After all the talk about whether it's worth the willpower to cellar SNCA, I figured last night was as good a time as any to see how my little collection was faring.
Answer: Not Good.
Methodology: All beers have been kept refrigerated since purchase, either in a proper fridge or, a couple of times, in an ice chest when moving to a new house. It's safe to say that none of them have ever experienced temps about 50F since I've had them, and none have ever seen the light of the sun or a fluorescent bulb.
I used clean glassware. SNCA glasses, just to be extra-geeky about the whole thing.
Results:
2002: SHITE. Oh, sweet Jesus was this bad. Looked fine when poured, but a sniff told me this was going to be nasty. No hops, no malt. Just alcohol. A taste proved my nose right. Sort of like Bigfoot, only without the redeeming taste qualities.2003: SHITE. See 2002.
2004: GOOD, but barely. There was still a fair amount of malt to be found in this bottle, and the hops hadn't yet faded entirely, but this was clearly going south in a hurry.That was enough for one night. I'll be hitting the 2005 in the next day or two. I figure it's going to be just fine. And I'll be over my little obsession with collecting and cellaring SNCA. Drink it fresh, mates.
dave in austin