Sneaky boston Lager bottle = 4 year old Imperial Stout, mmmm

So dinner is on the table and I am thirsty so I take a quick look at my beer fridge of commercial samples, quickly settle on a Sam Adams Boston Lager. Label looked intact, never guessed anything until I cracked it open and it poured BLACK AS NIGHT with a brown head! wtf....oh, YEAH! sneaky 4 year old imperial stout homebrew. Tasted great, it has kept quite well over the years. Not sure how the heck I cleaned the bottle properly without the label falling off (I usually submerge all my bottles).

4 years? Wow. I can only hope some of my RIS makes it half as long.

was it better?

Was it better than the boston lager? Yes!

Kidding aside, I think that beer had the most improvement during the first and/or second year. It might have gotten a little smoother in the last 2 years but I can't say its gone downhill at all. I can only wonder how good it would be if I had known about proper pitching rates and everything I learned from hbt since then. Early on I had some gushers but I think they went away with age (this wasn't something I opened frequently).

Bottle some (or all) in 12oz bottles and stash some in random boxes or cabinets in the basement! Lucky for me I'm usually too lazy to get beer from the basement let alone remember to chill it before I want it, so the bottles hung around a long time. I think I still have a couple left.