The simplest plan would be to buy a couple bottles of the same beer, review the beer when it's young and add the stipulation that we believe it should/could sit longer, as we did originally with the Buddha Nuvo. Then when we think it's time, we open up the other one and review that, linking to the old one. Do we talk about what has changed, or do we not mention the differences, just talk about the current profile of the beer without mentioning previous flaws? I don't know. Maybe this isn't that big of a deal, but what if some of the negative things said about a young beer may have hurt that beer's reputation even though now the beer happens to be turning out really nicely. Do we even talk about a beer that's too young? I suppose so if it's released in the market?
Like I said, maybe it doesn't matter that much, but I do want to say that I felt it would have been irresponsible of us to only review the beer when it was young, knowing full well that the beer was meant to change. There are many other beers that we've sampled recently that would be very interesting to check back on in a year's timing, like Crooked Stave's WWBGreen or Odell Footprint. I suppose too we could always update the original review, linking to the most recent review (as we've done here)?
It's a strange situation as a blogger, but one that I feel is important in terms of education and responsibility and will perhaps be a growing concern now that increasing amounts of breweries are bottling beers that are barrel aged or or adding yeasts that will drastically change with age. This post was just a quick rambling, a bit unorganized and not really thought through, but I imagine I'll have more to say in the future. If any of you have additional ideas, let me know what you think.
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Don't at least a certain subset of wine critics do this all the time? They taste a wine at release, or even before release, and suggest it will be "best" in some particular amount of time.
ReplyDeleteYou talk about what it tastes like right now and what you expect to change (perhaps with some explanation of why).
Interesting topic, I've been wondering a lot about aging myself (proper methods and styles to age). I find it curious when you age a beer that you would imagine to get better with time only to find out that your time has been wasted and beer ruined. I've experienced this with Unitah’s Oak Aged Pumpkin and Great Lake’s Christmas Ale. There are obvious choices in beers that will age well but many on the cusp. I've gambled a few times only to be disappointed with the outcome.
ReplyDeleteI think doing it exactly how you have done it is the best way. Give an accurate view of what the beer is currently like and then if relevant include a comment regarding any changes you could see happening with increased age.
ReplyDeleteI also disagree with some bottles that say "do not open until...". The Abyss comes to mind. I had a 2 year old bottle and it was excellent but I just recently had a fresh bottle and I thought it was even better because I could taste all of the complexity of the additions that had melded together with age.
Interesting Chris. I loved the Abyss when I drank it @ the FotB party. And I bought 3 bottles and have been aging them.....
ReplyDeleteHow does one know when a bottle should be aged? And for how long? When we are spending $$, we don't want to waste our moola.
I think we'll need to do a segment on cellaring beer to help folks out a bit. Laura, The Abyss should be good to cellar for years, I've had some that were over 5 years old. I'll look into it but I think they pasteurized the yeast in this year's batch so it won't take to cellaring as long as the others. I'll get back to you on that.
ReplyDeleteLaura - I asked Deschutes over Twitter whether they pasteurized the Abyss this year and if so, what it means for aging it. Here's the reply:
ReplyDelete"It means it will not go sour! Just the oak aged portion was pasteurized."
They have had problems with infection in the past so this was their remedy. Should be good for the cellar! I'd wait a couple/few years and save off some every year and have a vertical tasting.