Aged Beers - Tell me your collection

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

beerjunky828

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
466
Reaction score
2
Location
Raleigh, NC
I had an DFH Olde School Barleywine aged 1 year at Christmas. This made me want to stock up on some beers and age them for at least a year. My list as of now includes:

DFH Olde School Barleywine
DFH Burton Baton
Brooklyn Black Choco. Stout
Old Rasputin
Terrapin Wake N Bake
Bells Hell Hath no Fury
The Bruery Autumn Maple
Founders Backwood Bastard
Founders Nemesis 2010
Sweetwater Festive Ale 2010
[Edit]
Flying Dog Imperial Porter
Duck Rabbit Barleywine

I have 2 or more of all of these and am looking to acquiring many more. While I do not have a cellar for optimal aging, they are tucked away in a closet. Generally, I have one now and then will sit the rest back and wait.

Anybody have an extensive list of beers they are aging? Ever drank a beer that has been aged for multiple years? One of the best beers I have ever had was Avery Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest aged 2 years. It was like a liquid lollipop.

:mug:
 
I haven't done much with aging lately.

Last fall I did finish off my last 2008 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine. Pretty good after a year and a half. I have also had a two or three year old barleywine at a bar once, pretty damn good.
 
Just started collecting things in the cellar, so nothing is very old. I won't save all of these long term, but I'm sure most will last a year or two. Here is what I've got:

Avery - Kaiser
Boulevard - Rye on Rye
Brooklyn - Black Chocolate Stout
Chimay - Grande Reserve (blue)
Deschutes - Dissident; Mirror Mirror
Dogfish - Theobroma
Goose Island - Bourbon County Stout; Bourbon County Coffee Stout; Matilda; Pere Jaques
Great Divide - Yeti; Espresso Yeti
Lost Abbey - Red Barn
Odell - Deconstruction
Stone - 10-10-10
 
Let's see what I got in the old aging closet.

Dogfish Head: Burton Baton, Worldwide Stout
Sam Adams: Imperial Stout, Imperial White, Imperial Double Bock
New Holland: Dragon's Milk
Sierra Nevada: Bigfoot
Flying Dog: Gonzo
Anchor: Christmas Ale
Harpoon: Leviathan Barleywine
New Glarus: Abt
Goose Island: Christmas Ale
Great Divide: Old Ruffian
Boulder Brewing: Killer Penguin

Most of these brews are already a few years old.
 
A peek into my closet reveals
1- 2010 3 philosophers
2- 2007 chocolate indulgence
2- FW 14
2- 2010 abyss
2- 2009 fullers vintage
1-2010 fullers vintage
1- rochefort 10
1-chimay blue
1- Sierra nevada 30th black barleywine
1-Sam Adams infinium (had some fresh and wanna see how well it ages past the best by date of April. Thinking of putting at least a year on it.
I just started collecting in decemberish
 
I just went to Total Wine and bought another Bruery Maple Autumn for $3.99. I thought what a friggin' steal!!
 
The Burton Baton declines with age, IMO; the fresher, the better (hops in general suffer from aging). DH Immort Ale becomes magical with a couple of years on it (I'm not a fan at all until it's aged).

Stone Double Bastard ages into a nice barleywine-ish thing with a couple of years.

Pretty much all RISes and sours age well for at least a couple of years, often longer.

Brett beers age weirdly; Orval will go through ups and downs and is one of my favorites to age.

Really long-term aging is a crapshoot; I recently cracked a 1999 Alesmith Grand Cru that held up marvelously, and a 1999 George Gale Prize Old Ale that was far enough past its prime to be dumped out after a few sips.
 
I've been collecting since my 21st, so I only have a bit of a collection.

New Holland Dragon's Milk
Rogue Double Mocha Porter
Founder's KBS and 2009 Nemesis
Lagunitas WTF
Dogfish Punkin' and 2007 Olde School
Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

Need to up my collection to compete!
 
