Aging Beers: The Unknown La Journada Del Escorpion en Fuego haciala casa del Chupacabra Muerto At 2 Years From our “Vault”. The Unknown, Charlotte, N.C.
Date: February 08, 2018
The Story— Most of these “Vault” posts are beers we’ve intentionally cellared — though when to pull them is still guesswork. But this beer from highly respected Unknown Brewery in Charlotte was something of a mistake in cellaring. When we first tried it the flavors tasted Mexican enough but it didn’t taste much like beer. We didn’t like it much and I suspect we put aside a second bottle for “foisting” on some tasting or other. But this cellared beautifully and floated into an above average rating. Lesson learned — if you buy a few bottles of something you don’t like much, cellar them rather than drain them. You can always dump them later if they don’t improve.
The Beer— Sweet malt starts with tortilla corn grain in the finish. Fruity, some agave, some stone fruit and only a hint of the hot pepper. Creamy full body kinda smooths it all out. But the pepper comes back in more taste than heat as it drinks. Some sugars — brown mostly– again smooth things at the end. From Ellie: first smell is hot flavor rather than hot pepper. Syrupy agave with some woody tequila but the pepper flavors last all the way through. I got more balance that Ellie did. We rated this below average fresh, but now we’d rate it slightly above average for a craft beer, which isn’t bad at all. Maybe not great, but a huge improvement in two years. Ya never know….
Value — Good. Surprise for us!
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 the full list –eventually– 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.”
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