I decided to stay up late yesterday. The Giants were paying football. I have no particular NFL fan affiliation but I do have New York Giants slippers somewhere or other so that counts for something, right? Well, apparently it counts a bit more than wearing the uniform as they made some horrible decisions late in the game and, you know, lost.
As a treat and perhaps a nod to Stan I brought the little burgundy box down to the rec room.* It cost me $10.95 CND the other day. A bit much, I thought. But then I considered your needs for content and bought one. I used to buy at least two a year, one for now and one for years later. But I broke the habit in around 2017 and worked my way through the stash. Some gems and some gak. If you bought into ageing beer fifteen years ago or so you will know the keen sense of shame.
So what was it like? On the schnozz, I got aromas of beef consommé, a little autumn apple and that 8.4% alcohol waving hello along with wee light waftings of rose and maybe clove. Not the bad clove.** The OK clove. Around the gums, I happily got a big rich creamy feel. Malty brown bread was the main thing but there was more going on like underripe peach, white pepper with a bit of arugula and maybe little bit of burlap. All very pleasant even if the smooth brown bread note takes a lot of your attention.
This edition of their Vintage Ale could well mature nicely if a bit of tang appears over the next few years to cut that sweet breadiness but is still quite good now. Maybe I’ll hide one more behind the bottles of port just in case I make it deep into my seventies.
*Not a den. Not a man cave. Rec. Room.
**If you are into off-flavours as opposed to on-flavours. Shouldn’t there be ten on-flavour seminars compared to off-flavour ones? You know, I wonder if putting that obsession with failure forward as important to the newbie hobbyist was just one more thing that helped push craft beer off the cliff.