Aging Beer: A Catch-All for Cellar Questions

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finsfan

finsfan

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I frequently have questions or see other with questions on how long to let a commercial beer age. Either due to never having the beer at all or never having it at certain "ages". My hope is that this thread can eliminate congesting other threads with off topic questions and instead have one collective thread to ask these questions. This is the place to ask any questions about aging/cellaring commercial beers.

I will start. I have two beers from Pipeworks that I am not sure if I should drink now or keep them in the cellar for next fall/winter.

Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here &
End of days

Any advice is welcome, thanks! :mug:


EDIT: As requested, here is a list of beers that have been opionated for already. If you dont agree, speak up :)

Hey, Careful man, there's a beverage here: Drink sooner then later, not sure how the coffee/vanilla will hold up
Victory Storm King: 2.5 years
Troegs Mad Elf: 3 Years
The Abyss: I have heard from OR residents that 3-5 years is when it hits it "peak"
Dark Lord 4-5 years
 
Ive always been of the belief to have one fresh then age one or more if at all possible. If you dont know what the flavor difference is and how it changes over time it takes a big part of the purpose away imo.
 
Fuzzymittenbrewing said:
Ive always been of the belief to have one fresh then age one if at all possible. If you dont know what the flavor difference is and how it changes over time it takes a big part of the purpose away imo.
Click to expand...

That's a great point, and I wish I had multiples of these beers in order to do that. But unfortunately I dont, so I would like to enjoy the beer closest to its "peak" as possible. I know that we will all have a somewhat different opinion on when the peak of a beer is, but its nice to get advice from others who frequently have that beer.
 
[ QUOTE=Fuzzymittenbrewing;5992462]Ive always been of the belief to have one fresh then age one or more if at all possible. If you dont know what the flavor difference is and how it changes over time it takes a big part of the purpose away imo.[/QUOTE]


Agree with this, but am sometimes uncertain how long to age that second bottle.

Finsfan, can't help you with your particular bottles, but hopefully I can chime in somewhere.
 
I'm interested to see this, I have a lot of questions of the sort.

But to try to help- based on what I've read, I would drink them now. I would age them for less than one year, to point where it was seasonable to drink. I don't think waiting until next winter is best.

I haven't had either of those beers, but I'm lead to believe added flavours like chocolate and coffee don't gain anything from aging.
 
I'd love to hear from anyone cellaring and drinking Dark Lord on what they think. From what I've had, they definitely seem to improve with a year of cellaring, past that it doesn't seem like they've changed too much, but it's probably been too long since I've sampled.

Anecdotal evidence from a friend says that the Baller Stout is peaking and should probably be enjoyed soon.

I'm not sure Utopias will change much, if any, with cellaring. Anyone have any thoughts there?
 
Thanks for the input. I hadnt seen anyone drinking the Hey, careful man right now but I will throw it in the fridge for sometime in the future.
 
I love cellar'n brews. I have 5 years of Sieara Navada Big Foot. A flight tasting of it show's the drop of hop flavor and the even roundness that come at 4-5 years.
As for the beers you have I don't know but if it is a RIS, Barrel aged,or Barley wine most can go 4-5 years easy.

You can also check out Cellar Pictures thread in the Photo forum for ? Or show off you stach
 
TallDan said:
I'd love to hear from anyone cellaring and drinking Dark Lord on what they think.
Click to expand...


I just drank '09, '11, and '13. The three of us sharing them agreed 2009 was the best, but I think that one had a slightly lower ABV (13 vs 15%?). But the '11 was a little better than the '13 only bc the '13 was still a bit hot.
 
Ryan, maybe you could occasionally edit the first post to list beers that people have experience with and list their "peak" ages. For example, Victory Storm King is a favorite of mine and I like it best right around 2.5 years. And Mad Elf at three years.
 
wobrien said:
Ryan, maybe you could occasionally edit the first post to list beers that people have experience with and list their "peak" ages. For example, Victory Storm King is a favorite of mine and I like it best right around 2.5 years. And Mad Elf at three years.
Click to expand...

Certainly! I was considering this too but wasnt sure if it would be useful.
 
Also I wanted to share some totally non-credible second hand information I got, but ultimately yields a good point.

