Bonus! Accidentally Aged 10 Bitter Years Black Oak Brewing Company

Ten Bitter Years Imperial IPA Cellar Aged

Black Oak Brewing Company

Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery Established: 1999
Imperial India Pale Ale 8.0 % IBU: 83
ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml.
$6.95 (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @BlackOakBrewing


Ok. Yes I found another lurker hiding in my basement, and the saddest thing is I do not know exactly how old it is. I remember as far back as last January but it could have been there longer. So I am going to say it has been aged somewhere between 9 months and 2 years. I was surprised myself when I was met with a still slightly fruity and complex nose as I opened the bottle and even more pleasantly surprised when I tasted the amazing beverage it has transformed into.

Black Oak released its Ten Bitter Years for its tenth anniversary in 2010, but it has been a regular beer ever since. I had bought it before to blog, but It was so good I just drank it without making any notes. So sheepishly I went out and picked up another bottle and it disappeared into the basement to not be seem for some months.

Let's see how it fared.

Pours a dun gold colour with a still fluffy head made up of small bubbles. Caramel, licorice, spices and turbinado sugar dominate the nose,
slightly smokey malt finishes it up. First sip is all whisky with some softer notes of caramelised apples and pears, hints of brandy, and toasted anise seeds. The middle is very hay-like rich clover and alfalfa hay almost heady. hints of wood and vanilla with some light smoke and tinges of burnt sugar. The finish gives us some singed orange peel. Aeration gives us notes of Irish whiskey with hints of ripe melon and mango. Ever so slightly piney on the finish and somewhat resinous.

Final Thoughts

Wow this beer has help up so well and taken on another dimension from it's original fruity, piney, bitter ale. I love the complexities that have come out in the malt as they aged, like each note of a chord being struck individually and amplified.The woody, whiskey notes in the beer are so savoury and phenomenal.  I may want to actually repeat this process... I may have to do a tasting of Ten Bitter Years, and then save another bottle for one year to compare notes properly.

Cheers

CJT


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