Stash Killer!: The Eternalist

Monday, 16 October 2017

The Eternalist

Origin: Ireland | Date: 2015 | ABV: 5.5% | On The Beer Nut: November 2015

A slight change of programming on Stash Killer! today. Rather than a beer I simply put away to find out what happens to it, this is one that I didn't think was quite ready for drinking when it first came out. Despite Galway Bay's The Eternalist having spent a full two years already being barrel aged, there was a muddyness that I guessed needed to settle out in the bottle. I hope that a further two years is sufficient to let that happen.

I poured very carefully and got a crystal-clear off-pink glassful, with no head but lots of fizz. There's a certain heavy malt character in the flavour, which immediately differentiates it from a genuine Belgian framboise, but the raspberry is bright and clean on top of this. And it's real raspberry too: slightly tart, slightly sweet, and with the woody quality of raspberry seeds.

The only real problem I have with this is that's it's too close to a real lambic without actually being one. Just a little more sour complexity and a higher attenuation and it would be bang on. Without them it's still very good, and I'm pleased that my theory proved accurate.

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What is this?

A floor was installed in my attic in 2008. I've used it to store beer ever since. It's particularly handy in winter when everything inside is kept at perfect drinking temperature. And right from the early days I began hoarding odd bottles, ones I'd already reviewed on my main blog and I thought it might be fun to leave them aside to see how they age, or to drink on a special occasion. The problem is, in seven years, the special occasion never arises. I'm the luckiest fucker alive: every day is a cause for jubilation, and it never seems to occur that I should probably mark this with a celebratory vintage beer.

But no more. The stash is getting out of hand, I'm no closer to actually drinking any of it, and I've begun to worry about fires, earthquakes, sudden death, or any number of other inconveniences that might prevent me from getting to those bottles. So today begins the project to do just that. I reckon a blog is the way to encourage me to keep it going. It won't be as regular as The Beer Nut, it won't cover beers I haven't already written about there, and it's not as open-ended: there is only a finite amount of liquid up there, after all.
-- November 2015