’s locations I’m up for some of that Farmer Jon’s Oatmeal Stout that they serve.
While Deschutes Black Butte Porter has been a longtime favorite of mine, I recently tried the Baltic Porter from the same brewery, and it’s my new favorite beer.
I had some of this Urbock last weekend, and it was very good.