Beer Style Freshness - Which beers last longest?

As I look ahead & begin to plan for upcoming competitions, I began to consider brewing some beers as early as possible. I'm relatively new to brewing & haven't strayed far from ales, so I wanted to see if anyone could shed some light on which styles of beer I could brew, keg, bottle, & cold store for a few months without really losing much flavor. I do know weizens need to be fresh & hoppy beers will lose their aroma & flavor quickly, so they would need to be brewed as close to the competition as possible.

Does anyone know of a list anywhere that might address this? Basically, which beers hold best once bottled?

ANY lager is a safe bet, the longer you leave them the better

+1 for lagers, also sours and big bears such as barleywines can get better with years of age. Another thought is fruit beers that often peak at 3-4 months.

I made a rye beer that was fantastic at 6 months.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/live-let-rye-431059/

The key to brews lasting several months to a year or more has less to do with the style and more to do with technique. That said I find darker and stronger beers get really good at the six month mark. Nine months if it is something like a RIS or a Baltic porter.

kaconga said:

The key to brews lasting several months to a year or more has less to do with the style and more to do with technique.

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I don't understand. Are you implying that good technique could help keep a three month old IPA's flavor competitive against a freshly brewed one's? I seriously thought that the style of a beer was the most important aspect as to whether or not it's flavor would hold well once bottled & stored.

the75 said:

I don't understand. Are you implying that good technique could help keep a three month old IPA's flavor competitive against a freshly brewed one's? I seriously thought that the style of a beer was the most important aspect as to whether or not it's flavor would hold well once bottled & stored.

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Yes, in very rare cases. Oxidation can ruin beer quickly. A poorly made IPA with lots of oxidation will taste poor at 3 weeks whereas a well crafted IPA without oxidation will still be relatively good at 3 months. Not as good as the same beer at three weeks though. If you want to age beers then you need to limit oxygen exposure as best you can in addition to picking styles that age well.

Most beers will last a long time if you store them cold, although I wouldn't expect a year old IPA to win a lot of medals. On the old Jamil show about bjcp styles, Jamil said he left a 60\- in a keg for over a year (cold), and it was one of his most successful competition beers.

I heard that show, so I left a crappy porter in my kegerator for almost a year. It still sucked though...
I'm going to brew up some lagers & an RIS then, since those were a couple of the suggestions. Not sure I want to mess with a sour, but I do have a 55 gallon food grade drum that is begging for something rotten.

the75 said:

. Not sure I want to mess with a sour, but I do have a 55 gallon food grade drum that is begging for something rotten.

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Pretth sure that is not the path to good beer.

Ramitt said:

Pretth sure that is not the path to good beer.

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Do you speak from experience? Everyone in my homebrew club is certain that it will work just fine. In fact, a local brewery was in on the same drum acquisition because they wanted to use them for fermenting some sours. I originally acquired mine because I wanted to use it for water storage, but after hearing that they can be used for fermenting, I began cleaning it with some PBW ahead of a potential brewday.

I've heard from Jamil on his BN network show that anything with roasted grains and low hops will keep for a long time. He stated that roasted grains have an antioxidant quality to them.


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