I was thinking "cold and bitter" but that works too.

Damnit, I can't top the first two. I'll just say SN Celebration is gross. Dumping holiday spices in beer doesn't make it better.

What's a 'hipsterdoushey'???

My local beer store heavily discounts beer that is past its "sell by" date.

As long as you stay away from the beers that are shiat even when fresh none of them taste degraded.

Christmasy beers just seem to suck in general.

Sgt. Pepper: seem to suck
Then it's worth a try.

Today is brewing day, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

/wort boiling right now, I'm Farkinh while I watch it.
//finishing hops ina few minutes.

I really don't care for Sierra Nevada beers. Way too hoppy for my taste. I've tried most of their offerings and all of them taste similar. While the Bigfoot is like 10.5% alcohol and will mess you up something fierce, I can't stand the taste. I loves me a nice Porter, but their Porter has way too much hops in it.

A big mouth and skunky taste?

I like my coffee like I like my men.

Ground up and in the freezer.

/not mine

harryhardhat: Sgt. Pepper: seem to suck
Then it's worth a try.

Oh, you!

violentsalvation: Teaming with yeast but gives great head?

I was going to ask if beer actually gets better as it ages, but you went and won the thread, so I'll just fark off.

Not a single mention of Biere De Garde or Saisons? Those are low-abv beers that are designed to be cellared for a minimum of 6 months.

Yes, dark, high-abv beers do develop more robust flavors over time, but there are plenty of light low-abv beers that do the same.

violentsalvation: Teaming with yeast but gives great head?

Well played

Been in my fridge for several years and I have no plans on drinking it any time soon!
I'm sure it will be great in 50 years!
/will give it to someone I don't like

violentsalvation: Teaming with yeast but gives great head?

I believe it's spelled "teeming".

Otherwise, Bravo!

I brought a bottle of five-year-old Quelque Chose over to a friends place on Wednesday on Sunday so I get what the article is talking about.

/best before 2021.

[Cali-belgique.jpg]

violentsalvation: Teaming with yeast but gives great head?

Expired and on sale.

Frothy in the can?

foo monkey: Damnit, I can't top the first two. I'll just say SN Celebration is gross. Dumping holiday spices in beer doesn't make it better.

Sorry no spices. (new window)

But I don't really care for it all that much...

studebaker hoch: I like my coffee like I like my men.

Ground up and in the freezer.

/not mine

Coffee, men and chocolate are all better rich.

Tis the season for some Troegs Mad Elf.

Some beer does not age well. A coworker gave me two bottles that her son, who is military and travels a bit, had given her as part of a gift basket. She never got around to drinking them, and thought that I, being the office beer dork and drunkard, might appreciate them. Sadly, the beers were from 1997 or so, and had not stood the test of time. One was a Rogue Chipotle Ale, the other was Hitachino Nest Beer, a weizen from Japan. I was really bummed last night when both bottles turned out to be full of sludgy mold.

That being said, proper cellaring of lambics, barleywines and other strong ale types is really a good idea. Heavy duty beer holds up just as good as wine if stored properly.

whipbambucket: foo monkey: Damnit, I can't top the first two. I'll just say SN Celebration is gross. Dumping holiday spices in beer doesn't make it better.

Sorry no spices. (new window)

But I don't really care for it all that much...

I see that this has already been covered.

Not my favorite, either. What I brew may not be their favorite, so we are even.

Dark, with a great head and a smooth finish

I haven't tried the beer mentioned in the article, but the local store started stocking a couple varieties of Innis & Gunn barrel-aged beer (I think it was aged in a rum barrel).

I tried a bottle out of curiousity - never again. It tasted like I was drinking beer with a hint of dirty sneaker.

I'll stick to fresh beer, thank you very much.

big old beer?!

today I had to drop some more trub out of this years Batch of Barley wine so i'm getting a kick out of these replies.
Frigging premium bitter yeast is great at what it does, but man! it is a PITA to work with! Try to run it through a polishing filter and its like filtering gravy!
This here, is a picture of A fairly routine day in the romantic life of a professional brewer...



Pretty cool huh? Our cute little pet name for this part of the job is "helping the tank take a crap". That right there is the by product of the cold protein break, along with hop solid remnants, and yeast slurry.

