Does Firestone's Parabola Benefit From Age?

Beer and Spirits
1

I have one bottle, and have never had it before. Is this a beer I should be aging for a year or few? Or is it best consumed earlier? TIA. [cheers.gif]

2

btw, anyone with an opinion on this: can you please chime-in before I have to go to my off-site late tomorrow morning. The bottle’s either coming with me to storage, or it isn’t. newhere

3

Yes, it does benefit with age. but if you have never had one, then just drink it to form an opinion. They are relatively cheap enough (compared to a wine that you would age) and fairly available to try one for an experiment.

4

thanks for the input, Tom.

Is Parabola relatively easy to find? I was quite happy to stumble upon one (and only one) at retail a few weeks ago. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen in the wild (granted, I haven’t exactly been hunting the right grounds the past few years, either).

5

Out West, probably not too hard to find on release. East Coasters break into knife fights trying to score a bottle. If you haven’t had one before you may as well pop one to see if it’s worth the experimentation, but I know some people that have kept 4-5 year verticals going.

6

Comes out once a year, usually 1 btl a person depending on the store. My bevmo had it for 3-4 days. My friend’s whole foods had it for 4 days and it didn’t sell, so he got to buy all of em (9).

I think it’s a little too “plain” and smooth right now. I hope it gets some depth to it.

7

I don’t know about ageing, but around here, there’s FAR more demand than supply.

8

A little late on this.

Fresh- Lots, I mean lots of bourbon barrel & it is actually a very hoppy RIS.

Aged- Much more vanilla & caramel.

My approach is usually find it in tap to drink fresh & start cracking bottles around 6-12 months after release.

This beer is my favorite BA Stout out there, so drinking it is awesome anytime for me.

9

Definitely tough to get a hld of here in NJ.

Its fine to drink early if you’re not oak-averse, But I definitely think they settle down a bit after 6 months to a year. Haven’t had anything older. Enjoy, its a fantastic beer.

10

It’s actually fairly available around Seattle upon release. There’s a store around me that has a couple bottles left, which I will probably clear out if they are still there in a few days.

A different beer store was pouring it on tap yesterday and I met a buddy there who had never had it. Gave him a taste of my pour without any talk whatsoever (he’s a cocktail guy 1st, wine guy 2nd, beer guy a distant 5th! [snort.gif] ). He was completely floored by the complexity, the length of the finish and how the finish evolved over a good 30+ seconds. Yes, the hops will eventually drop and the vanilla/bourbon/oak will come to the forefront, but basing this on my experience with Deschutes Abyss, it will sing with a few years on it.

11

Anyone seen much of this on the east coast? Have yet to hear a retailer in NJ say they got more than 6 bottles.

12

This is an interesting question, because at least twice I have started to initiate a thread on aging of beers, and I get it have typed each time prior to getting interupted.

13

Couldn’t find Parabola to save my life; it cleared out of Total Wine and Whole Foods in hours.

I had the same question re: Stickee Monkee, which I just happened to walk by on the shelf at WF last night. Might go back and pick up another one based on feedback from the “What are you drinking” thread. Just hate spending $16.99 on a beer :smiley:

14

You should go back and buy some more if you liked it. It’s lasting longer than Parabola and Sucaba, but once it’s gone, it’s gone until next year, if they make it again.

15

I used to hate dropping $17 on beer. Then I realized that beers like this are really no different than a fine wine in terms of aroma, flavor, finish and ageability and a 22 is only 5 oz less than a 750 of wine. If I can drop $50 on a wine without blinking, I can surly drop $17 for a world class beer.