FT: Cantillion (Classic Gueuze & Rose De Gambrinus) ISO: ?

With the Sour BIF 4.0 (will talk about this in the near future) quickly heading my way I knew I needed to try and lock down at least one awesome Cantillion bottle for my package.

I’d been coming up zeroes in potential trades so when I saw a post by JM03, FT: Cantillion (Classic Gueuze & Rose De Gambrinus) ISO: ?, I knew I had to act fast.

I said in my BM that I could offer up a combination of the following; Exponential Hoppiness, 2011 Parabola, 2010 The Abyss, 2011 Older Viscosity and Batch 6 Consecration.  The first three were from his want list so I figured that might get me noticed.

I sent Evan...

He came back asking “So you'd do the Expo Hoppiness, Parabola, and Abyss for 1 classic and 1 Rose? “ Really wanting to get this trade locked down and done I said yes despite the fact that I really didn’t want to part with that Abyss. In the end though I’m really glad I did.

It turns out that the trade wasn’t with JM03 at all but rather his friend optimator13 aka Evan. 

For this I really wanted to only use beer I currently had in my possession, this included the extra – which in and of itself was hard to part with. 

On my side I sent Evan a bottle of Exponential Hoppiness from Alpine Beer Co, Batch 2 Parabola from Firestone, Deschutes The Abyss 2010 and my last bottle of the Bruery’s The Workman’s Friend.  It was really hard for me to part with the last two as I had been saving that bottle of Abyss for some time and The Workman’s Friend is probably my favorite Provisions Series beer to date.  I selected the Workman’s friend as it was on his want list.

... and got this in trade

For his part Evan blew me with the package I got from him.  Inside were 7 beers, that’s 5 extras over the agreed Cantillon Classic Gueuze and Rose De Gambrinus.  They include two awesome beers from Squatter’s Outer Darkness and Hell’s Keep, plus the Terrapin W-n-B, a Saint Arnold Weedwacker and a smoked wheat ale.

I was blown away when I pulled out that Outer Darkness.  You have no idea how awesome it is to me to have gotten this beer as a freaking extra.  I tried to trade for it several times and each time the guy I was working with broke the trade days before we were to ship.  I literally gave up on trying to trade for this so it really made my night.

To date this is definitely up there as one of the best trades I’ve been involved with not only in quality but also in speed. This trade was set up and completed in under a week.  It’s people like Evan that make trading fun and enjoyable.

Cheers

-SNB

Terrapin W-n-B Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout

A really nice roasty beer

12 oz bottle pouring in to my awesome new Stone Double Bastard Tumbler.  I pulled the bottle 45 minutes prior to opening so that it could warm to the proper serving temperature.  Received as part of a very generous amount of extras from Optimizer from the Cantillon trade.

Appearance: The beer pours a thick black color.  I poured it slowly into a tilted glass which only allowed a very small tan head to form.  Fantastic lacing appears as I slowly drink the beer.  The color is an opaque black, very low levels of carbonation appear present.

Aroma:  Coffee, oatmeal, roast, semi-sweet.  The aroma is quite pleasant and reminds me a lot of Founders Breakfast Stout. the coffee notes and roast notes play off each other very well.  No hop aroma is present  Bonnie Notes: Coffee, Chocolate (dark), espresso beans.  Really nice chocolate.

Mouthfeel: Very thick, covering my entire palate.  Full bodied, which is what I would expect from the oatmeal, with medium carbonation that slightly tingles the front of my tongue.  warming when consumes. Bonnie Notes: Playful, covers the sides of the mouth well.

Taste: Lots of coffee and roast, almost bourbon like quality.  very heavy flavor which dominates.  Slighlty hot in the back of the throat. Not too bitter.  I wpouldn't say it's overly balanced as it is very dominate with the coffee.  the coffee and roast coverup most of the bittering hops.  Bonnie Notes:  Tight flavors not out of balance.

Overall:  thick and warming with good coffee note.  This beer is a great example of what I love in Imperial Oatmeal Stouts with coffee.  I do feel the coffee is overly dominate but to the point where I wouldn't want more.  Bonnie Notes: Nice little stout.  Better then most stouts I've had.