Maturing and taste

Hi All,

Just wondering what exactly happens to a beer or a wine when it ages.

It undoubtly tastes much better after a maturing period, but I am just wondering what is actually happening to cause this to happen.

I was trying to work out what was going on in the bottles when it ages but I could not figure it out, the thing that puzzles me is, the yeast has finished fermenting, the sugar has been converted, all the ingredients are the same as before, so I cant think what changes are taking place to make the taste improve.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Cheers

Lots of things are happening, not the least of which is the yeast cleaning up some of the fermentation byproducts. The yeast are also working on some of the heavy sugars. Other chemicals are breaking down and re-forming into new chemicals.

cheers for that.