GCB Vintage Beer List

Belgium

2017 Cantillon Classic Gueuze  12.7oz  5%  $35

Style: Gueuze

The quintessential Belgian beer and a world classic. A perfect blend of 1, 2, +3 yr-old lambics. Tart and slightly acidic, it is fermented only with wild airborne yeasts and aged in centuries-old casks.

2013 Cantillon Classic Gueuze  12.7oz  5%  $65

(see above)

2013 Cantillon Kriek Lambic  12oz  5.5%  $65

Style: Lambic

The certified organic sour cherries come from Turkey and are blended with lambic that is on average 20 months old, (200 g of fruit per liter of beer). After soaking for two to three months, the lambic has extracted all the cherry colors, fragrances, and flavors and is blended with one yr-old lambic. 

2016 Drie Fontenein Oude Gueuze  12.7oz  5%  $30

Style: Gueuze

Drie Fontenein is the only remaining traditional gueuze blender in Belgium, using only 100% spontaneously fermented lambic beer, aged in oak casks with no artificial sweeteners or other additives. Like any traditional gueuze, this one is tart, earthy, and incredibly complex with a distinct farmhouse aroma. Drie Fontenein’s Gueuze is rare, highly prized, and indisputably among the best of Belgium.

2016 Drie Fontenein Oude Gueuze  12.7oz  6%  $30

(see above)

2018 St Bernardus Abt 12  11.2oz  10%  $20

Style: Quadrupel

The Abt 12 has a fruity aroma, the result of the brewery’s own unique yeast. Thanks to its rounded taste and perfect balance between bitter and sweet, this beer goes down very easily. Widely regarded as one of the best beers in the world, it is brewed in the classic quadrupel style and adheres to the original 1946 recipe.

2012 St Bernardus Abt 12  50oz magnum  10%  $100

(see above)

2012 De Struisse Black Damnation One: Blackberry Albert  25oz  13%  $75

Style: Imperial Stout

A massive Russian imperial stout. From the brewers: “Black Albert: Get tattoo’ed from the inside”.

2011 Brasserie de la Senne Equinox  11.2oz  8%  $20

Style: Strong Ale / Belgian Dark

Strong and complex winter beer with an intense malty character and notes of chocolate. The brewers are Belgium’s most fiercely principled in Belgium. They brew the way it used to be done, before over-sugaring, over-spicing, and under-hopping became de rigueur.

Netherlands

2012 Brouwerij de Molen Bommen + Granaten  11.2oz  15.2%  $25

Style: Barleywine

Translates as “Bombs and Grenades”. Powerful and full-bodied but still easy going.

Great Britian

2007 Thomas Hardy’s Ale  8.5oz  11.7%  $60

Style: Barleywine

Bottles of this rare, bottle conditioned ale have kept well for as many as 25 yrs.

Canada

2013 Dieu du Ciel Rigor Mortis 11.5oz  10.5%  $25

Style: Brown Ale

Inspired by the Belgian Trappist tradition, Rigor Mortis is a brown ale with an intense, caramel, sweet malt body. Only the slightest bitterness accompanies the complex flavors of red fruit and spice resulting from the specific yeast strain.

Canada

2013 Dieu du Ciel Rigor Mortis 11.5oz  10.5%  $25

Style: Brown Ale

Inspired by the Belgian Trappist tradition, Rigor Mortis is a brown ale with an intense, caramel, sweet malt body. Only the slightest bitterness accompanies the complex flavors of red fruit and spice resulting from the specific yeast strain.

United States

2014 Brooklyn Black Ops  25.4oz  11.6%  $75  (New York)

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

Aged in bourbon barrels. From the brewer: “Brooklyn Black Ops does not exist. However, if it did exist, it would be concocted under cover of secrecy and offer a rich, fluffy dark brown head with chocolate and coffee flavors and a rich underpinning of vanilla-like bourbon notes”.

(Vintage Unknown) The Bruery Smoking Wood  25.4oz  13%  $65  (California)

Style: Smoked Porter

Brewed with beechwood and cherrywood smoked malt and aged in rye whiskey barrels, this beer is a delicious demonstration of what wood has to offer beer, both in the malting and aging process. Toasty oak, caramel, and vanilla flavors balance the smokiness, contributing to an intense yet refined flavor profile.

2013 Foolproof The Revery  22oz  10.7%  $40  (Rhode Island)

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

A dark, malty escape from the cold New England winter. This beer has an insane malt bill- teo row, Crystal 40, Carafa, roasted barley, chocolate malt, and flaked oats combining to make an incredibly smooth and rich beer. A delicate blend of Northern Brewer, Tettnanger, and Hallertau hops round out this wintry offering.

2014 Founders Breakfast Stout  12oz  8.3%  $20  (Michigan)

Style: Imperial Coffee Oatmeal Stout

A coffee lover’s beer. Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter imported chocolates, and two types of coffee, this stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes forever.

2010 Founders Curmudgeon  12oz  9.8%  $30  (Michigan)

Style: Old Ale

Think classic seafaring ports and weathered old fishermen. This old ale is brewed with molasses and an insane focus on the malt bill, then oak-aged. The result is a rich, malty delight that’s deceptively smooth and drinkable.

