Lessons From a 25-Year-Old Beer

Last night a group of friends and I cracked open the first bottling of Old Knucklehead from BridgePort–a beer dating back to 1989.  Back in the day, Old Knucklehead (OK) was a wonderful tradition.  The brewery honored a local codger (some famous, some not) by putting his visage on a little nip bottle.  It combined localness, particularity, and tradition all in one lovely little package.  (The brewery would do well revive the tradition, methinks.  It’s hyper local tradition and wouldn’t account for many barrels in absolute terms, but it would get a ton of press and continue a beloved tradition.  It’s also perfect for the social media age.)

I have no idea who’s on that first bottle–I think it was a regular at the old brewery.  Labeling standards were different then (no government warning, for instance), and the ABV isn’t listed.  If memory serves, OK was a relatively low-alcohol barley wine–nine percentish.  All of which made analyzing it more dependent on what our senses could tell us …