Aging Beer?
 

I recently opened a NOV 09 bottle of Founders Breakfast Stout. At a year old, I was hoping to see improvement. Truth be told, it was "bland" compared to the fresh Breakfast Stout. The flavors were mild, and the body was much lighter. Honestly, it just seemed like the beer went down hill. I stored the beer upright in my closet and it was not exposed to any extreme temp or humidity. Founders Breakfast Stout is a pretty big beer at 8% abv, so I thought it would have aged well. So here is my question... What beers/type of beer actually ages and becomes better beer?

Re: Aging Beer?
 

Sorry, I forgot to add that I had a bottle of KBS that I am pretty sure was from April 10. A friend and I split it. It was out of this world:dr I never had it fresh, so I cannot compare.

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Doesn't Budweiser say it's all about the freshness?

Maybe it's just me, but I just don't think barley and hops have properties that work with the aging properties.

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From what I've read the Belgium's age well and for a long time. Also heavy stouts with high ABV's tend to age well. I got some Founders Backwoods Bastard from last year that I want to compare to the new batch. I also tasted GI Bourbon County Stouts from 08, 09, 10. The 08 GIBCS was great!

As far as aged beer some of the best I've had was a 5 year vertical of Three Floyds Dark Lord. It's a mixed bag because everyone had a favorite year. I personally thought that 4 years (2007) is great for Dark Lord and at 5 years (2006) it hadn't peeked but wasn't as good the 2007. Everyone's tastes are different.

As far as beer aging I'm still new. Getting 2-3 year verticals on some beers.

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KBS is great fresh but I've been digging it now. I still got over 3 packs left and excited to compare it to next years.

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does alcohol really "Age" in a glass bottle? I have heard it does not.

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Liquor does not age once it's been bottled (scotch, whiskey, etc.). Wine will continue to age in bottles and so will some beers.

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Have you heard of wine? ;)

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Dark Lord is on my list to try. I really want to make it to DLD next year and get a few bottles.

It seems like the list of beers that age well is very small. The usual suspects, Dark Lord, Westvleteren, and Chimay:hm I know there are more, but they are not your everyday type of beer. I think if I can get my hands on one, I will age a 1.5L bottle of Chimay Blue for the heck of it. See what happens.

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:tpd: on all counts. Barley wines tend to age well as well. Supposedly SN Bigfoot is still getting better after more than 10 years. I intend on finding out.:dr

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Imperial Stouts and Porters age exceptionally well. I have a vertical collection of Brooklyn BCS for 5 years back now.

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I don't think the list of beers is small just spread out regionally. An example would be the limited RIS from breweries. Also a lot more breweries are making beers that do age. GI has the Bourbon County line as well as all of their Belgium line. Right now I got a couple bottles of Chimay Red 08, 09 and 10. Looking forward to trying them down the road.

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Forgot about Barley Wines. Good call Vic! :tu

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A lot to most beers don't age well. One of my favorite beers are IPA's. This is one beer that tastes the best fresh and aging kills it. After 6 months an IPA is on the way out. :2

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I totally agree. Fresh is best with IPA's.

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insert my foot in my mouth. I am dumb.

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Been drinking all my IPAs I have lately. I got a few Founders Devil Dancers left and a few bombers of Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf. Damn good stuff! :tu

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This, Stouts are PERFECT for aging.

Yeah you wouldn't age an IPA.

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I have been drinking a lot of IPA's and pale ales lately. Mostly stuff from Bell's, Founders, and DFH. I can really tell a difference in taste from a fresh bottle and one that I have had for a week or two.

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I would hardly consider two weeks to be "aging", Nate. :)

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Yeah I know:r:r My point was the fresher the better for IPA's and pale ales. The hops used in IPA's lose a lot of character very quickly.

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:tu :r

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Beers that age well in bottles are the ones designed to age well in bottles! Most Belgian breweries will decant beers into casks or bottles, and then age them further, leaving an amount of yeast in the bottles to continue 'conditioning' the beer.

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Just thinking out loud here, but doesn't that depend upon how the alcohol is contained? Meaning a sealed bottle of scotch that is a 12 year scotch you bought in 2000 is not a 22 year old scotch now, however, if that bottle had been open the entire time, and oxygen had gotten into the liquor, then it undoubtedly would taste different from now and then, which is aging, kind of. That's the main reason that wine "ages" as it sits in your personal cellar and that scotch doesn't. Wine is closed with a cork, which allows air to travel in and out, which ages the wine as the oxygen breaks down the tannins. It's the basic theory behind why maturing wine in large format bottles is better long-term.

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Tom's right, unless you're getting your IPAs straight from the brewery.......even then who knows how long they sit. Now I got my Dreadnaught from the Three Floyds Brewery and it was the best thing ever at least IPA wise that I have tasted.

IMO aging = 1 year +. NOTE I did not say fully aged, for that you need 3 years :r.

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One of the most drastic changes I've tasted was Black Ops. A year on the bottle, brought the beer from 'good' to 'sell my soul - worthy'.

The only IPA I've had that was better with some age was 120 min.. and that isn't exactly a traditional IPA.

Aging right now I have some black ops, Brooklyn BCS, Bigfoot, Old school, Old Horizontal, WWS, Vertical Epics, IRS, Stout Trooper, Mosnter, Storm King, Double Bastard. That's all i can remember off the top of my head.

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I don't age beers, I drink them. I want to age them....but they are so tasty.....never happens. Someday I'll age a bunch of Imperial Stouts.