My personal funny story with the stuff Is that years ago, when I first starting working for this place, all the bottling was done by hand using a four valve manual "champagne filler" On this device, it would take you an hour to transfer the contents of a standard keg into about 6.5 cases of 2 ounce bottles. we would run three shifts a day on that little thing, and on a good day, we would hope to have about 60 cases ready for the next days distribution. This was the grunt brewery job equivilant of Dishwasher in a resturant, and the job ate through employees.
One afternoon, I'm doing some cellar work, and a new bottle slave was doing his thing, So as I'm dropping some trub, I let it fill up my bare hands and wander up to the kid from behind and In my best Redneck accent say "HEY MAN!" dude turns around to me holding this stuff up to his face and me shouting 'LOOK WHAT AH ALMOST STEPPED IN!"

I don't know if it was my joke, or the job, but he didn't last another three weeks.

But, back to the topic.. I do love barely wines, and I do have a vintage fridge just for holding my "vintages". The oldest one in there is a 1998 Sierra Nevada Big foot. I've never cared for the celebrations. too spicy, too distracting. in a lot of the way, these big winter beers folks turn out are like imperial versions of those pumpkin beers people put out, too sweet, too much alcohol to be really enjoyable with too much of a distracting spice profile.

just give me a honest Barely wine any time if I'm looking for a "desert beer". aged at least a year, with 1.5, to 2 years for me being peak. as it is right now, I celebrate the release of our Barely wine by tucking into the case from last year. Most folks I find, including us, put out the barely wines pretty young, and pretty green. kinda hot. Letting them sit for a year on the glass will usually allow the flavors to meld and mute out, and the fusial burn to calm down a bit. We brew our B-wine to around 15% and after a year, sipping on it tastes like yer drinking a caramel candy bar.
the big board says the tank has 17.5 bbls in it, so after dropping and processing? about 15.5 bbls. enough for 16 kegs, a few sixtels and around 180 cases of 12 ounces. But, y'know? It's tasty, and it's honest. like beer should be

sorry for rambling... its been a long weekend with the big Halloween party along with the regular beer stuff. Im sleep deprived, and still a bit hungover

Begoggle: [www.fairfaxunderground.com image 300x400]

Been in my fridge for several years and I have no plans on drinking it any time soon!
I'm sure it will be great in 50 years!
/will give it to someone I don't like

Do you know how to tell if that beer is fresh? Stick that can up your ass and if it tastes like shiat, it's still fresh.

/Drinking a Coors Light right now, don't get the hate
//Seriously

Amateurs.
I have a bottle of Celebration from 1994 in my fridge.

Cerebral Knievel:

just give me a honest Barley wine any time if I'm looking for a "desert beer".



I think I love you. Brooklyn Brewery Monster Ale Barley wine is my favorite beer of all time. I need to learn how to start brewing... because it's super expensive to buy, and yet my dad has a lot of the equipment I would need to brew my own, I believe.

Cerebral Knievel: big old beer?!

today I had to drop some more trub out of this years Batch of Barley wine so i'm getting a kick out of these replies.
Frigging premium bitter yeast is great at what it does, but man! it is a PITA to work with! Try to run it through a polishing filter and its like filtering gravy!
This here, is a picture of A fairly routine day in the romantic life of a professional brewer...



Pretty cool huh? Our cute little pet name for this part of the job is "helping the tank take a crap". That right there is the by product of the cold protein break, along with hop solid remnants, and yeast slurry.

My personal funny story with the stuff Is that years ago, when I first starting working for this place, all the bottling was done by hand using a four valve manual "champagne filler" On this device, it would take you an hour to transfer the contents of a standard keg into about 6.5 cases of 2 ounce bottles. we would run three shifts a day on that little thing, and on a good day, we would hope to have about 60 cases ready for the next days distribution. This was the grunt brewery job equivilant of Dishwasher in a resturant, and the job ate through employees.
One afternoon, I'm doing some cellar work, and a new bottle slave was doing his thing, So as I'm dropping some trub, I let it fill up my bare hands and wander up to the kid from behind and In my best Redneck accent say "HEY MAN!" dude turns around to me holding this stuff up to his face and me shouting 'LOOK WHAT AH ALMOST STEPPED IN!"

