Hahn Special Vintage 2000 Millennium Ale

Formerly brewed at Hahn Brewing Company (Lion Nathan Co.)
Style: English Strong Ale
Camperdown NSW, Australia

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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Yellow head and amber colour, kind of a promising aroma (caramel and spice), but a bit of a strange funky off smell is noticed. The beer itself doesn’t really taste great, theres a bit of body in there, but the taste is a bit off, and its a bit sticky or something, not recomended.

Bottle. I still have a few left over from the case i bought and i try one every now and then. It is past it’s best, but still plenty of flavour, but the alcohol flavour hit has taken over.

Bottle shared by STLWill at Woodshop 5.0 (2/20/10): Pours a transparent dark copper amber with a spotty-lacing off-white head. Aroma of semi-sweet dark caramel malt with some light fruity oxidation. Starts with pretty good fullness and light doughy caramel biscuity malts before a sweettart fruity finish. Has some signs of age, but is still quite drinkable and fairly complex.

Woodshop 5.0 ruled for many reasons. One reason it ruled was when Yespr was excited to see the bottle you held because he hadn’t tried it before. Tasting side by side with him was cool. This had a rich, sweet and spicy barleywine nose. Taste is creamy and caramel and brown sugar.

75 cL bottle. Pours hazy dark orange to brown with a small white head. Aroma is dark malty, oxidised and dry, Sweet caramelish and dry oxidised to wooden base flavoured. Light sweet caramelish finish. Way past prime I would assume.

Bottle at Woodshop 5.0 shared by STwill. Pours copper bubbly. Nose is sweet. Taste is sweet and malty with a nice bubbly mouth feel.

Poured hazy amber brown, cardboard, little roasted malts, little dark fruit, little chocolate, little caramel.

Vintage 1999. 400th rate! Last bottle in my collection that was originally half a dozen. Ten years in the bottle, best part of 4 spent in my cellar, and it certainly looks worse for are with most of the label missing and dirt all over the side of the bottle. But it’s what’s inside that counts right? Served in a big wine glass at cellar temperature, i’m presented with a deep burnished copper body, reminisant of a tawny port. Seems to have a real depth to the clarity, perseived hazyiness, suggesting age. Offwhite collar of foam eventually dies off with legs that cling to the glass. Vinous nose straightupl; sultana, raisin, bitter orange, plum, date, honey and golden syrup sweetness. Undertones of oak, spice and alcohol. Very clean considering age! Smooth body, good length, texture is lean and dry from you’d be led to believe from the nose. Nice welcome alcohol warmth towards the finish. Once again comparisons to a tawny port come to mind with the flavour; buttery nutty oak, sultanas, dates, brandy-like undertones, brown sugar, earthy spices perceived as cinnamon and nutmeg. Mildly bitter roasted malt notes and dark grain bread combine with subtle citrus and peppery alcohol flavours that linger and dry out the finish. Bitterness is quite low otherwise. Lovely complex and remarkably clean aged ale. Somewhat dry sherry-like at times, without the body. Excellent flavours and certainly is a beer that has stood the test of time very well indeed, especially consider its humble beginnings!

1999 Vintage. Dark cloudy mahogony color. Dark cherries, port and plums in the nose. Definete oxidization, though doesn’t distract too much from the beer. The mouth is a bit thin, sour and portish with a faint hint of milk chocolate. Lingering port finish. Not bad, but drink now as this beer is on its way downhill.

I am not sure it is fair to put this review in as there is a good chance the problem is my poor cellaring, then again maybe it is a comment on the life of this beer (it is now 8 years), so I will. My bottle had 1999 on it, I recall buying it around the millennium - I kept it upright with the wine, in the dark in the living room, but with no special care wrt temperature (not carefull cellaring, but not exactly negligent). It poured dark reddish brown with no head. The palate was medium bodied with little carbonation (indicating a problem with storage I think). The aroma was mixed - mainly nice caramel and raisin but with a woody / strong tea note. Unfortunately the off notes in the aroma dominate the flavour - I can’t describe it adequately but I assume it is stale / oxidised. And if the flavour is this bad it’s pretty much undrinkable.

I got 2 bottles of this stuff off ebay, one of each batch, I paid around $20AUS for them and found them to vary slightly. Special vintage millennium ale - Bottle (750ml) 8 years vintage. Exploded on opening, lost about 200ml sadly. Poured a muddy off brown with ruby highlights and a collar of light brown/frothy head which was mostly diminishing. Aroma was big with large amounts of tawny port/rum and molasses present with undertones of dark chocolate (possibly rum and raisin) and moderate amounts of malt. Flavor was initially sweet with currantss, caramel and molasses which where slightly bitter and acidic. Full bodied with a smooth and warming mouthful, with a syrupy texture and moderate astringency. A very rare treat which has aged for the better. Special vintage 2000 lmtd - Bottle (750ml) 7 years vintage. Did not explode unlike its brother. Poured a cloudy dark brown with red highlights and a small frothy off white head (again mostly diminishing). Aroma was a little disappointing and not as large as the special vintage millennium ale. Initial nose was of rum and maple syrup with light alcohol present, slight maltyness with some spices. Flavor was a moderate sweetness with dates and rum present, light bitterness followed with a slight acidic flavor. Body was not as full as SVMA with a slight watery mouthful, medium body shorter finish and a light sour/smoky finish. All in all the first batch was much better in all aspects.