We had a jolly time of it, at St James's Gate, for the International Stout Day celebrations in 2017. The Bruery was the celebrity American brewery with beers in attendance, big 75cl bottles, and Padraig backhanded me a bottle of the strongest one, Grey Monday, as I was leaving. It's been in the attic ever since. A beer this strength will probably keep forever, but I won't, so it's getting opened now after only three and a half years' maturation. At least I get to spend a bit of time with it uninterrupted here.
I didn't say a lot about it on its original outing, finding it lighter than expected with predominantly easy-going chocolate notes. And I don't think it's radically different after nearly four years in poor cellaring conditions. It hasn't turned to sherry or vinegar; nor has it matured to the perfect late-night sipper. There's still a lot of chocolate, and maybe it's become a little darker, bitterer and more challenging than before, but not significantly. I get a novel buzz of espresso roast, but I may have missed that last time.
Fresh from stash to fridge to glass it was all very light and easy-going, but it only took a few minutes of warming in a kitchen in August for the booze to properly assert itself. I noticed marker pen first time out, and that's certainly still here, but it's integrated into a greater booziness -- whiskey, brandy and schnapps -- which really shows off that whopping ABV honestly. After a while, that's all that matters: the sippable beery nuance fades to irrelevance and you're dealing with a slightly fizzy liqueur. Make your peace with that.
Maybe I should have left this longer. Maybe it would have become richer and more interesting. But it's equally likely it's just going to turn into some sort of autolysed chocolate marinade. I got my buzz off it before it was ruined, and I'm happy with that. Cheers Foxy!
