The Millennium Rating

The now sadly discontinued Falcon Gammelbrygd was one of very few highlights in the Swedish beerscene some years ago. This black, raisiny lager was aged for three years before it was released to the public. We had been saving up on three different vintages of them, and the oldest of them turned out to beour overall favourite.

Another head to head comparison was between two vintages of Chimay Blue. The two vintages we compared were indeed very different, but we believe that has more to do with the original prouct than the aging process.

The oldest of the beers we've ever tried (except for an unofficially tested 80 year old dunkelweizen) is now the English Stingo Dark Barley Wine 1983 which I picked up in Amsterdam a few years ago. Maybe it was slightly too old, but still complex, fruity and rather tasty. We also tried a Carnegie Stark-Porter 19 which did not seem to have survived the years as well as a 1986 version we tried recently. A beer that had developed a lot during only on year was Nils Oscar NO:5 Julöl 1998 Barley Wine which had turned from sweet and unbalanced into a wonderfully hoppy and complex thing. Wow!

Of the special guests from the US, Avery from Colorado was a winner. Both their porter and barley wine were indeed remarkable. Also LaConner India Pale Ale belongs to my favourite of the night, together with the hugely big and complex Old Bawdy Barleywine Style Ale 1998, and the smooth and roasty Thunderhead Cream Stout is also up there.