So, I'm curious. Is it necessary for a beer to have high ABV in order to age it beyond one year? I have never brewed a beer higher than 8%, personally, so I have never thought it necessary to age anything beyond a month or two.

Some things I've considered are the loss of Hop aroma due to extensive aging. Also, my Pale Ginger Ale seemed to lose it's ginger bite after about 3 months, so I drank them all up.

What are some of the benefits to aging a beer? Personally, I can never remember how a beer tasted months ago when I pop an old one. Sure, they taste good, but my taste memory isn't good enough to say "this is much better now".

Let me put it more simply. WHY do YOU age your beer? What effects have YOU noticed from aging? Do YOU notice any changes in a lower gravity beer (less than 6%abv)?

Thanks for letting me interrogate everyone :)

Marz
 
celebrator is incredible with a year or so in the fridge.

I have a 12oz of Goose Island Sofie and Matilda, i'm gonna build up a few years worth and do a tasting.

other than that, i have SN 2010 celebration, 2011 bigfoot, and 30th black barleywine.
 
So, I'm curious. Is it necessary for a beer to have high ABV in order to age it beyond one year? I have never brewed a beer higher than 8%, personally, so I have never thought it necessary to age anything beyond a month or two.

Some things I've considered are the loss of Hop aroma due to extensive aging. Also, my Pale Ginger Ale seemed to lose it's ginger bite after about 3 months, so I drank them all up.

What are some of the benefits to aging a beer? Personally, I can never remember how a beer tasted months ago when I pop an old one. Sure, they taste good, but my taste memory isn't good enough to say "this is much better now".

Let me put it more simply. WHY do YOU age your beer? What effects have YOU noticed from aging? Do YOU notice any changes in a lower gravity beer (less than 6%abv)?

Thanks for letting me interrogate everyone :)

Marz

There aren't any absolute rules. Some guidelines:

Lots of sours and bretts are under 7% ABV and age very well indeed. Aging kills hops, as you note; a fresh Ballast Point Sculpin is among my favorite beers, but after a couple of months it's pretty meh.

Aging helps take the edge off of various additions and blend/mellow them; lots of spiced beers (e.g. pumpkin/christmas ales) benefit from this.

It also seems to mellow the rocket-fuel tendency of big beers--RISes and barleywines taste less boozy given time.

Oaked beers often lose some of the more pungent, puckering character, leaving only the smoother oak tones.

Sours get more sour, which is great to a point but at some point can become overpowering.

Syrupy-sweet beers can often have some of that character fade over time, leaving the malt notes without the cloying sweetness.

Brett beers change in (to me) totally unpredictable ways, they'll sometimes be great at 6 months, terrible at 12 months, and great again at 18 months (but different from how they were at 6).
 
Let's see what I got in the old aging closet.

Dogfish Head: Burton Baton, Worldwide Stout
Sam Adams: Imperial Stout, Imperial White, Imperial Double Bock
New Holland: Dragon's Milk
Sierra Nevada: Bigfoot
Flying Dog: Gonzo
Anchor: Christmas Ale
Harpoon: Leviathan Barleywine
New Glarus: Abt
Goose Island: Christmas Ale
Great Divide: Old Ruffian
Boulder Brewing: Killer Penguin

Most of these brews are already a few years old.

What year is the Killer Penguin? I have some 05's that I am drinking up now that are almost over the hill....the 07's are perfect...

others I have are assorted barleywines and Ska's Dementia
 
Nothing really old.

But I did find out recently that my dad has one bottle of an IPA I made in October 2006 tucked in the back corner of his beer fridge.
 
Off the top of my head:
New Glarus Golden Ale (12 bottles 2009)
Jolly Pumpkin Noel De Calabacitas (3 bottles 2009)
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine (18 bottles 2010)
Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Stout
Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Imperial Helles
Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Barleywine
Anchor Brewery Christmas Ale 2010 (4 bottles, only reason I'm holding onto them is cause they taste horrible to me right now and I hope they get better with age)
Avery Seventeen (dry hopped Schwarzbier, I probably won't hang onto this too long)
Ommegang Ommegeddon
Lindeman's Cuvee Rene (the champagne size bottle)
Russian River Temptation
Brasserie D'Achouffe N'iche Chouffe 2008
 
18 bottles of 2010 bigfoot? good lord

avery seventeen sounds awesome....i wish we got more avery love here in WIS.
 