I don't know if it was my joke, or the job, but he didn't last another three weeks.

But, back to the topic.. I do love barely wines, and I do have a vintage fridge just for holding my "vintages". The oldest one in there is a 1998 Sierra Nevada Big foot. I've never cared for the celebrations. too spicy, too distracting. in a lot of the way, these big winter beers folks turn out are like imperial versions of those pumpkin beers people put out, too sweet, too much alcohol to be really enjoyable with too much of a distracting spice profile.

just give me a honest Barely wine any time if I'm looking for a "desert beer". aged at least a year, with 1.5, to 2 years for me being peak. as it is right now, I celebrate the release of our Barely wine by tucking into the case from last year. Most folks I find, including us, put out the barely wines pretty young, and pretty green. kinda hot. Letting them sit for a year on the glass will usually allow the flavors to meld and mute out, and the fusial burn to calm down a bit. We brew our B-wine to around 15% and after a year, sipping on it tastes like yer drinking a caramel candy bar.
the big board says the tank has 17.5 bbls in it, so after dropping and processing? about 15.5 bbls. enough for 16 kegs, a few sixtels and around 180 cases of 12 ounces. But, y'know? It's tasty, and it's honest. like beer should be

sorry for rambling... its been a long weekend with the big Halloween party along with the regular beer stuff. Im sleep deprived, and still a bit hungover

Brewing my first Barleywine, it's been in primary for a week and fermentation has been steady for the last 6 days. I have never seen such steady, active fermentation before! Looking forward to it: a clone of Rogue Old Crustacean.

Any tips for primary and secondary conditioning?

Store ales - not lagers- and for the most part make sure they contain at least 6.5 percent alcohol.

Not India Pale Ales. Hops are volatile and decay over time. Must drink quickly!

And great replies in this thread, LOL.

henryhill: Amateurs.
I have a bottle of Celebration from 1994 in my fridge.

Well, on the positive side, it was before the big reformulation. On the negitive, its most likely well past its prime, and probably snow globeing by now. I would celebrate this years purchase by actually drinking it.

Cerebral Knievel: henryhill: Amateurs.
I have a bottle of Celebration from 1994 in my fridge.

Well, on the positive side, it was before the big reformulation. On the negitive, its most likely well past its prime, and probably snow globeing by now. I would celebrate this years purchase by actually drinking it.

Never planned on saving it to drink. Its just that after it was there a few years I just didnt feel like getting rid of it. And now I had a reason to take it out and share it in a beer thread.

I brewed what I called a Saison, but really should have been called a Barleywine, this past summer. It was ~12.2 abv, and covered in cherry. That thing took 6 weeks, and for the first 14 days it was masssssive fermentation. I didn't pitch a second yeast, but it was a close thing.

Cerebral Knievel - do you brew at Legend?


/Best beer I've had aged in a while is a 2 year old Mad Elf from Troegs.
//Too much past that, it just isn't good.

gutterman: Cerebral Knievel: big old beer?!

today I had to drop some more trub out of this years Batch of Barley wine so i'm getting a kick out of these replies.
Frigging premium bitter yeast is great at what it does, but man! it is a PITA to work with! Try to run it through a polishing filter and its like filtering gravy!
This here, is a picture of A fairly routine day in the romantic life of a professional brewer...



Pretty cool huh? Our cute little pet name for this part of the job is "helping the tank take a crap". That right there is the by product of the cold protein break, along with hop solid remnants, and yeast slurry.

My personal funny story with the stuff Is that years ago, when I first starting working for this place, all the bottling was done by hand using a four valve manual "champagne filler" On this device, it would take you an hour to transfer the contents of a standard keg into about 6.5 cases of 2 ounce bottles. we would run three shifts a day on that little thing, and on a good day, we would hope to have about 60 cases ready for the next days distribution. This was the grunt brewery job equivilant of Dishwasher in a resturant, and the job ate through employees.
One afternoon, I'm doing some cellar work, and a new bottle slave was doing his thing, So as I'm dropping some trub, I let it fill up my bare hands and wander up to the kid from behind and In my best Redneck accent say "HEY MAN!" dude turns around to me holding this stuff up to his face and me shouting 'LOOK WHAT AH ALMOST STEPPED IN!"

