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.

Franciscan Well Jameson Stout

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

It's getting warmer in the stash. 2017's summer break is not far away, I'd say. At the moment it's pretty much perfect stout temperature up there so I thought I'd tackle one of the big guns: Franciscan Well's Jameson Stout. This was the second large-format stout that Franciscan Well released, following the previous year's Shandon Century, and the first collaboration between the brewery and Irish Distillers. It was also, I think, Franciscan Well's last new beer before the takeover by MolsonCoors was announced in early 2013.

To be honest, I don't think the years have had much effect on this one. It probably needs more than four of them to make any appreciable difference. There's still a beautiful pot-still honey sweetness at the middle of it all, surrounded by subtle dark chocolate, coffee and caramel. The only wear and tear I detect is a pinch of cardboardy oxidation in the finish and a minor savoury tang suggesting that autolysis might be at work. But you really have to look hard to find both of these: for the most part this beer is still doing everything the brewer intended it to do. Which is good.

So, I'm only slightly regretting opening it. On the one hand I'd love to find out what happens to those honey and chocolate notes after another five or six years, but on the other I reckon that the swingtop cap is not keeping the bottle optimally sealed and this could be the start of a downward slide. I guess all that really matters is how much I'm enjoying the contents of the mug in front of me.