18 bottles of 2010 bigfoot? good lord

avery seventeen sounds awesome....i wish we got more avery love here in WIS.

It was a case of bigfoot to begin with.

I'd be willing to trade you Avery for New Glarus LOL, maybe not though. Avery is starting to get into the sour craze, and I love the sours.
 
Anybody have commentary on aged DFH Raison D'Extra? My wife came across a bottle of '07 vintage and gifted it as part of a box'o'beer on Christmas. Will it benefit from further aging, or is it as good as it'll be by now?
 
I had it 2 years ago and it had already lost its carbonation. I thought it was boozy. Some time would have served it well. But now that it has been 3+ years, it is anyone's guess. 3+ years is a long time.
 
The Burton Baton declines with age, IMO; the fresher, the better (hops in general suffer from aging). DH Immort Ale becomes magical with a couple of years on it (I'm not a fan at all until it's aged).

Stone Double Bastard ages into a nice barleywine-ish thing with a couple of years.

Pretty much all RISes and sours age well for at least a couple of years, often longer.

Brett beers age weirdly; Orval will go through ups and downs and is one of my favorites to age.

Really long-term aging is a crapshoot; I recently cracked a 1999 Alesmith Grand Cru that held up marvelously, and a 1999 George Gale Prize Old Ale that was far enough past its prime to be dumped out after a few sips.

The bottle says it ages with the best of them. I would guess the wood flavor would come out more. But yeah all hoppy beer are better fresh and young. When I went to TW and bought that Bruery beer, I saw some Oskar Blues Gubna. I thought DAMN, I haven't had that in about 5 months. Then, I checked the bottom of the can and it had said it was canned Sept 29th. I was disappointed because that beer is good. But the fresher, the better. And for the most part I believe that very long term aging is kind of hit or miss pending on the storage of the product. 10 years in opening a beer is a LONG time. I am aiming more for a year or 2. Mostly stouts and barley wines. What was wrong with the Old Ale? Sour. I would think that it would age up nicely. I would love to sample some 4, 5, 7 year old beers.
 
Real Ale Brewing Sisyphus - 2008
Real Ale Brewing Sisyphus - 2009
St. Bernardus Christmas Ale - 2009
DFH Palo Santo - 2009
DFH 120 Minute - 2007
DFH 120 Minute - 2008
St. Arnold D.R. 9 - 2009
St. Arnold D.R. 10 - 2010
 
I've got the following:
'08,'09,'10 BLVD BBQ
'08 BLVD Saison-Brett
'08 BLVD Imp. Stout
'10 BLVD Rye-on-Rye
'09 Mephestophlies
'07 Sprecher BW
3x '10 Bigfoot
'10 Nemesis
...just to name a few.
 
The bottle says it ages with the best of them. I would guess the wood flavor would come out more. But yeah all hoppy beer are better fresh and young. When I went to TW and bought that Bruery beer, I saw some Oskar Blues Gubna. I thought DAMN, I haven't had that in about 5 months. Then, I checked the bottom of the can and it had said it was canned Sept 29th. I was disappointed because that beer is good. But the fresher, the better. And for the most part I believe that very long term aging is kind of hit or miss pending on the storage of the product. 10 years in opening a beer is a LONG time. I am aiming more for a year or 2. Mostly stouts and barley wines. What was wrong with the Old Ale? Sour. I would think that it would age up nicely. I would love to sample some 4, 5, 7 year old beers.

The old ale was oxidized beyond belief. I'd be totally unsurprised if another bottle sitting next to it for 10 years aged beautifully; that's part of the point---there are a lot of brews that I'm pretty confident will age well for 2-5 years, but when you get older than that it's really a crapshoot.

