Can I age a beer for 19yrs??

I just had a baby and I thought that a beer or a wine kept from the year of birth until the 19th birthday would be pretty neat. Just not sure how feasable this actually is. Obviously the abv would have to be high (tnp?). Anyone have some ideas or experience? Thanks

ok here is where everyone freaks the hell out......

screw it, do your kid a favor and distill a batch of corn whiskey and put it in a barrel. :rockin:

i gotta say, for 19 years, that is a long long time....i vote with whiskey, but it takes 4 to 6 generations of a good sour mash to get things tasting where you want them to taste.....or so i'm told........

Countryham said:

i gotta say, for 19 years, that is a long long time....i vote with whiskey, but it takes 4 to 6 generations of a good sour mash to get things tasting where you want them to taste.....or so i'm told........

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of course...whiskey! any recommends?

mrfurlly said:

of course...whiskey! any recommends?

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.......hide it from johnny law

Cut the distilling chat.

something that costs more than your entire grocery bill for a month.

Why not just go with an ultra strong barely wine like the Brits used to?

That way you don't have Big Brother knockin on your door, too...

Utopia clone! Just as much alcohol and no johnny law...you or could just buy a bottle and drink it and buy one when your kid turns 19

Don't do a beer. I busted open a 24 year old stout recently and it tasted like sherry / soy sauce. Beer succumbs to oxidation over time.

Maybe a fat mead or red wine. Buy a good cabernet kit from northern brewer.

kunstler said:

Utopia clone! Just as much alcohol and no johnny law...you or could just buy a bottle and drink it and buy one when your kid turns 19

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I would only do this if your willing to spend some cash and are somewhat experienced...I have been wanting to brew this for some time now.

Maybe hold on to it until after your child's 19th birthday, or they may not be able to appreciate the effort and time that went into it. Being your child's first alcoholic drink their palate may not be very well developed.

Ok, to set things straight here. I'm not looking to distill or brew this. Too much time involved for experiments. I was more so looking at a purchased product to age. I'm not looking to learn how to make whiskey or wine. Just looking to learn how to purchase a whiskey wine or beer that would age well.

I had a Saison de Pipaix, 6%, 14 years old, that was amazing. Funktastic and spicy. I'd much rather have that than an old ass wine.

mrfurlly said:

Ok, to set things straight here. I'm not looking to distill or brew this. Too much time involved for experiments. I was more so looking at a purchased product to age. I'm not looking to learn how to make whiskey or wine. Just looking to learn how to purchase a whiskey wine or beer that would age well.

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First, CONGRATS DADDY!

Ahem...

Okay onto the topic. Go with wine for several reasons:

1. As far as I'm aware, there are few beer bottles that will remain airtight for 19 years, and you *will* get oxidation.

2. From what I'm aware of, the majority of spirits stop aging once they are bottled. While a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue should be perfectly drinkable in 20 years, I don't know how much it will have improved. Some spirits like brandy do age gracefully however.

3. Wines can and often do improve with age, especially wines like port, which are intended to be aged exceptionally long periods of time. I just gave my friend a 28 year old bottle of port for her birthday, bottled the year she was born. You just need to have a cool place to store it for 20 years.

So ultimately, my suggestion is to do a little research, and buy either a spirit like brandy or a lovely port wine and put it away. Hell, buy two or three, and give them to him on his 19th birthday, his wedding day, and the day of his firstborn.

Congrats on the new baby...

Have you thought about a Barleywine? Those are meant to age and will probably do well 19 years from now.

A red wine or a Port would also be a good choice.

Or you can wait 19 years and buy a bottle of 19 year old scotch

Pick up some JW Lees or Thomas Hardys barley wines... Treat them right and they'll age gracefully for decades.

Seconding port. I have a rich ass uncle who broke open a bottle of Vintage he had been cellaring for probably over ten years at Christmas last year. It was amazing.

If you are confident about sanitation and procedure (you need to avoid oxidation, as was said), a barleywine might work, but I would use a backup in case it tastes like crap after such a long time.

All this talk of port and now I want to go buy some to stash for 10 years!

ratfarmer said:

All this talk of port and now I want to go buy some to stash for 10 years!

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you read my mind!

I have two questions:
1) Why did you pick his "19th" birthday exactly?
2) Why dont you wait 15 years and brew him a 4 year-aged beer?

mychalg9 said:

I have two questions:
1) Why did you pick his "19th" birthday exactly?

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I'd say 19 yrs. is about perfect. As they drive off to college, you run into the basement, bust open the 19-yr-old port, and guzzle. You lived through raising a child!

mychalg9 said:

I have two questions:
1) Why did you pick his "19th" birthday exactly?
2) Why dont you wait 15 years and brew him a 4 year-aged beer?

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19 is the drinking age in Canada

I'll be able to answer this question in about 16 years when I open up a bottle of 2006 Worldwide Stout (18% ABV) for my 4 year old daughter's 21st birthday...

First off despite the naysayers who beleive you can't age a beer for that long, evidently Charlie Papazian can. With proper storage.

In the Dec 07 Zymurgy Charlie Papazian reviewed bottles of homebrew going back to the first AHC competition that he had stored, and none of them went bad, some had not held up but most of them he felt were awesome...We're talking over 20 years worth of beers.

