Eldridge Pope Thomas Hardys Ale (all vintages to 1999)

Formerly brewed at Eldridge Pope
Style: Barley Wine
Dorchester,, England

An ’87 bottle, decanted and poured to share snifters at a recent brew club social. The color was a ruby toned dark brown/mahogany with minimal head and lacing. A combined review of aroma and flavor was a complex blend of sweetness, dark fruit, caramel, chocolate, cask wood, a little salty soy, port wine, and cognac/alcohol. Bold notes that held up fairly well to cellaring when some even later vintages sampled haven’t.

1995 vintage - Fairly flat pour with a cloudy, reddish-brown color. Nice caramel and cereal sweetness with dark fruit, citrus, and sugar. Flavor has a nice burnt-sugar, vinous fruit sweetness. Nice mouthfeel. Really good , but I would like more complexity.

1979 vintage September batch. A gift for my 30th birthday, this beer pre-dates me by 2 months! Pours a very dark viscous brown with the faintest whisper of a white head that disappears immediately. Aroma features an incredibly complex cocktail of aged intense malt (Borvril, Milo ect) marmite, beef stock, citrus (orange flesh) a perfume note, Madeira wine, and a refined sensation of warmth. In the mouth the beer is luscious smooth and viscous but in no way cloying. There is more Madeira notes, a saltiness, some liquorice, more orange fruit, a lovely vinous warmth. I had high expectations but I had no idea this beer was going to be this good. Pure liquid engineering!

1996 bottle drank in Oct 2009: 13 years old. Pretty much no carbonation, which I guess isn’t that unusual for being this old. I think if it were stored on it’s side, it would have retained carbonation better. I worry a little that once the carbonation is gone, the lack of positive pressure allows unwanted bacteria in, such as acetobacter, but I don’t notice any infection. Buttery sweet brown sugar aroma. Taste is lightly sweet. Brownish color. Alcohol somewhat evident. Pretty good and pretty easy to drink. Would be better with some carbonation. No cardboard or off flavors, though maybe some dulling from oxygen and age. Interesting!

25cl bottle at Kulminator with Mes the Friday before LCRBM5. Lot 26070 Aroma of vinegar and swimming pool foot pool and brett yeast. Odd. Some of the original vinous notes. A beast in the mouth. Certainly a full on body sensory experience, hence the 20 score for overall. You forget everything else as you drink it. Not sure what ABV is now, but it’s huge. Take you over completely. Some sourness, some huge strong mlats still there. Finish is quite similar to later vintages with lovely sweet malt flavours of brandy, sweet dates. Aroma settles down a little. Drinks headily. Still has good carbonation. Would I drink it again? No. Would I recommend it? Hell, yeah.

Bottle from 1979, for rating #2500 and to celebrate our wedding. These pre-1980 bottles have a small sticker on the back that advises not to drink the beer before 1989 (in this case), and that the beer can age for 25 years at least. They got that right!

The pour is a dark, crystalline brown, with nary a head to be seen. However, the beer is not flat; an extremely fine grained carbonation fleeces the bottom of the glass and rim of the drink as it wobbles.

An aroma that at first seems nothing but sweet quickly becomes deep, rustic, and complex as the nose becomes used to the beer, revealing quality caramel, fresh tobacco, and a rich, perfect chocolate note that I’ve found in the best very aged beers, especially over 20 years old. Green apple, charcoal, and many more complexities are also noted, although as I swirl the beer it begins to smell like rotten broccoli — I think I’ll leave it still from now on.

The previously noted aged chocolate note is much stronger in the flavor — very woody and rich and so mildly sour — and is absolutely lovely, providing a wonderful counterpoint to the sugary sweetness. At once like drinking quality apple juice, unsweetened hot cocoa, and maple syrup, this is truly the most one could hope for in a beer of this age. A fine carbonation keeps this beer alive and almost refreshing without it ever feeling difficult to drink. A true work of art.

[9/5/08] Bottle sample at Kulminator in Antwerp after LCRBM. 1982 bottle. Deep red-brown color. Aroma of malt, smoke, caramel, figs, plums and some raisins. Very sweet malty flavor with oak, berries, sugar, caramel, chocolate, dark fruits hints and light sourness. Full-bodied.

A Mes rate. 1982 bottle from the Kulminator.
Almost opaque dark chestnut brown colour with a vivid red hue at the edges. A very inviting colour. Damn, there’s a fly in there. Lemme pick it out. Ah well it’s a very drunk fly now. Aroma is excellent. Big dried fruit complexity with just a hint of wooden sourness. Some very faint chlorine but let me tell you that is the ONLY sign that this beer is showing of its advanced years. There is something very bright and floral right at the top of the aroma that I can’t quite find the words for but I know it’s good. The flavour is absolutely unreal. Vintage port, seriously burnt caramel, incredibly tangy fleshy fruit and lashings upon lashings of creamy complex alcohol. The finish has a huge kick of sourness that fades ever so gradually into a lip smacking tangy sweetness with unsurpassed length. The sustain pedal is well and truly pressed here. The body is about as good as anything I have ever had. Thick and chewy yet effortless and remarkably clean. The hit of sourness really refreshes the palate and leaves me thinking each sip is not even close to enough. God knows how much alcohol this has at this stage but you really can feel it means business. When the bottle was first opened it was struggling to deal with the air but after a half hour left to breathe this old beast has returned magnificently for one last hurrah. Utterly stunning example of how things used to be when people cared more about quality than they did about being rich. Truly an extrasensory experience.