15-Month Cellared Goose Island Sofie Review

By: Jack Horzempa
(Originally Posted on Beer Advocate)
 
I have had today’s beer of Goose Island Sofie many times before but Michael suggested that I should buy some of these beers and cellar them and last year that is what I did. This beer was bottled on 08FEB16 which means it is around 15 months old right now.

This beer is bottled with some Brett so the idea is that with age the Brett derived flavors should be evident by now.

Some folks are fans of the funky flavors that Brett can produce and others aren’t. A few months ago I home-brewed a Belgian Pale Ale which I co-pitched with both a Belgian Trappist Ale yeast strain (the strain that is used to ferment Orval) and Brett. Because both of these yeast strains were used for the primary fermentation the Brett funky flavors are evident right away. I enjoy the ‘barnyard’ type flavors of this beer but my wife is BIG non-fan of this beer; she calls this beer "Horse Piss."

So, what does a year-plus of cellaring do for Sofie?


Served in my Gulden Draak Tulip Glass:

Appearance:

Pours a golden yellow color with a BIG white head.

Aroma:

There is a prominent aroma of funk! Yup, just like being in a barn. There is some lemon in the background and also a tiny bit of pungent quality.

Taste:

The flavors follows the nose with the funky barnyard flavors playing center stage. There is also a bit of a spicy quality from the phenols produced by Brett with a hint of medicinal flavor as well.

Mouthfeel:

A tingly carbonation level with a dry finish.

Overall:

I really liked this beer! A word of warning for the faint of heart: this beer gets pretty funky with cellaring.

Cheers!
  
Jack Horzempa is a longtime friend of the store and an extremely knowledgeable home brewer, brewing some of the best beer I have ever tasted. Jack's palate is well seasoned and he has been a valuable source of beer expertise to the store. He has graciously allowed us to re-post his review/posts from Beer Advocate where he has achieved Poo-bah status. Since joining Beer Advocate 12 yrs ago, Jack has posted more than 20,000 times and earned over 25,000 likes.