Franciscan Well Jameson Stout

Origin: Ireland | Date: 2012 | ABV: 7.8% | On The Beer Nut: December 2012

This is my second and final bottle of this beer in the stash. When I reviewed it here in 2017, I remarked that it hadn't changed much, but may be on the cusp of either greatness or ruin. Today we find out.

The carbonation seems to have been a victim in the intervening years and it really doesn't want to form a head at all. And if gas has been getting out then presumably gas has been getting in. It certainly seems drier, and a little papery, but is far from ruined by oxidation, I'm happy to say. With that newfound extra dryness, the chocolate element has been relegated to the background. The honeyed whiskey is completely gone.

It's actually all rather plain. The one new feature is a mild tangy sourness. Combined with the simplistic dry roast, it ends up tasting a bit like Draught Guinness, and it definitely didn't used to. The big and smooth texture is still there and is something of a redeeming feature, but this is well past its best.

It's still OK to drink, enjoyable even, but if you're still holding on to some, get it drank before something worse happens to it. I would be very surprised if it suddenly took a turn for the better. For the reason I'm opening this particular bottle now, see the main blog.

Metalman Decade

Origin: Ireland | Date: 2021 | ABV: 5.2% | On The Beer Nut: July 2021

New stash rule: if a beer looks explodey, it gets opened immediately. This tart porter with cherries certainly did, though the can seamer has proved fit for the task of keeping it all in. It was put away only two years ago, though is already of historical interest as Metalman has since folded. It's quite poignant that Decade was created to mark ten years in business when they had so few left.

The can was just shy of a year past its best-before and poured extremely fizzily, unsurprisingly, though in fairness it didn't gush out. It still smells properly roasty, and rich with it, in a way I don't think this beer did when fresh. Dryness is still a core feature, but it tastes mellow, not sharp: chocolate and mocha, rather than pure coffee beans. I also get more of the cherry than I did before, representing as a sweet jelly or jam, right on the finish. Amazingly, the fizz doesn't get in the way and it doesn't feel over attenuated.

I think this beer has rounded out nicely over the two years. All the benefits are preserved and what were once subtleties of flavour are more pronounced. That it doesn't taste drier than I remember it seems to be in defiance of science, but it's far more likely that my memory is at fault. Either way, if you have surviving cans of this and they don't look about to blow, they're worth drinking, or possibly even ageing further.

Hertog Jan Grand Prestige

Origin: Netherlands | Date: 2017 | ABV: 10% | On The Beer Nut: February 2009

If memory serves, it was literally the last day of 2017 when I picked this up in a supermarket in The Hague. The 2018s had already started appearing on the shelves so this was a last chance to get a 2017 into the stash. It's a mass-market beer from the world's biggest producer so I wasn't planning to age it long-term. Five and a bit years seems like a fair amount of time to check in with it.

Looking back on my review of a fresh one in 2009, it seemed quite a busy affair, all acetone and forest fruits. So it was a surprise that there's basically no aroma here, only minor hints of chocolate and raisins. The texture is very smooth, yet there's no heat, which is surprise given the strength.

If there were spiky higher-alcohol edges on this to begin with, they have all been planed off by time. The end result is a beautifully integrated palate of port and dark chocolate with flecks of vanilla, black cherry and cocoa. Black Forest gateau comes to mind. While it's not hot, it does have a warmth which I thoroughly enjoyed on this cold winter evening. It made me want to light the fire and sip slowly in front of it.

I genuinely expected this to be a mess so I'm delighted how it turned out. This is exactly what the stashing project was meant to bring out and I'll be buying more than one bottle of the next vintage I have the opportunity to collect.