Joris Pattyn ( snipped-for-privacy@pandora.be) wrote: : It's not that easy following my info. Cornelia C. wrote this on Ratebeer : lately: : "I emailed DFH today and got this back from brewer John Gillooly: : : "Here's the story on the World Wide Stout-we did 2 batches this year, one at : 21%, most of which we sold in the UK, and the primary batch, which came in @ : 18.8%. Since we released some of the 21% batch domestically, there has been : some confusion about the abv. Unfortunately, I can't think of any way to : tell which batch is which by looking at the bottle. Taste-wise, the 18.8% is : much less sweet." : : As to the labels, someone noted elsewhere that the 2003 bottles do not have : "vim and vigor" visible or marked through. So, it seems at least there won't : be any confusion about 2003 versus all the previous years. I haven't seen it : myself, though."
I've now acquired it from two different sources -- some from Oregon (liquidsolutions.biz) and some from California (High Times in Costa Mesa). There is a noticeable difference in the labels -- the Oregon beer shows years beginning 2004 and is nicked slightly ahead of the 2004 -- the California bottles show months 01 through 12 and they're nicked, as you might expect, just past the 11.
So we have these different labels but I don't know for sure if they can be associated to the different batches. I emailed John and asked -- will let you know if he writes back.
My own palate did not distiguish a difference between the two examples -- but I had tasted some IPA earlier in the day so residual palate fatigue is a possibility -- a short vertical with a rested mouth and a couple of friends might tell a different story.