15 year old beer: Safe to drink?

My father has several cases of homebrew he made back in the 90's. He threw it in the cellar (very cool temps) and its been there since. I am about to use the bottles, but I was wondering if i could enjoy 1 without the fears of becoming sick. I think one was a Pilsner and Im not sure on the other ones.


Is it safe to drink?

Hells ya it's safe! Drink that **** up man!

Seriously though, there won't be anything wrong with it, except it may not taste too good anymore. Usually, the lighter the beer, the less stable it is, so the pilsner may be not so tasty. If he has any old imperial stouts laying around though, they may be pretty delicious now.

Hells Ya It's Safe! Drink that **** up man!

Oh...Sorry....Didn't mean to copy...but that is exactly what I thought when I saw the headline.


Post back your notes.

15 years?? wow..... give them a try..If it is a pilsner or light beer in will probably taste like crap but hey u never know...too bad it isn't a big barley
wine...

Jay

I've seen a lot of these threads end with the OP not posting the results. I'm curious to how they taste.

i tried a taste of the "Pilsner" and it seemed ok. It reminded me of Yeungling in taste. Nothing really bad, nothing to write home about. Maybe I should drink a full bottle?

Two stories of aged beer: 1.) a coworker of one of my homebrew club's members found a few bottles of 60-year-old beer. The labels were mostly worn off, the caps a little rusty. We cracked them open at a meeting. Mixed reviews, mostly negative, but nobody got sick from it, so no foul.

2.) another member of my homebrew club brewed in essence a triple bock 20 years ago, before Samuel Adams had their version. He still had some so he entered it in a competition this past spring, not giving any indication of its age. One of the judges wrote on his score sheet that "this beer could stand to be cellared a little more."

eulipion2 said:

One of the judges wrote on his score sheet that "this beer could stand to be cellared a little more."

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:cross:

That's why it's important not to let judges get to you (in any arena, not just homebrew). Anyone who's been judged repeatedly has had this feeling before... "wtf is he talking about? I did the opposite of that".

If it doesn't obviously taste/smell bad, if won't make you sick (other than the hangover you'll get if you drink to many, regardless of how old/young they are).

So drink it up, unless it's wretched, which it sounds like it's not, but you're being overly cautious if you haven't even had an entire beer, even though it tastes like Yuengling, sorta.

ascbrew said:

i tried a taste of the "Pilsner" and it seemed ok. It reminded me of Yeungling in taste. Nothing really bad, nothing to write home about. Maybe I should drink a full bottle?

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Absolutely! If it's enjoyable, drink it up. I certainly wouldn't toss it just to get at the bottles.

I recently drank a bottle of Nut Brown Ale that I brewed 8 years ago. It was my very first homebrew. It was still tasty and delicious with a hint cardboard on the finish. My buddy and I drank the whole bottle. I have another 8 year old bottle of braggot in the fridge. I think I'll wait till it hits 10 before drinking it.

Joe

I had a bottle of Budweiser that I kept in my fridge. It was a couple years old when I found it in an old moving box. I saved it in the fridge for a couple more years just in case my wife's ex-husband came by so I could offer him a beer.

Never got the chance though. She eventually threw it out.

Oh man that reminds me... I have a can of Michelob in the fridge that is at least 10 years old. My brother is a pilot and one day he was flying August Busch somewhere. He said it was really funny, everywhere they went they handed beers to anyone standing around. When they went to get on the plane August handed my brother a bunch of beers. He brought them home and we drank them all but I saved one as a "special" beer straight from the man himself. I guess I'll drink it someday.

Joe

I once drank a 9 year old Mackeson's Stout that was a display bottle at the bar I worked at....

It was really sweet and malty, with no carbonation. It almost tasted like thin malt extract with a hint of cardboard.

I drank a commercial, Goose Island IPA that was over 5 years old from our chicago trip that was in my parents fridge. We were BMC drinkers then, and we asked the liquor store for a good local brew. They recommended that. When we drank it 5 years ago, we thought it was vile crap, and each of us drank 1 out of six pack and saved 1. When I drank it a couple months ago, it was wonderful, it tasted really good. And I got another pop top bottle to add to the collection .

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I ran across this in the search and figured why start a new one....
I had the opportunity to get a case of beer for free off of Craigslist. Beer was about 12 years old and kept in the box in a basement (I think a gift for a boyfriend that didn't work out). Beer was being given away for bottles only. Anyway, I jumped on it and had to try them. There are some strong ales in there, and they have all tasted good, carbonation is spot on. I think the flavor is probably a bit past prime (akin to the "malty and cardboard" taste mentioned above) but not overpowering.

Some gay guy at work gave me two bottles of Stroh's that he found under his sink. The Expire date appeared to read 2005 (from the info that I could find online)

I had one last night and it was not terrible, but the hops were pretty hard to find, and the flavor was... "stale". Not sure how else to describe it. Just blah. I normally enjoy Stroh's, so it was a good comparison. The carb level was possibly slightly low, but not by much.

mysteryberto said:

I've seen a lot of these threads end with the OP not posting the results. I'm curious to how they taste.

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Maybe their dead.

I've got a couple of bottles of my first extrack HB's from the late 90's. They've been kicked around in moving boxes and stuff and have been in the bottom of my Lawyer's bar (wine rack) for the past three or so years. Keep thinking I should try them and then try to harvest the yeast out of them. No idea what I used back then. But it would be cool to use the same yeast as I started my homebrewing career on.

OK , this thread inspired me tonight!

