Aged Storm King!

I am drinking a 2004 Victory Storm King, aged approximately 3.5 years (courtesy of Ben). TOTALLY RADLY SWEETLY GNARLY.

Let me start by saying that fresh Storm King is one of my favorites, and one I have semi-frequently. It is very strong flavored, coffee-y and chocolaty and bitter, just a very strong beer overall.

The 2004 seems to have lost it's youthful strength. It smells sweet, almost like the stale gum drop dish my Grammie used to have in her home (I mean this in a good way). Its just a cloyingly sweet and syrupy smell. I could tell from the pour it was overly carbonated, and that was especially evident in my mouth. The carbonation really dominates in this beer, while the young version has little carbonation and is very smooth. However, this Storm King is very smooth in the sense that it has lost a lot of its bad-assness (AKA strong flavor), and goes down pretty easy. So, the carbonation hits right off, it gets very sweet, smooth, kind of plum-like in flavor, and then a tiny bit of the hop bitterness arrives in the end without any alcohol flavor (like you would in the younger version).

I really feel it has lost its strong complexity (coffee/chocolate/roasted flavor); it has been replaced with carbon dioxide and sweetness. Though it truly is a long-awaited treat, I don't think I'd let one sit for over a year and a half.

However, it was just really really cool to have a 3.5 year old beer. Thanks, Ben!