Bigfoot Verticals

I've done many Bigfoot verticals, and while it's drinkable

> for many years, it's a shadow of itself after only one year. > The only thing that makes Bigfoot stand out in the crowd > is its fresh hop character. Take that away with age, > and it's pretty darned uninteresting.

I'm now reconsidering this stance. I've been delving into my stash, which goes back 10 years. Seems I'd forgotten just how spectacular old Bigfeet are when tasted alone. Certainly lacking in hop flavor and aroma, but all kinds of crazy complexity going on between malt and hop bitterness.

This makes me rethink how to do Bigfoot verticals. In the past, mimicking how one would do it with wine, I've always proceeded newest to oldest-- best for last, I suppose. But given how much young Bigfoot blows away the palate with hoppiness, masking the subtleties and complexities of the older beers to follow, from now on I'll go oldest to youngest.

Perhaps this is where to insert "Well, duh!", but it was a bit of a revelation to me.

Reply to
Jon Binkley
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I pulled out a '99 a week or so ago and wasn't too impressed. I will be getting rid of half my stash in a vertical of odd years starting with '99 next week at the local homebrew club meeting. (I'm hoping the new release will be out... anybody spot it yet?) Should be informative, and I'll definitely start with the oldest first. But I'll enter it with a bias, so who knows.

Reply to
Joel

No such admonition. You make a valid point. I'll give it a try.

Maybe it's just me, but the problem I've found with BF is it's tendency to develope tobacco flavors as it ages. The older, the stronger. Now, I'm a lifelong tobacco lover, though I no longer indulge, but there can be too much of a good thing. I've only gone back about 5 yrs, but the '01 I tried was like drinking old cigar butts, with the others similar to vary degrees depending on age. OTOH, this was during a vert tasting. Another time, when trying an '03 by itself, the tobacco flavor seemed nowhere near as pronounced. It was downright tasty. Now, having said that, I have to admit I prefer my BF of the current year. To me it's like drinking hops candy.

nb

Reply to
notbob

I've been delving into

I'm inclined to agree with your earlier post about BG being best when fresh.

Anyway, is this year's Bigfoot out? If so, how does it stack up against last year's (which I found spectacular)?

Reply to
Kyle

I've been drinking and cellaring BF since 1999 and have been enjoying my cellared ones less and less. I used to love to drink a BF that was a couple of years old but lately prefer only the fresher, current year. In fact, if anyone is looking for some vintage BF send me an email. Maybe even a trade?

metransue at comcast dot net eugene

Reply to
Eugene

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