I don't know if it was my joke, or the job, but he didn't last another three weeks.

But, back to the topic.. I do love barely wines, and I do have a vintage fridge just for holding my "vintages". The oldest one in there is a 1998 Sierra Nevada Big foot. I've never cared for the celebrations. too spicy, too distracting. in a lot of the way, these big winter beers folks turn out are like imperial versions of those pumpkin beers people put out, too sweet, too much alcohol to be really enjoyable with too much of a distracting spice profile.

just give me a honest Barely wine any time if I'm looking for a "desert beer". aged at least a year, with 1.5, to 2 years for me being peak. as it is right now, I celebrate the release of our Barely wine by tucking into the case from last year. Most folks I find, including us, put out the barely wines pretty young, and pretty green. kinda hot. Letting them sit for a year on the glass will usually allow the flavors to meld and mute out, and the fusial burn to calm down a bit. We brew our B-wine to around 15% and after a year, sipping on it tastes like yer drinking a caramel candy bar.
the big board says the tank has 17.5 bbls in it, so after dropping and processing? about 15.5 bbls. enough for 16 kegs, a few sixtels and around 180 cases of 12 ounces. But, y'know? It's tasty, and it's honest. like beer should be

sorry for rambling... its been a long weekend with the big Halloween party along with the regular beer stuff. Im sleep deprived, and still a bit hungover

Brewing my first Barleywine, it's been in primary for a week and fermentation has been steady for the last 6 days. I have never seen such steady, active fermentation before! Looking forward to it: a clone of Rogue Old Crustacean.

Any tips for primary and secondary conditioning?

Just drop it off its yeast bed and condition it as cold as you can for as long as you can really, keep racking off as the yeast bed percipitates. You'll get a good naturally clear product in the end, but as the yeast dies out or goes dorment, it'll start leaching ickiness to the final product, just get the dead slurry out of there. You'll probabaly have to go through 3 to 5 rackings,, but you should get a good and clear final run off once its done. Beers like this do deserve the extra attention. We have giant conical tanks that let us drop the stuff over several months time. This years bwine was brewed in late may, it reached its target in mid july, and we've been dropping trub every other week since then while the tank is set as 32f.
Other than that? Its. Your beer and it is up to you. My piicture up there was the fourth drop and it took my about an hour to drop that trub.

Station: Cerebral Knievel - do you brew at Legend?


/Best beer I've had aged in a while is a 2 year old Mad Elf from Troegs.
//Too much past that, it just isn't good.

When I post in beer threads, I. Make mention that I brew professionaly, but I never state who I work for because I don't to sound "spammy" so, to answer your question.. yes. If you have taken the free tour, I'm the guy who gave it ya ;)

Cerebral Knievel: When I post in beer threads, I. Make mention that I brew professionaly, but I never state who I work for because I don't to sound "spammy" so, to answer your question.. yes. If you have taken the free tour, I'm the guy who gave it ya ;)

Cheers! I'm in NoVa but the wife went to school down there. Nice to have a place that brews lagers local.

henryhill: Cerebral Knievel: henryhill: Amateurs.
I have a bottle of Celebration from 1994 in my fridge.

Well, on the positive side, it was before the big reformulation. On the negitive, its most likely well past its prime, and probably snow globeing by now. I would celebrate this years purchase by actually drinking it.

Never planned on saving it to drink. Its just that after it was there a few years I just didnt feel like getting rid of it. And now I had a reason to take it out and share it in a beer thread.

I'm the same way with my 98 big foot, I just can't compell my self to drink it at this point. I have it because my my wife got drunk one night and got the old old bottle mixxed in with a out of date batch of heavy seas stuff, and she threw hher self on the mercy of the folks at sierra nevada to replace it. Anmy brother brewers out there took mercy on her and sent me TWO bottles to replace the fallen soldier. I drank one and it was fine, but it was nothing like the 96. And now the 98, last one... its just seems like so much of a commitment. I'm afraid id be either horribly dissapointed after all this time, or so blown away that ill forever weep away the memmory of that ONE great bottle

Farking beautiful subby.

Poured in a glass and mixed with tomato juice?

I'm not very good at this.