Ok, as promised I broke into the vaults and opened a bottle of this very vintage beer, mainly for comparison with the Sinebrychoff. While not perfectly an "apples-to-apples" evaluation, primarily because of the beer's age, it did highlight a few things both about the nature of aging beer in general, and specifically which one I liked better.
A word about aging beer. Aged beer tends to mellow and blend flavors to make somewhat harsh beers much more drinkable. It makes really good beers even better and more complex. This is especially true of many Belgian ales. But it also tends to destroy the carbonation, so if you must drink beer with effervescence, do not attempt what I describe below.
This D. Carnegie comes in a small, rather unadorned bottle and plain yellow label. "Stark" is strong, indicating its baltic origin, Swedish to be exact. This is a 8.82oz bottle, smaller than normal and definitely not enough.
Appearance is a extremely dark brown, just about black but for the edges which allowed a small amount of light to come through. I poured this straight into the glass (no tipping) and while a few bubbles formed, there was virtually no carbonation at all. No hiss when opening and no fizz when pouring. After settling in the glass, what I would describe as a very light lacing formed across the top and down the glass as it was consumed.
The nose is a combination of sweet malt and dark fruits, like plums and/or raisins. As it warms a nice chocolate and very subtle coffee aroma comes through.
No carbonation in the mouthfeel - this beer is flat. But rather than that being bad, it highlights the smooth, velvety, medium body.
Upfront, the taste is a mix of sweet malt, chocolate, and fruit, with a nice malty aftertaste that lingers. No bitterness and no discernable hop character. As I recall from the 2004 vintage bottles I've had, the age seems to have mellowed the very mild hop to nothing at all. Yet this is not disappointing, unless you're a real hop-head or devoted robust porter fan. The smooth chocolate flavor becomes more pronounced as it warms, and coats the tongue and mouth with a silkiness that begs for more than just 8.82 ounces.
Smooth and creamy, this is a great beer to imbibe and at only 5.5% ABV, this could easily be a session beer. However, the word I hear is that the brewer has gone out of business and so what you see on the shelf is what you get. The last time I was down at Green's (Buford Hwy), they still have a few of 1997s and a decent amount of the 2004s. Get it while it lasts.
Labels: beer reviews