<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<topic>
  <id>370435</id>
  <title>What's the oldest Chimay you've had?</title>
  <published_at>Mon Feb 12 14:00:48 -0800 2007</published_at>
  <post_count>5</post_count>
  <board>
    <id>35</id>
    <name>Beer</name>
  </board>
  <posts>
    <post>
      <post>
        <level>0</level>
        <id>2285565</id>
        <content>I have numerous old Chimay Grand Reserves in my wine cellar.  Probably the oldest is around 15 years.  What's the oldest one you've had and how did it hold up?

I also have some old Thomas Hardy and was wondering the same about that?</content>
        <published_at>Mon Feb 12 14:00:48 -0800 2007</published_at>
        <parent_id></parent_id>
        <user>
          <id>41679</id>
          <name>Den</name>
        </user>
      </post>
    </post>
    <post>
      <level>1</level>
      <id>2285683</id>
      <content>I once had a 5 year old Chimay Grande Reserve and it was amazing. I can't even imagine what the 15 year old must be like. 

Any beer with sufficiently high alcohol should age well. I read a story about some 10%-ish ales unearthed from the basement of an old brewery in England that were a little over 100 years old. Apparently the ale in them had held up quite nicely.
</content>
      <published_at>Mon Feb 12 14:29:03 -0800 2007</published_at>
      <parent_id>2285565</parent_id>
      <user>
        <id>10809</id>
        <name>Josh</name>
      </user>
    </post>
    <post>
      <level>1</level>
      <id>2285778</id>
      <content>While people will probably ask where I live and want to come over, I have them that old because other than one friend who likes them, none of my buds like that kind of beer.  We drank a couple of the 15's over the holidays and they had a very smooth quality almost like a good port.</content>
      <published_at>Mon Feb 12 14:49:35 -0800 2007</published_at>
      <parent_id>2285565</parent_id>
      <user>
        <id>41679</id>
        <name>Den</name>
      </user>
    </post>
    <post>
      <level>2</level>
      <id>2285950</id>
      <content>I can only imagine. Where do you live? &gt;:-D</content>
      <published_at>Mon Feb 12 15:37:35 -0800 2007</published_at>
      <parent_id>2285778</parent_id>
      <user>
        <id>10809</id>
        <name>Josh</name>
      </user>
    </post>
    <post>
      <level>1</level>
      <id>2286843</id>
      <content>Chimay can go a LOOOONG way.  I had an 81 &amp; 82 Chimay Blue in 2003 (clearing my cellar to move.)  The 81 was stunning and the 82 had gone very downhill.  I had a 500th anniversary Grand Cru at the Kulminator in 2001 (brewed in 1986) and it came close to making me bocome a monk.  All sherried (in a good way) and plums and chocolate.

I've had Thomas Hardy as old as 15 years and it holds up.</content>
      <published_at>Mon Feb 12 20:17:40 -0800 2007</published_at>
      <parent_id>2285565</parent_id>
      <user>
        <id>20858</id>
        <name>Kevin B</name>
      </user>
    </post>
    <post>
      <level>1</level>
      <id>2287942</id>
      <content>When I started drinking Chimay back in 2000, they were all pre-aged in my area - meaning they would sit on the shelf for years since hardly anyone knew what they were. Impossible to find anything but fresh Chimay on the shelf now. ;-(</content>
      <published_at>Tue Feb 13 08:16:38 -0800 2007</published_at>
      <parent_id>2285565</parent_id>
      <user>
        <id>12014</id>
        <name>LStaff</name>
      </user>
    </post>
  </posts>
</topic>
