I do small batches (25-32 bottles per batch) and I've started to let them sit for two months before even trying that first one. Even IPAs which are supposed to be consumed "fresh.' Stouts get even longer.
When they hit the two month mark, they are awesome - wonderful flavor, crystal clear, big fluffy head that lasts and lasts, etc. Every time I try a two month old beer, if I drank half or 3/4 of the batch before it hit its prime, it's such a disappointment because it feels like I wasted all that beer by drinking it before it was ready.
Edit: The batch that really got me was my Pliny clone, made from the "official" recipe. I started drinking it at about 3-4 weeks in the bottles. Over the course of the next couple weeks and months, the flavor changed SO much. By about 3 months in the bottles, it was a completely different beer. Right around the time I had only 2 or 3 left, I got some real Pliny for the first time. Had to try the real thing and mine side by side. The aged Pliny, which was so different from what it was after one month in the bottles, was spot-on identical to the real thing. And that's when I had that Eureka! moment that beers do well with a couple months of aging. Cheers!