Beoir#1

Origin: Ireland | Date: 2014 | ABV: 9% 
On The Beer Nut: April 2014 | On Stash Killer!: September 2017

Over on the other blog I write daft puns and oblique references for the post titles. Here, I don't do that (it's exhausting) but if I did, this one would be called "To The Faithful Departed". I have reviewed Beoir#1 here before, but a few years after that I inherited a couple of extra bottles from Andrew Moore, the man who orchestrated the beer's creation and distribution but didn't live to drink all of his own allocation. This is one of those.

By way of background, it was created on foot of a crowd-funding project by Black's of Kinsale and had been an attempt to make Ireland's first double IPA, though was beaten to the punch by Galway Bay's now legendary Of Foam & Fury. Though the fresh hops were long gone by 2017, it was still good drinking. And now, almost nine years after that?

At first I thought all the carbonation was gone, but it's a viscous creature, and though it began by pouring flat, a head did form. It has got darker, presumably from oxidation, and has passed out of amber and into deep garnet or even brown. There's still a trace of the port aroma from last time out, but it has deepened further, into chocolate and toffee. It smells beautiful, though.

Amazingly, the first thing that hits on tasting is the hops: still bitter after all these years, presenting a very English mix of metals and minerals. After that there's a rush of tannin, something which had been a feature from the get-go but is now the central character, by a long way. Where there used to be port-like grape and musky spices there's only old leather and raw tea leaves. Its smoothness and relatively gentle alcoholic heat prevent it from turning harsh, which is good. I still think it's past its best, though. The complexity is gone. A winey nose and starkly dry flavour are all you really get.

Still, it hasn't spoiled, and although I'm sure that evil oxygen has been getting busy in it, it hasn't quite turned to cardboard. My advice is to drink it now anyway, unless the sentimental value of the liquid is what matters.

Cheers Andrew.