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Regarding CWS oroginal post, Founder's Breakfast Stout is a coffee stout. Coffee stouts do not age well. The coffee fades.

However, many high abv beers do age well. The criteria for the "best" beers to age are that they are: 1) High ABV; 2) Do not depend upon fresh hop aromas for their flavor; and 3) Are bottle conditioned and not pasturized.

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I have about 10 beers aging right now one is a barley wine from 2005. Two are octoberfests from 2007 and 08. Then I have some bourbon barrel ages stuff porter and stout that both have a about two years on them. I tend or only age high alcohol content thick or dark ales. Anything else gets drunk fast.

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When you have a 12 year old (scotch, bourbon etc.) that's from it siting in barrels/casks aging for 12 years. After you remove liquor from barrels, casks etc it stops aging. In 10 years that bottle is still a 12 year old bottle of X.

The bottle might be 22 years old but liquor inside the bottle is still 12 years old X.

I will have to find where I read this and post it.

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I know that's true. But to "age" alcohol means to mature it. So while the scotch stops aging as in an age that can be put on the label, the liquor itself, once upon, begins maturing and will over time taste different.

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This is the whole process in detail for Scotch making and why It stops aging when bottled. :2

http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/...ation_EN.shtml

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Not true. I have had bottles that have been open for 10,20, and 30 years and tasted them side by side with a fresh bottle and besides small differences in batches they all pretty much tasted the same, (Laphroaig 10yr)

Whiskey specifically stops aging after it leaves the oak. My grandfather was a huge Connoisseur and had hundreds of bottles of scotches.

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Hmm....interesting. That just seems counterintuitive to me for some reason.
Oh well, thanks for clearing that up guys.

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I agree and disagree with the thought that IPAs don't age well. Single IPAs, are almost always better fresh, but IIPAs and IIIPAs actually can age well. I wouldn't say they get better, just different. They will lose a lot of the hop characteristic, but some of them still become damn fine beers with aging.

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I will agree on the Founders Devil Dancer (triple ipa). I had them since May and they are drinking good. I might keep a few in the name of science.

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It'll be different. It does lose a lot of hoppiness, but usually IIPA and IIIPA have a lot of malt (and of course a lot of alcohol) and a lot of times they will turn into wonderful beers.

That being said, I generally prefer any IPA fresh (love the hops). It's just that I also like the taste of a lot of them aged.

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I'm not a science guy and don't know the technicalities, but I look at it like this:

Both wine and beer have things going on side the bottle, once they are bottled, that whiskey does not. Once distilled the "cooking" part of the process is over for whiskey, any changes that occur after that are a result of the contact between the whiskey itself and the wooden barrels it's stored in. Once removed from the barrel that process ends. So no more aging, or changing of the flavor, is going to occur. There's nothing for the whiskey to react with in a glass bottle.

Beer and wine are different. There is live yeast in both of these, along with other ingredients. Those things continue to develop over time even inside of a sealed glass bottle. In the case of beer that's what James was referring to in "bottle-conditioned beers". The hops in beer will fade over time as well changing the flavor. Same process is occurring in wine, in addition to the wine reacting with the wooden barrels it's stored in. Once the wine is removed from the barrel it continues to change, because the ingredients in the wine itself are still present and evolving (or degrading).

I think a good example is also barrel aged beers and their counterparts. Goose Island Bourbon County stout is aged in Jack Daniels barrels, it has a VERY strong bourbon, oaky, etc taste to it because of that. Goose Island Night Stalker is the exact same beer without the barrel aging, and tastes very different. The difference comes from the barrel, remove the barrel, remove the differnce.

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I buy a case of Trader Joe's Vintage beer every year. It's brew by Unibroue usually in the style of a Belgium strong ale or Double. They age wonderfully and the improvement after a year is remarkable. I also love to age Hennipen, the Saison style brew from Ommegang. A year in the bottle does wonders to bring out complex floral notes.

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The only exception I know if it Dogfish Head 120Min IPA. BUT....that is a different kind of brew all together.

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Beat me to it on 120 Min. Good collection going there. I have a few years of Bigfoot and Storm King. Just 2 years of Stone IRS though. THAT is probably my favorite stout. Never had WWS though. I have not seen it here in TX. I can usually get lots of 120 min, but no WWS.

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Do you know when the Trader Joe's release is typically available?

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Yeah the coffee flavors definitly were faded. The body was thinnner as well.

I have some beers in mind of what I might want to age. Bell's Expedition Stout, Founders Imperial Stout, Goose Island BCS, and maybe some St. Bernardus or Chimay.

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I have some available locally if you want me to ship it.

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Simple Beer Aging Math by Jack Handy:

Big bodied malty beers > 7% ABV age nicely.
Light bodied beers < 7% ABV do not typically age well.
Hops dissipate rather quickly regardless of ABV.

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I was going to start quoting and :tpd:, but then I realized I agreed with about 80% of these posts.

So I'm just gonna go have a beer. :D

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Usually Nov-Jan. Hopefully soon!

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Would like to hear from anyone trying any aged beer. Going to be comparing last years Founders Backwoods Bastard to this years soon. Will report back with my thoughts.

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I have a St.Bernardus Christmas Ale from '09 that I can't wait to drink on Christmas Eve with my father , it was amazing last year . I have some Brooklyn BCS from last year that just doesn't seem as good now but I'll revisit it . Chimay Premier is really good fresh but it gets to OMG after only 1 year of rest . Wish they made a Bomber of it like the Blue label .

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Pick up the Beligan Ales while they last at Costco. Delerium cases look mighty temping and even easier than storing wine as they kept upright.