Burton Baton says it'll age well, but to me the best part about that beer is the hops in concert with the oak and malt; even a 3 month old one isn't nearly as good as a fresh one. YMMV, but if you like the hop side of it that's decaying quickly after bottling. The oak will mellow and the malt will smooth out--for some people that'll make a nice beer, but for me the thing that separates BB from other oaked malt-bombs is the hops, and the longer you age it the more generic it'll get.
 
This is a really good website on aging. Unfortunately the guy just stopped updating it out of the blue, don't know if something happened to him or not. Lots of data, sources, etc... on aging.

http://www.brewbasement.com/
 
I'm just starting my "cellar". So far this year I've picked up..

6 - Sierra Bigfoot 2011
1 - Brooklyn Black Ops
1 - Rock Art Vermonster
1 - Troegs Flying Mouflon


I had a Delerium Noel in my fridge for like 4 years that I just popped a few months ago and I was disappointed. It sat undisturbed forever, but poured like I disturbed the yeast cake of the century... it poured almost chunky.. Yeast like you wouldn't believe was floating in this pint. I poured it into a growler and set it back in the fridge in case this turns out to be a good thing and I can actually harvest this stuff. I'm not at the harvesting yeast stage in my homebrew career yet, but I didn't wanna kick myself for pouring it.
 
sam adams millenium 1 bottle 11 years
sam adams utopias 1 bottle aged 5 years

chimay blue label 10 years
oops we drank the chimay for my bday in 2010 it was fantastic
 
I age beers because it teaches me discipline, and because I really believe that any beer bigger than 8-9% will change for the better...if not better, at the very least different. People can talk about how hoppy beers are best young, but "best" is definitely subjective...I'd contend that it's again "different" and well, pretty damn good still. Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster will definitely be the Big Malty Monster after a couple years, but it's smooth and wonderful and like a fine barleywine...same goes for Hercules IPA (Great Divide -- I have a couple bottles from 2005 that I randomly stumbled on at a store about 2 years ago) and Bell's Hopslam.

All of Terrapin's seasonals age well (I'm really excited about aging their newest one Gamma Ray -- 11% "wheatwine" with honey -- awesome!) I also tend to keep at least 2 of any pack of imperial stout or barleywine that I acquire, as well as any special holiday brews (such as Mad Elf), and will age for at least 2-3 years before even thinking about opening.

I age a number of the DFH beers...have a number of years' worth of Palo Santo and Midas Touch, as well as some of the other ancient brews (Theobroma and Chatau Jihau). Some of the real chestnuts are Raison D'Extra ('06 and '07) and 120 Min ('08), which I plan on keeping for at least a few more years, and then there are the bottles of Worldwide Stout from my kids' birth years...those will be kept until they're 21 y/o...they're 2 and 4 now. All of these beers are 18%, and I have no concerns that they will hold up just fine.
 
riverfrontbrewer, I haven't been in my stash for a while now and unfortunately I don't have access to it at the moment. But I think that my Killer Penguin is a 2008 or 2009 vintage. I'm not sure when I'll crack it open but thanks for giving me something to look forward to!
 
My "cellar" took a beating this winter.

I'm down to:

1 ea of Deschutes Abyss 2008, 2009, 2010
1 DFH/SN Life and Limb
2 Brooklyn Black Chocolate 2009
2 Brooklyn Black Chocolate 2010
A few homebrewed old ales and stouts
 
2003 - Norwegian Barley Wine
2005 - Bigfoot
2007 - World Wide Stout
2008 - Bigfoot
2009 - Olde School
2010 - Bigfoot
2010 - Olde School
2011 - Bigfoot
2011 - SN 30th Grand Cru
2011 - SN 30th Imperial Hellesbock

a few others I can't remember. Most of these I have multiples of.
 
My oldest are a few 2006 bigfoots, double bastard, and lost coast old stock ale.
I also have a 6er of 2009 Sierra Nevada celebration - aged about a year is pretty good.
 
