Pumpkin Ale Long Term Aging?

Hey All,

I brewed a Pumpkin Ale at the beginning of October (2011). It was racked in to secondary on November 2nd, then I managed to forget about it. Come January 15th (2012) I had to move, so early January I racked it in to a keg, purged with co2, and then applied a very light amount of pressure (<5). Since that move, it's been sitting in the unplugged kegerator while I brewed and built up supply.

Now that pumpkin season is WAY past, I was wondering if I could bottle it and hold on to it till this October / November? What would happen to the flavors?

Thanks for all of the help !

-MDF

Also, it looks like it should be around 7.5-8% ABV. From my understanding the higher the ABV the better it holds long term.

Any ideas? Sorry to bump, just don't want to waste it.

Just a generalization but additional flavors like pumpkin, spices, hops, tend to fade with aging. You can slow this by storing the beer at a cooler temperature. I would bet that if it does continue to age until the fall, even if the pumpkin does fade it will still be a very good beer.

Awesome! Thank you!

I have a batch in bottles from last fall and it's still tasting fine. I only have it left because it's not a style I particularly like not due to it going off. I think your brew should age okay.

The beer should be fine. I brew a pumpkin ale every year in the early summer, age it on oak for months and bottle it in the early fall. Granted, mine is fairly high octane (about 10% ABV), but I have bottles left from the past two years and it's still drinking fantastically. The two year old bottles even still have a hint of spice in them.