Help With Aging

Just a helpful question for me and possibly a few others, what beer styles are NOT ok for storing? I was still in my lurking only stage when I saw on here someone say they had a six month old beer (idk which one or style) and about five of ya'll jumped on and told him it was way past it's prime. I also know that a lot of beers get better with a little age. I feel the list of beer styles that should not be stored for longer than six months would be small.

The general rule is beers with more alcohol tend to age better, as do beers with darker or more complex grists. I say more complex because beers like tripel have extremely simple grists but are very high in alcohol- tripels are best fresh because there's not much that's going to develop from just pils malt and sugar, and you'll slowly lose your yeast aromatics. So, barleywine? Good to go. RIS? Definitely. Robust porter? Sure. Cream ale? No. Witbier or hef? Definitely not.

Thanks daksin for the input. The cream ale and hefe I knew not to age. I also Know to store beer at the proper temp.
To give a better idea of what I'm asking; I am currently setting up a cellar and do not wish to cellar any beer that will be bad within six months-one year. I drink regularly so it is not a problem to dispose of beers that have potential of exceeding their prime. I brought the topic up because IPAs were created to withstand long voyages to India, yet I see people claiming certain IPAs are past their prime within just a few short months. I am just trying to sift through the Bu11$h1+ and what the facts of storage (a very debated topic from what I can find) are.

Hop aroma and spices seem to be gone fairly soon. Beers that feature those should be drunk within a couple months.

NormPeterson said:

I brought the topic up because IPAs were created to withstand long voyages to India, yet I see people claiming certain IPAs are past their prime within just a few short months.

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I think the key to IPA's and extended aging is just that, past "prime". Today we brew IPA's for the intense hop flavor and aroma's mostly. The intensity of these hop characteristics does fade with time. So, an IPA is "prime" when these traits are present and "past prime" when they have faded from maximum potential.

You can still enjoy a good super hopped IPA after ~1 year of proper aging but it probably wont be as hoppy as originally intended.

Nagorg said:

I think the key to IPA's and extended aging is just that, past "prime". Today we brew IPA's for the intense hop flavor and aroma's mostly. The intensity of these hop characteristics does fade with time. So, an IPA is "prime" when these traits are present and "past prime" when they have faded from maximum potential.

You can still enjoy a good super hopped IPA after ~1 year of proper aging but it probably wont be as hoppy as originally intended.

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I have personal experience with this one.

Brewed a 1.068OG 70IBU IPA that had no dry hoping (omg!) but had a hefty amount of flavor and aroma hops (20IBUs worth @ 15minutes or less). This was all bottled on 6/09.

The first bottle I cracked open (two weeks later) was amazingly aromatic but seemed to lack flavor and wasn't balanced well. At three weeks from bottling the aroma was still quite pungent and had a bit more flavor. It was still obviously leaning towards a hoppy nose and not a lot of flavor. Then just a few days ago I crack another one open, wow! The aroma is still present but has mellowed out greatly since the first try. The flavors have seemed to meld into the beer and it tastes extremely balanced now. There is a firm bitterness at first which mellows out to a nice flavor of earth and spice. The aroma is a little citrusy and earthy, with only hints of spice.

I'd say that that beer is currently in its prime, but I know that the aroma will begin to decrease exponentially as time wanes on. This is definitely a time sensitive beer whose flavors and aromas are changing quickly.

This is different though with my 11% 119ibu IIPA. As time has gone on, it has improved with age. It has lost some of that "hot" alcohol flavor and has given way to a more malty backbone that helps to prop up the hefty hop bill.

More malt driven beers age well. Hops and spices do fade quickly.

Trappists, bocks, and the like seem to age wonderfully, in my experience.

Cyclman said:

More malt driven beers age well. Hops and spices do fade quickly.

Trappists, bocks, and the like seem to age wonderfully, in my experience.

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That is a really good observation to make!

I will keep the trappists and bocks in mind when cellaring.