Beer Styles that Cellar/Age well

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permo

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I am currently in a phase where I am brewing up many beers to age and cellar..so I can enjoy them in the coming months/years and give them as gifts. I am wondering what styles are suited well towards aging? I currently have the following either brewed or on to do list.

Barley Wine/Old Ale
Strong Scotch Ale
Belgian Strong Ale
Belgian Double
Belgian Triple



I was wondering about the following styles and their cellaring characteristics in particular..but I would love to know about others that age well.

1. Imperial Stout
2. Imperial India Pale Ale
 
Everything you listed there is great. Except for the Imperial IPA. Its typically recommended not to age IPAs for too long as the hop aroma and flavor will fade. I'd be less inclined to age a Tripel also

As a rule of thumb, any high alcohol beer will age well.
 
I am thining of doing somethin that is really become almost cliche now in brewing, but imperializing a recipe. Imperial Fat Tire

Taking a good fat tire clone and just really ramping it up...and then using trappist yeast.
 
Imperial stout's age well.

I have one I brewed that is a little over 3 years old, so far it just keeps getting better with age. One surprising thing is how much the hops mellowed, I went crazy with the hops (100+ ibu's) but you can barely taste them now.
 
Imperial stout's age well.

I have one I brewed that is a little over 3 years old, so far it just keeps getting better with age. One surprising thing is how much the hops mellowed, I went crazy with the hops (100+ ibu's) but you can barely taste them now.



This is making me wonder if the late hope additions for aroma are a waste in these beers meant for cellaring?
 
This is making me wonder if the late hope additions for aroma are a waste in these beers meant for cellaring?

Tough call. I really like tasting how the beer changes over time, maybe brew one batch with and one without and see how they stack up against each other in 6mo-1yr?
 
Cellaring beer to some degree is a waste with the exception of a few specific styles. The extent to which beers are "cellared" is way over blown, and most craft beer guys who are way into cellaring do it more out of the collectors mentality than someone actually putting down beer so it gets better. Almost EVERY style is better freshish.

Anything where you want hops to play an active role in the flavor should be drank ASAP.

Beers with high ABV do need some time to mellow, but when people speak of cellaring most often they are talking multiple years.

Big black roasty styles CAN cellar, but anytime after a year or 2 they will likely start going downhill, quickly. This is especially true of beers with coffee, coffee flavor fades relatively quickly and leaves you a vegetal woodiness that I cannot describe as appealing.


The absolute best beers to cellar where age can actually improve the beer are Lambics(tradional, not pasteurized, not back-sweetened), especially straight gueuze and unblended lambic. A decade plus is not uncommon, and can definitely benefit these beers

Lambics with fruit will change overtime but perhaps not for the better. Fruit like coffee fades over time, somewhat precipitously, so the extent that you want to age fruited lambics depends on how much or little fruit flavor you want.

Other good choices would be brett beers, brett is a great antioxidant and changes the flavor of beer greatly overtime, especially bottled and under pressure. Which is the main driving force behind why lambics age well.

Brett Saisons, brett beers, and Orval all fit into this camp. The caveat being that the extent that you want hop flavor to play a role, the faster they need to be drunk.


As for the Belgian standards they all age OK, quads are definitely your best bet for actual cellaring beyond orval.

Eisbocks would are also a good, but they more resemble a spirit than beer.


Bottom line, if it has Brett in it, then it's a good candidate. Once the flavors in other big beers mellow and blend(6-18 months) generally they will be going downhill quickly.


Do not buy into all they "hype" about cellaring, it's mostly beer geeks that want to have visual evidence of their beer awesomeness to take pics and post on the net/brag about to their friends. Many of the beers they have been "cellaring" and unwilling to open will be drank far past their prime....not so beer geeky or awesome.
 
I have to disagree with Xpert a little on the hipster aspect of aging/collecting. I love how barleywines change over the years. Even as they get oxidized around year 5-7, they get this woody/sherry note that is amazing to me.

He is right though, yeast-based styles tend to evolve the most. And while its safer to age at higher ABV, its just a guideline. I've had several Goose Island beers (Matilda, Sophie) that are mid-ABV and very complex after three years. Entirely different from a fresh one.
 

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