CulturAle Press

Aging Beers: Heavy Seas Siren Noire Imperial Stout in Bourbon casks. At 5 years from our “Vault.” Heavy Seas, Baltimore, Maryland

Date:  February 06, 2018

The Story—  Heavy Seas isn’t Maryland’s biggest breweries, but it certainly is one of the best.   The brewery is in Halethorp, Baltimore, a stone’s throw from the new glitzy Guinness American outpost.  you can visit them both in a day if you’re staying in a nearby BWI Marshall hotel and relying on the hotel’s shuttle or Uber, but we recommend you take the time to give each its due.   Spend a night at all the lavishness money can buy at Guinness — and drink some remarkable beers that you can’t even get in Dublin.  But take the time for Heavy Sea’s taproom– lower key, more friendly, with a local vibe and a sense of the local roots of the brewery.

Heavy Seas brews consistently well, but Siren Noire is one of their triumphs.   We tasted it on tap at Beer Run, one of the stars in Chancellorsville, Virginia’s firmament in 2013.  It awed us.  We grabbed a bottle the next year and tasted it after a year of cellaring.   It awed us.  This sample was an extra bottle we picked up in 2014.   After five years at room temperature…. it awed us.

The Beer—  Chocolate and herbs; cocoa.  Rich chocolate and cocoa.  Rich fudge.  A bit of bourbon but well under the chocolates.  A hint of cherries as it drinks may be just echoes of the chocolate and wood.  Ellie liked the nice woody whisky aroma, which was a delight.  The rich hot whiskey and slightly tart wood was at the edge of her envelope and she finished with smooth sugars but tangy.  She got more whiskey than I did but it does grow as it warms.  Some heat shows the alcohol as it rests as well.  A range of fruits grows as it warms and as it drinks.  The rich chocolate holds its own forever.  It was good fresh and it’s just as good and maybe more interesting after the five years.

Value —  Very good.   Even the best of the Heavy Seas beers rarely try to extract the ransom that other similar brewery charge for their premium beers.   You can afford to drink this fresh and set aside a few bottles for later… and later.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

 In February, we’re digging into our legendary “vault” where we’ve been storing hundreds of bottles of beer waiting for the right time to taste them (or sell them for charity).   The charity market has slowed, so we’re working through them in front of a fire and finding some disappointments, but more very surprising delights.   You can find a list  here on this “index post.”

 We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers,   and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”