The Bar Towel

Grabbed out my last can of Apocalypse Later from GLB canned Feb 18th (stored in the fridge), still very hoppy and absolutely delicious.

Belgian wrote:2016 Fullers Vintage Ale, this one is a pretty straight forward barley wine presenting a little rustic bready grain, apple, cherry-like alefruit, vanilla, fig, and a bit of lemon from the interesting Nelson Sauvin hops. Creamy and a little spicy.

Braised some Select Farms Bratwurst using a little of this - the brew boils off with major cereal aromas and slowly forms a kind of intense malt reduction/sticky brown gravy on the saucepan that's great with a bit of Kozlik's Dijon.

This makes me think the 2016 Barley Wine VA from Fullers might be pretty good for 5-10 year cellar aging. Any thoughts?

I've been spoiled with some really nice, locally available hoppy ales over the weekend.

Barncat Tha Juice — Believe the hype!
Stone Go To IPA — I think like this better than their regular IPA. And I generally dislike session IPA.
Oscar Blues G'Knight
People's Pint Lord of Lupulin

2011 Amsterdam Tempest - a beautiful mature RIS!

I thought it would be fading but this, my last bottle is delicious. Good head. The best words are deep, mellow and bready with chocolatey overtones. Just about as mature as you would want this one to go but it's still all there.

2012 Amsterdam Tempest - similar but different. A bit less head. Slightly more power from ABV and residual hops. A bit more body and dark fruit, just a different beer. Holding up extremely well despite Amsterdam's silly 3-year time limit on aging these (to be fair how would they really have known in advance either way?)

I am freaking proud of this brewery. Black gold all the way.

Belgian wrote:2011 Amsterdam Tempest - a beautiful mature RIS!

I thought it would be fading but this, my last bottle is delicious. Good head. The best words are deep, mellow and bready with chocolatey overtones. Just about as mature as you would want this one to go but it's still all there.

2012 Amsterdam Tempest - similar but different. A bit less head. Slightly more power from ABV and residual hops. A bit more body and dark fruit, just a different beer. Holding up extremely well despite Amsterdam's silly 3-year time limit on aging these (to be fair how would they really have known in advance either way?)

I am freaking proud of this brewery. Black gold all the way.

you know that Amsterdam discontinued Tempest, right?
and some of their recent offerings have been pretty bad.

why did they discontinue tempest?

No BCBS (and to be fair I really wasn't looking very hard) but over the weekend in Buffalo I was well taken care of:

Otter Creek Free Flow
Singlecut Mo'Shuggie
Funky Buddha Nikolai Vorluff
Grimm Tesseract
Grimm Magnetic Compass
Grimm Super Spruce
Grimm Sumi Ink
Amsterdam Double Tempest
Westy 12 from 2009

atomeyes wrote:you know that Amsterdam discontinued Tempest, right?
and some of their recent offerings have been pretty bad.

I heard they suspended Tempest. The only one-offs I've tried have been enjoyable.

Day 2:
The 2011 is really nice. Slight mulled wine cherry fruit notes coming forward. Regal.
The 2012 is a bit more coffee / dry chocolate forward. Bit of black olive, drier with a touch of ash in the roast. A different beer, interesting to compare the two.

I think I may line up for the Double Tempest next year. How is this year's by the way?

Belgian wrote:

atomeyes wrote:you know that Amsterdam discontinued Tempest, right?
and some of their recent offerings have been pretty bad.

I heard they suspended Tempest. The only one-offs I've tried have been enjoyable.

Day 2:
The 2011 is really nice. Slight mulled wine cherry fruit notes coming forward. Regal.
The 2012 is a bit more coffee / dry chocolate forward. Bit of black olive, drier with a touch of ash in the roast. A different beer, interesting to compare the two.

I think I may line up for the Double Tempest next year. How is this year's by the way?

dunno .bought 4 and they go hiding. the first 1-2 years were too hot on release.
they also make for really great trades with Belgian brewers. used some to get some nice Armand and Gaston vintages

spinrsx wrote:why did they discontinue tempest?

that's a very, very good question.
lots of questions i have regarding that brewery. i love their top 2 brewers, but i just don't get the direction.
they're literally the opposite of Great Lakes' 12 month trajectory

2015 Toronto Beer Week Six Boroughs Bourbon Barrel-Aged Rye Porter — This is drinking very nicely and I enjoyed it more than when it was fresh IIRC. Chocolatey roasted malt and bourbon barrel flavours well balanced and smooth. Warning: this one was a mild gusher.

Dupont Avec Les Bons Voueux, such a nice brew in the 375ml format. Great house yeast character with so much nice added 'oomph'. A stocker-upper.

Belgian wrote:Dupont Avec Les Bons Voueux, such a nice brew in the 375ml format. Great house yeast character with so much nice added 'oomph'. A stocker-upper.

Good call. just grabbed a couple.

Belgian wrote:Dupont Avec Les Bons Voueux, such a nice brew in the 375ml format. Great house yeast character with so much nice added 'oomph'. A stocker-upper.

My last magnum will be on the table this weekend...

Over the weekend at Milos' Craft Beer Emporium and at home:
Beer Lab Simcoe, Citra & Galaxy Pale Ale (draft)
Forked River Liquid Schwartz (draft)
Sawdust City Juicin' IPA (draft)
2016 Fuller's Vintage Ale (cask)
Sawdust City Titania (thanks Terry & Emma!)