Shelf life of bottled homebrew?

I did the obligatory searches, but I didn't find much about this topic.

Anyway, I recently cracked open a bottle of my light lager that I brewed back in late Nov. 2009, and lagered until about a year ago, then bottled. It was about 1.050 OG, and about 20 IBU.

It had this weird tang, and lack of malt flavor to it that I didn't expect.

I guess what I'm trying to determine is whether it's just what year-old beer would taste like, or if I had some kind of sanitation breakdown that took a long time to manifest itself.

Depends on the style and how well your sanitation is, a hefewiezen maybe a couple months, a big barleywine or stout can last years if you were strict with your sanitation

I know that flavor: oxidation. A lot of people call it papery/cardboard, I tend to smell/taste apple peels, and that thin mouthfeel are all hallmarks of old beer, especially in a light lager without a lot other strong flavors to cover up the oxidation.

I made an imperial black IPA about a year ago that was really good. Saved a couple bottles to see if it would turn into a sort of barleywine after a year. Tastes like soy sauce now.

JollyIsTheRoger said:

Depends on the style and how well your sanitation is, a hefewiezen maybe a couple moths, a big barleywine or stout can last years if you were strict with your sanitation

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Yep, a light lager won't last years, but my Chimay Blue clone or my Honey Ale I'm still sampling after a year and a half. Of course being able to hide beers from yourself helps. (I also hide my own Easter Eggs....)

I think you need to break aging beer into two different categories: Under 8% ABV and over 8% ABV.

Under 8%: These beers will be better with less age. Obviously a 3.7% ABV mild will be best drank very young, and a 7.5% Stout will be best after a good number of months, but when speaking in generalities, these beers will be at their peak flavor during the first year. Oxidation isn't a HUGE enemy, but is still something to be careful of.

Over 8%: These beers age very well, and will actually taste better with a year or more of age on them. The fusel-type alcohol flavors will fade, any strong roasty, oaky, or caramel flavors will meld. Unfortuntely hops flavors will also fade with time, but that's to be expected. Oxidation is much more of an enemy in a big beer due to the time it will be aged. Oxycaps come in handy here.

Overall, beer will last a long time before it goes 'bad'. But it definitely depends on the specific beer for determining when the beer will be at it's 'best'

BYO did a good test of different storage temps and how it affects beer storage. I think it was the March/April issue. That will certainly affect how long it lasts. ie. refigeration keeps the beer a lot longer.

Also something I forgot is the more IBUs the longer it will last (insert entire history of IPAs here)

Ditto the style of beer. It just depends on the type of beer you bottle. I make a Porter that seems to hit its' peak at 8 months (smooth -no, SMOOOOOTH at that point) -but light ales and lagers won't get more than a couple of months tops as far as I'm concerned. As others have said, however, sanitation plays a big role in beer longevity (grin).
Some beers are best consumed as soon as they are carbonated. Others not so much.

scottland said:

I think you need to break aging beer into two different categories: Under 8% ABV and over 8% ABV.

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I agree...this is my general cut off as to when I even consider trying to age a beer beyond a few months.... I think anything over 8% can be kept for at least 2 years and will mature appropriately, and overall, as you go higher in ABV, you can expect even longer time frames.

The hoppiness...yes it fades, but it's kind of cool to taste a DIPA turn into a fine barleywine...

I have a few of DFH's 18% beers that I'm planning on keeping for a long, long time before breaking them out...