I just opened a extract based dopple porter I brewed back in 1996, 14 years ago!

If I remember right, this porter was made by doubling up on a couple of canned kits, and adding either some DME or corn sugar.

The verdict:

Meh.... Very little carbonation, tastes thin, a bit like a sherry. No hop flavor at all. Should have drunk this several years ago.......

I had a year old can of MGD a while back. Tasted just like Bell's Two hearted Ale

Sorry, I kid.

We discovered 10 year old Budweiser while going through my aunt's estate. It had no flavor. Not that Bud has much flavor to begin with.

I too hate to revive an old thread but i just found a bottle of 1994 Sierra Nevada Celebration. I'm assuming it's past its prime but does anyone have any insight on the issue? I'm not very experienced with cellared beers and could use some advice. I will be drinking it, no doubt, but probably after I come back from a trip in a week when I can get some friends together to try it with me. Thanks!!

max2zero99 said:

I too hate to revive an old thread but i just found a bottle of 1994 Sierra Nevada Celebration. I'm assuming it's past its prime but does anyone have any insight on the issue? I'm not very experienced with cellared beers and could use some advice. I will be drinking it, no doubt, but probably after I come back from a trip in a week when I can get some friends together to try it with me. Thanks!!

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This sounds like an interesting bottle to try. A fresh bottle to compare would be nice.


An unrelated note: I have an unopened bottle on my shelf from Hampden-Harvard Brewery witch closed in 1975. I'm tempted to try it .

As a note, if you had any issues with your beer clearing....keep it for 5 or 10 years and it will be as a clear as can be!

If it's Pilsner, no problem to have it though being so old. Still offer to somebody, see the result and then decide.

thanks a lot! when i try it i'll post the results!

Stumbled across this thread while trying to figure out if I was about to poison myself last night. Thought I'd share the result. My father-in-law picked up a case of Heidelberg (Barrel Stubbies I think?) at an auction for $2. As far as we can tell they were from around 1975. Anyways, long story short. We tried them out and went back for seconds. They were surprisingly good and tasted like a caramel tinged trappist ale. I have no idea what they were supposed to taste like as they were a year older than me

Only side effect? Gas...

Be careful, Michale Jackson died from eating an 8 year old wiener

alpha_acid said:

Be careful, Michale Jackson died from eating an 8 year old wiener

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haha

alpha_acid said:

Be careful, Michale Jackson died from eating an 8 year old wiener

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Michael Jackson gloved one or the revered beer writer?

On this site, you have to be very careful about which Mr. Jackson you're referencing.

arcangel said:

Stumbled across this thread while trying to figure out if I was about to poison myself last night. Thought I'd share the result. My father-in-law picked up a case of Heidelberg (Barrel Stubbies I think?) at an auction for $2. As far as we can tell they were from around 1975. Anyways, long story short. We tried them out and went back for seconds. They were surprisingly good and tasted like a caramel tinged trappist ale. I have no idea what they were supposed to taste like as they were a year older than me

Only side effect? Gas...

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Is this the legendary Heidelberg Alt that used to be brewed in Tacoma, Washington State? I live in the South Puget Sound and used to drive by the old Heidelberg brewery all the time. I always wanted to try some of it, especially since it was an alt brewed back in the days of macrolagers.

JoePerri said:

Oh man that reminds me... I have a can of Michelob in the fridge that is at least 10 years old. My brother is a pilot and one day he was flying August Busch somewhere. He said it was really funny, everywhere they went they handed beers to anyone standing around. When they went to get on the plane August handed my brother a bunch of beers. He brought them home and we drank them all but I saved one as a "special" beer straight from the man himself. I guess I'll drink it someday.

Joe

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The devil gave you beer? Brimstone light-probably not 'cold filtered' enough for me.

This is a great thread. Here I am mulling over a bunch of old beers, and I feel a lot better about drinking them now. My story is my brother left a bunch of Busch Light at my vacation condo as a "thank you." I am sure he scored it at a wedding or something and it sat in his boat for a few months to a year. I let it sit in the back of the fridge for a year, avoiding it, until I bit the bullet and popped one open after running out of micro and being too blitzed to go pick up more.
It tasted fantastic- it was ice cold, (and still free). But the next morning I was really hungover. . .

Zombie!

But I also have found that Busch Light tends to hold up better over the years than Sam Adams, just based off anecdotal evidence from the back of the bottom shelf of my parents' fridge.

mysteryberto said:

I've seen a lot of these threads end with the OP not posting the results. I'm curious to how they taste.

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I am drinking on 19 year old beer from Japan and it tastes great... nothing bad about it sitll had nice fizzz so i threw it on ice and now enjoying it nice and cold.. got allot more.. taste allot stronger than it originally did when we first ever drank it.. still alive to talk about it.. lol

AdamGoetz2011 said:

I am drinking on 19 year old beer from Japan and it tastes great... nothing bad about it sitll had nice fizzz so i threw it on ice and now enjoying it nice and cold.. got allot more.. taste allot stronger than it originally did when we first ever drank it.. still alive to talk about it.. lol

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Man, 19 yrs? How do you remember?

I have not made beer in 15 years. I had gotten heavily into wine making. Recently I decide to jump back into beer again and while making my first run in 15 years my brother came over we got to talking about beer I had made in the past. We then noticed the dusty beer bottles sitting on my shelf that were 15 years old. He talked me into opening one. I expected major SKUNK, but was I ever surprised! This beer was still quite good!!!

Wow!

I got everyone beat on this necro thread..... We tried 48 year old beer today.