While going through my basement in search of the perfect beer to drink on New Years Eve, I stumbled on a forgotten bottle of Gale’s Millennium Brew. I purchased this bottle from a local bottle shop about a year ago.

Gale’s Millennium Brew is a 10% ABV English Old Ale released in 1999 by George Gale & Co. to celebrate the coming of the new millennium. The website for importer B. United International gives this promising description:

Mashed by the Duke of York on a visit to the Horndean Brewery in 1997, [Millennium Brew] is a vintage ale which will be released starting October 1st, 1999 to celebrate the coming of the new millennium. It has a rich, amber color and a sweet malt and raisin aroma. It is strong with a complex blend of fruitiness, gentle bitterness and a hint of Muscatel grapes.
Millennium Brew is made from the finest Maris Otter Pale Ale malt, Black Malt, and a significant amount of Crystal Malt. Hops used are Goldings, Fuggles and the citrusy, fruity Challenger.
Gales’ Millennium Brew has been conditioned for 24 months with some rousing. Gales Millennium Brew has a lower present gravity than its famous “sister” Prize Old Ale. It is therefore less obviously sweet. This allows the hop flavors and fruity estery flavors to predominate.

This beer had spent the last year carefully cellared in my basement. Before that it had spent eleven years in the tender care of someone else, waiting for the perfect moment to be consumed. The turning of the first decade of the millennium seemed to be that moment. Great anticipation accompanied my bringing the bottle to the table after a satisfying dinner. The admiration of the soon-to-be-tasted nectar was intensified by the realization that the 9-ounce bottle was corked instead of capped. What class! A hush descended as I drew the cork and poured the rich amber deliciousness into our snifters. There was no head, but that’s to be expected from a well-aged English strong ale. Carefully cupping the glasses to warm the brew we sniffed; sweet, port-like, raisins and dark fruits with hints of sherry…and something else not yet quite defined. Finally the taste, a taste that’s been a decade in the making. But not the taste that we were looking for. Rather than the warming, full-bodied, port wine and plum sherry notes of a finely crafted barleywine, our tongues were treated to a sickly sour, thin and threadbare remnant of a beer. Methinks the Duke of York had sanitation issues.

You take your chances buying aged beer. You never really can be sure what waits inside.