Comments on: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale – a vertical tasting

By: Steph Weber » Dogfish Head Immort Ale – a vertical tasting

Steph Weber » Dogfish Head Immort Ale – a vertical tasting — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:15:38 +0000

[...] said it before and I’ll say it again: I am not a fan of aging beer. So, why another vertical tasting [...]

By: BMan1113VR

BMan1113VR — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:40:19 +0000

I actually really do seem to like Punkin with 6 months to a year of age on it. I was a bit disappointed with the 08 batch though. I thought this years batch was a bit to dry (low residual sweetness) for my tastes, but a bit of an improvement to lasts year’s beer. That said, I think 2006 was probably my favorite year.

By: BigKahunaBrew

BigKahunaBrew — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:51:09 +0000

I believe it was Michael Jackson that said “If you see a beer, do it a favor and drink it.”
and who am I to disagree with him! I do however age a lot of lambic and sour beer, and I simply can not resist stashing some of the seasonal beer to build a vertical. Currently, Spaten Octoberfest and SNCA are aging for a vertical. Good write up Steph.

By: Brian Y

Brian Y — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:39:49 +0000

Funny you should talk about aging, pumpkin beers, and aging pumpkin beers. I proudly possess what one friend dubbed The Malt Vault where I put A) beer suitable for aging or B) beer that doesn’t fit in my overfull chiller. Sometimes ones from the B group erroneously get pushed back into the depths. Such was the case with my Alpine Brewing Ichabod Pumpkin Ale from 2008. So I pulled it out to pour during Thanksgiving. It’s classified as a Dunkelweizen with pumpkin, nutmeg, and I think cinnamon, but only 5% abv. I never had it fresh, but let’s just say, it ain’t “cellerable.” It’s entirely possible there’s a DFH Punk’in somewhere back there, too. I better fish out anything under 7%.

By: Barry M

Barry M — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:55:35 +0000

I dunno. With extremely hoppy beers laying them down can bring out character that would otherwise be masked by intense bitterness (although I love intense bitterness! ), especially if thay have a good malt body to back up the big hops in the first place – which they probably should to avoid it being hop juice (mmmm, hop juice).

I’m thinking in particular of a 2007 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot that I drank in October 2008. It was really delicious, and that intense bitterness that you get with a fresh one had mellowed to create a really well rounded drink. So impressed was I, I was inspired to make my own that December and have kept most of it for a year, opening a bottle every couple of months to see how it’s changing (10.5%, 106 IBUs). I think it’s getting better! (you can ask your fellow HopPress blogger Mark Dredge for his opinion)

Having read a little about some of the beers made in country houses in Britain in centuries past, it sounds like this is what they did too.

But yes, often it’s why wait? Now is always a good time

By: SudsyMaggie

SudsyMaggie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:47:06 +0000

I’m with you – aged beers just aren’t my thing. Beer should be fresh! And seasonal!

Good job on comparing the two, however. I was able to try DFH Punkin for the first time this year, good stuff.

Cheers!

By: Tweets that mention Steph Weber » Dogfish Head Punkin Ale – a vertical tasting -- Topsy.com

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:31:46 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Steph Weber and Chesco Cuisine, RateBeer Hop Press. RateBeer Hop Press said: Fresh off the Press Dogfish Head Punkin Ale – a vertical tasting http://bit.ly/5CikGW [...]