"Your patience will be rewarded"

2 or 3 years ago I was experimenting and brewed up a coffee chocolate stout. It was one of the first recipes I came up with by myself. I brewed it, bottled it, and tried it. Awful. The coffee was way overpowering and had a weird candy sweetness to it.

Let it sit a couple months.... awful.

Let it sit 6 months... awful. Got mad and shoved it in the corner.

Well, I was cleaning and found it. I had forgotten all about it. I was getting ready to pour it out, but tossed one in the fridge to try before, you know, just in case.

Turned out great, I just popped my third bottle.

It's amazing what time will do. The oatmeal stout I made a few months ago was bitter at first but really came to life after sitting in the keg for two months.
I have consumed 20 year old beer my dad made. I was surprised to find it really good. Don't know what it was and he couldn't remember. The bottle caps were starting to rust.
On another occasion I tried 5 year old beer and could still taste the eaters from a fermentation that was to hot.