Meet and Greet with Brendan Moylan - Barleywine question

So I had a chance to chat a little bit with Brendan Moylan last night, owner and founder of Moylan's Brewery and Marin Brewing Co.

I'm a big fan of Old Blarney Barleywine and their other beers and I am going to brew a barleywine at some time over the next few weeks, so I decided to ask him how long he prefers to age a barleywine before drinking them and his answer was somewhat surprising.

His response was this:
"Although I do like to occasionally drink a 5 or a 10 year old barleywine, I prefer to drink mine at 6 months so that I can still taste the hops."

I guess that answers my question about how long I should age mine before popping one open.

It's really all a matter of personal preference. Barleywines go through several changes while aging. I prefer aged versions, but have only had them at 2 years old. I have a case of bombers of a barleywine I did last year, and going to try to have just one bottle a year (on New Years Day), to see how it develops over the years.

I_B_Mongo said:

It's really all a matter of personal preference. Barleywines go through several changes while aging. I prefer aged versions, but have only had them at 2 years old. I have a case of bombers of a barleywine I did last year, and going to try to have just one bottle a year (on New Years Day), to see how it develops over the years.

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I don't plan on drinking all of them at 6 months, but now I feel safe at sampling one at 6 months. Some people had told me to wait a year. I will definitely leave several bombers to age for years and brew more times with the same recipe and compare the vintages.