I keep an eye on bottling dates and grab a few Victory corked bottles a year. I have a few bottles of Golden Monkey, V-12, Saison, from each year, back to 2008 I think now. I drink them when they are 3 years old, been doing it since 2001.

I don't like Golden Monkey much any more when it's fresh, damn after 1 year it's good... if you can wait 4-5, real good :)
 
2010 Sierra Nevada Celebration
2011 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
2010 Sierra Nevada 30th Black Barleywine
2010 Sierra Nevada 30th Imperial Helles
2010 Goose Island Matilda
2010 Goose Island Sofie
2011 Goose Island Pepe Nero
2010 Anchor Small Beer
2011 Anchor Olde Foghorn
2010 Stone Brewing Old Guardian
2010 Avery Hog Heaven
2010 Victory V-12
2010 Brauerei Aying Celebrator
2010 Brouweriji Van Hosenbrouck Kasteel Triple
2010 Brouweriji Huyghe Delirium Noel
2010 Brasserie Dupont Moinette
2009 Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA
2010 La Binchoise Reserve Special
2010 Weihenstephaner Korbinian
2011 Lakefront IBA
 
I have the following:

Two 4pks (11.2 oz) of St. Bernardus Abt 12, bought them in August 2008
2 bombers of He'Brew Jewbelation 13, bought in November 2009
1 750ml of Victory V12, bought in November 2009
5 bottles of Founder's Breakfast Stout and 1 bottle of KBS, from sometime last year

That's most of the stuff that I'm intentionality holding on to.
 
I have currently just begun aging in secondary a Peach Wheat Honey Ale. I plan on aging it 8 months. I am going to get it out of the fermentation chamber just in time to enter it in the 2011 Dixie Cup!

It is fermenting on 6 lbs. of peach puree. It had an og of 1.075 and a fg of 1.016. 7.8% ABV!
 
Anchor Brewery Christmas Ale 2010 (4 bottles, only reason I'm holding onto them is cause they taste horrible to me right now and I hope they get better with age)

When I first tasted Anchor Christmas, I thought it was the worst beer I had ever tried (I think it was the 2008). But I still tried to age the other five bottles in the six pack.

Two years later, I cracked open one of the bottles, and it was delicious.
 
I have a somewhat large cellar, here are the standouts:

2007 Darklord
2010 Hunahpu
2009 Golden Delicious
2009 Nor' Easter
2009 Portsmouth Barleywine
Batch 1 Smoke from the Oak - Apple Brandy Barrel
2009 Black Ops
2008 Black Chocolate Stout
2005 Schmuker Doppelbock
2004-2008 (or whatever the last year it was made) Thomas Hardy
 
2009 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
2010 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
2010 Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Jack & Ken's Ale Black Barleywine
2009 Avery Hog Heaven Barleywine
2009 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine
2010 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine
2008 Mad River John Barleycorn Barleywine
2010 Fish Brewing Ten Squared Barleywine
2008 Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine
2009 Victory Old Horizontal
2009 Deschutes Mirror Mirror Barleywine
2007 Deschutes The Abyss Imperial Stout
2008 Deschutes The Abyss Imperial Stout
2009 Deschutes The Abyss Imperial Stout
2010 Deschutes The Abyss Imperial Stout
2009 Deschutes Black Butte XXI Imperial Porter
2010 Deschutes Jubel 2010
2009 Deschutes Jubelale
2010 Deschutes Jubelale
2010 Lagunitas Olde Gnarleywine Barleywine
2008 North Coast Old Stock Ale
2009 Great Divide Old Ruffian Barleywine
2008 Full Sail Old Boardhead Barleywine
2009 Full Sail Old Boardhead Barleywine
2010 Full Sail Old Boardhead Barleywine
2009 Green Flash Barleywine
2009 Beer Valley Highway to Ale Barleywine
2008 Alaskan Barleywine
2009 Uinta Anniversary Barley Wine
2009 Moylans Old Blarney Barleywine
2010 Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine
2009 Dick's Barleywine
2010 Shipyard Barleywine
 
Back
Top