Since nothing pathogenic can grow in beer, there's no worry needed about getting sick from them. All that can happen is that they may not have held up over time.

This is a great thread about one of our guys tasting 4-5 years of his stored brew.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/revisiting-my-classics-160672/

Beer's like wine, a lot of them improve with age....That's why stone has "vertical epic" with vintage, and people have vertical tasting parties

I made a beer that won't even be opened before 5 years go by on Sunday. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/he...emorial-5-year-aged-barleywine-recipe-195096/

The people who are suggestion you aim for a Utopia clone, are really not that off base. If you want to make a special beer and age it, then a super barleywine IS the way to go. Something big and heavy where some oxydation and sherry notes will be ok.

If you don't want to make a 5 gallon batch then make a 2.5 gallon batch and even if it is not spectacular it still will have meaining. Or even a gallon batch with only a few bottles.

Here's the two uber threads on brewing utopias..they are fun reads even if you don't brew one.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/way-way-way-over-top-sam-adams-utopia-clone-91463/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/way-way-way-over-top-sam-adams-utopia-clone-2-a-136326/

There's no harm in trying. And if you do a nice bottle, with a great label, and wax covered cap, even if the beer doesn't hold up it will have special meaning.

You can also make a 5 year down the line as a back up, but still even if the bottles are never opened on the 20 year ones beyond the one that you realized it didn't turn out. You will still have something special.

Hard to post right after Revvy has, but I wanted to put a plug in for making a Mead. Make it nice and strong, hell, make a few of them.

Baja_Brewer said:

Hard to post right after Revvy has, but I wanted to put a plug in for making a Mead. Make it nice and strong, hell, make a few of them.

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yeah, that would be my other choice as well. The basic brewing guys have done and sampled meads that were over 10 years old.

Revvy said:

First off despite the naysayers who beleive you can't age a beer for that long, evidently Charlie Papazian can. With proper storage

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If it is important that it is good in 19 yrs, he should save mead or wine or whiskey. I'm not a "naysayer". I've had very old commercial beers and they weren't good. Perhaps it could be done, but if it is meant to be a special occasion then beer is not a reliable choice.

This forum is littered with stories of old commercial beers being opened and they were between disappointing and awful. Almost always there is no carbonation. I honestly don't remember a single story of a beer being enjoyable after a long storage like that. I'm sure they exist, but I don't recall one.

Frankly, because there isn't that much cost involved, he should do one of everything (beer, wine, whiskey) and hedge his bet.

A nice guitar

I'm thinking:

By the time that kid is 19, you'll be looking for a bottle to bust over their head. Don't waste the good stuff. I'm kidding, sort of. ;-)

I agree with staying away from aging beer. Personally I would go for a good liquor. Cognac ages quite well. A bottle of Courvoisier VSOP would be my first choice as it is an excellent cognac and not too pricey. Second would be a bottle of Remy Martin VSOP or if you want to buy a really nice bottle to age a bottle of Remy Martin XO would be superb.

.... sorry but i find that very weird. Just make beer. It doesnt really have anything to do with having a kid. I would be embarrassed if my dad did that. Sorry to seem negative.

I wouldnt, I would love it if my Dad had the foresight to do something like this for my 21st birthday.
My input is Mead, Red wine, or good Whiskey.

I think it's a great idea, My mother was given a bottle of Crown Royal in 1976 when she graduated college, she gave me that exact same bottle in 2002 when I graduated college. I have still not opened it so I have an unopened 34 year old bottle of Crown Royal. Not sure when I'll open it. I don't think whiskey changes much once it's bottled, so hanging onto it isn't really helping it anymore but it does have quite a bit of sentimental value to it.

I like the suggestion to age several things and see how they turn out.

Dude.. this is great. when I was about 19 my dad had a beer with me. It was Coors,but hell, I was 19 and not old enough to drink yet. how cool would it have been if it wasnt Coors. I will always remember my first fizzy swill with dad at the races.

Whiskey, or any hard liquor, won't age at all once bottled. My great-uncle passed away a few years ago, and as we were cleaning out his house, we found his liquor cabinet. He wasn't really a drinker at all, as the 30+ unopened bottles told us. My uncles and I each walked away with a number of whiskeys, gins, and a few random wine bottles. There was one opened whiskey bottle, a decorative bottle with a glass "cork" in the top, and even that was still good. The oldest bottle I got was a Seagram's from 1958 or 59. I have a few Canadian Club's from the early 60's, and the one we opened is great.

While on a winery tour last year, I told the owner what I had. He said liquor that is that old is as good as it was the day they bottled it: it doesn't get better with age like wine does. Also, being that old, it was before the time the FDA stepped in with their requirements, so its exactly as the producers intended.

As far as a gift for your kid goes (congrats btw!) you could try aging a strong beer as suggested, and also get a vintage bottle of something stronger and hold on to it. My friend's dad supplied the booze for his 21st b'day party with friends, a party that is still a legend in their circle. It means even more to him now that his father has passed away. He'll never forget what his dad did for him that day, even if he can't remember the night!

Why stop at 1?
Do a whiskey, a mead, and a beer!

I also just found out I am going to be a father, and thought that would be a fun thing to do. I think something simple like a STRONG, single malt barley wine would be perfect.