Well, I recently got back into brewing after a 14-16 month hiatus. The last 2 batches I made back then were a Tripel and a christmas fruitcake old ale (Mosher), which was brewed before last Christmas. I got lazy and complacent. I dumped the fruitcake from the ferm bucket about 4 months ago when I got sick of looking at it and realized it wasn't very salvageable, judging by the 4 inch mat of moldy fruit floating on the top. I still had the tripel in a glass secondary carboy, and it looked fine, except for the inch of yeast it had been sitting on for so long.
Well, I figured I'd reacquaint myself with bottling. I bottled it about 12 days ago, and just had my first test bottle. While not quite carbed all the way, I am completely shocked to find that it is not a festering autolytic cocktail. It's actually drinkable! It does seem to have an exaggerated, plasticky tang that I associate with extract, but for a belgian that I did little to control ferm temps and then neglected for the last year and a half, I can't believe that I am actually enjoying it. There is a pronounced fruitiness that is a little stronger than it should be, but it is nice. Almost a cherry/honey thing. For a total write-off to turn into 2 cases of semi-decent tripel is pretty amazing. My desire to brew was rekindled recently, but this definitely restores my confidence.