2013 Founders KBS  12oz  11.2%  $30  (Michigan)

Style: Imperial Stout

Brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolate, then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year to ensure the wonderful bourbon undertones come through in the finish. “Makes your taste buds squeal with delight”, says the brewers.

2008 Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti  22oz  9.5%  $75  (Colorado)

Style: Oak-Aged Imperial Stout

Aging Yeti on a blend of French and toasted oak chips infuses a subtle oak and vanilla character into Yeti’s already intense chocolate, roasted coffee malt flavor and hugely assertive hop profile.

2013 Newport Storm Cyclone Series  25.4oz  12%  $40  (Rhode Island)

Style: Imperial Stout

No clues could be found on this annual release from what is now Newport Craft. As a 12% stout we know it has stood up to time.

2010 Newport Storm Cyclone Series  25.4oz  12%  $40  (Rhode Island)

Style: Black Ale

Again, nothing to be found to give us any indication here but the Cyclone Series provided some of the best offerings from the Newport Storm Brewery.

2015 North Coast Old Stock Ale  12oz  11.9%  $25  (California)

Style: Old Ale

Old Stock Ale is well-designed to round out and mellow with age. Ruby in color, it is brewed with classic Maris Otter malt and Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops, all imported from England.

Samuel Adams Utopias Overview  

Style: American Strong Ale

Sam Adams Utopias, the original “extreme beer” was born in 2001 when Boston Beer Co. founder Jim Koch pushed the boundaries of the beer world to “the lunatic fringe of brewing”. The biennial release of Utopias is one of the beer world’s most highly anticipated events. Just 13,000 bottles are distributed in the U.S. (though not in 11 states where it is illegal to be sold). Utopias is unlike all other beers. The high alcohol level consumes any available CO2 so they have no carbonation. The taste is more like a fine liquor, with a sweetness like a port or cognac and a smooth, almost buttery, malt-filled finish. To make it, they first brew a base beer not unlike a big scotch ale, specifically as a Utopias starter. A portion is then moved to different wood, with a different selection of barrels made for each edition. Over the years Utopias have been aged in barrels once holding bourbon, ruby port, tawny port, sherry, cognac, calvados, madeira, rum, aquavit, muscatel, carcavelos (a Portuguese wine) and scotch (including scotch barrels that began as sherry and bourbon). Because each bottle of Utopias contains a portion of every edition that came before it (going back to 1992’s Samuel Adams Triple Bock, the progenitor of today’s Utopias), the characters derived from those barrels continue to be present in each new batch, which explains the growing complexity of each version. The bottle itself is a work of art, and utterly unique. It resembles a miniature brew kettle, is made of porcelain, and covered in a copper glaze. The vintage is stamped on the bottom along with the unique number of the bottle.

2013 Samuel Adams Utopias  24oz  28%  $325  (Massachusetts)

(read overview first)

Utopias is known for its tobacco and darker fruit notes, and drinkers will continue to notice this character from previous batches. This is the first version though that is blended with Samuel Adams Kosmic Mother Funk, a Belgian-style ale barrel-aged for at least nine months (and up to two years) in Hungarian oak tuns. This blend brings a whole new spectrum of flavors and complexity to the beer, including brighter fruit notes in the finish and just a hint of sourness which tones down the sweetness a bit. For the 2013 batch, the brewers also aged a portion of the beer in hand-selected, single-use bourbon casks from the award-winning Buffalo Trace Distillery, enhancing the beer’s distinct notes of vanilla and maple and in port casks, which contribute elegant, dark fruit aromas. The resulting release of Utopias has notes of dark fruit like fig, subtle sweetness, and a deep rich malty smoothness.

2012 Samuel Adams Utopias  24oz  29%  $350 (Massachusetts)

(read overview first)

The 2012 10th Anniversary batch invokes the flavors of a rich vintage port, fine cognac, or aged sherry while feeling surprisingly light on the palate. The brew has sweet flavors of honey, toffee, caramel, cocoa, and vanilla, balanced by distinct notes of molasses, raisins, plums, and berries. The anniversary packaging is black instead of copper.

2011 Samuel Adams  24oz  27%  $400 (Massachusetts)

(read overview first)

Sherry casks from Spain and Portugal add nutty oak, toffee, and honey notes, while Madeira and port casks offer a slightly more elegant, dark fruit aroma, imparting earthy flavors inherent to fine European spirits. With the feel of a cognac on the palate, this beer, simply put, is fantastic. Sweet, complex, and fruity.

2018 Wicked Weed Oblivion  16.9oz  8.4%  $20  (North Carolina)

Style: Sour

A sour red ale aged in wine barrels for 8-10 months with blackberries and dates. This ale is then carefully blended to create depth and balance that will “envelope you in its complexity”.

2017 Wicked Weed Oaxacan  16.9oz  7.1%  $20  (North Carolina)

Style: Sour

Oaxacan begins as an amber sour ale brewed with smoked wheat malts. It’s then rested in pink tequila barrels (red wine barrels used to age tequila, lending a softer spirit character) with grapefruit and lime zest. When Oaxacan reaches its peak complexity, it’s blended onto additional grapefruit to lend fresh citrus essence.