I heard someone who had recently done a vertical of a very popular, high abv stout, and the bottles more than two or three years old were like soy sauce, and ultimately drain pours.

While I challenge that they were really so bad that they had to be poured down the drain, it did make me realize something. Some of us spend a lot of money and time collecting these beers, and it would be terrible to have some of them go to waste. Hopefully this thread allows us all to enjoy these beers at the right time, but it seems like there's a real risk to waiting too long.
 
ivegot2legs said:
Also I wanted to share some totally non-credible second hand information I got, but ultimately yields a good point.

I heard someone who had recently done a vertical of a very popular, high abv stout, and the bottles more than two or three years old were like soy sauce, and ultimately drain pours.

While I challenge that they were really so bad that they had to be poured down the drain, it did make me realize something. Some of us spend a lot of money and time collecting these beers, and it would be terrible to have some of them go to waste. Hopefully this thread allows us all to enjoy these beers at the right time, but it seems like there's a real risk to waiting too long.
Click to expand...

So, in the interest of not letting more of that popular high abv stout go to waste, which one was it?

There's no reason not to share the name here, especially with second-hand information there is no way for us to know how well that beer was stored. If the person wasn't careful and just put the beer in a cabinet in the kitchen that is usually 60F, but in the summer when the oven is on swings up to 110F, that certainly wasn't any fault of the beer. I know some of my oldest bottles have not been stored well and as much as I want them to be fantastic when I open them, if they are bad, I only have a 8-10 years younger TallDan to blame.

Gaah, speaking of, it's not ass-cold anymore... I'm going to need another refrigerator or something, I've grown my cellar of beer and wine substantially in the last few years, and very soon I will no longer be able to count on my cellar space.
 
ivegot2legs said:
Also I wanted to share some totally non-credible second hand information I got, but ultimately yields a good point.

I heard someone who had recently done a vertical of a very popular, high abv stout, and the bottles more than two or three years old were like soy sauce, and ultimately drain pours.

While I challenge that they were really so bad that they had to be poured down the drain, it did make me realize something. Some of us spend a lot of money and time collecting these beers, and it would be terrible to have some of them go to waste. Hopefully this thread allows us all to enjoy these beers at the right time, but it seems like there's a real risk to waiting too long.
Click to expand...

Interesting...Aging stouts is usually beneficial. I do a lot of verticals and 5-year gap tastings. We did World Wide Stout from 2008 and 2013 and the 08 was so much better.

With that said, the last bigfoot vertical was interesting. I did a 7-year tasting and 3/4 year aged were very impressive. 5 and 6 were good, but the 7 year was amazing.
 
I believe it was dark lord.

I'm surprised to hear it too, which is why I question the idea. Maybe it was stored improperly, or maybe the person is being overly critical.
 
So, here's some mostly useless data:

I've been buying Hopslam when it's released for several years now. Several years ago, I lost a bottle of it in the back of the fridge (the perils of beer hoarding, y'know) and didn't find it until many months later. Well, that accidental one led me to holding back a bottle a year for a few years. It's a high-alcohol beer, so it should age well, right?

So, last year I decided that my little experiment was over and did a 2010-2013 vertical of Hopslam. Not surprisingly, the fresh one was the only one with strong hop aroma. The year old bottle was an OK beer, the hops had faded a lot and the underlying beer just seemed muddled and uninteresting. The two and three year old bottles were getting interesting though. Nice development in them, and I'd go so far as to say the oldest was a great beer. Definitely not the same beer as the fresh one, but great in a different way.

Will I age hopslam again? Nope. But it was an interesting and educational experiment for me.
 
TallDan said:
I'd love to hear from anyone cellaring and drinking Dark Lord on what they think. From what I've had, they definitely seem to improve with a year of cellaring, past that it doesn't seem like they've changed too much, but it's probably been too long since I've sampled.

Anecdotal evidence from a friend says that the Baller Stout is peaking and should probably be enjoyed soon.

I'm not sure Utopias will change much, if any, with cellaring. Anyone have any thoughts there?
Click to expand...
Good to know. We haven't opened any of ours from last year. We had it at the festival and it was very sweet. I plan to open one on or around this years DLD (we aren't going; didn't even know tickets were on sale; but we already said we weren't going, so no big deal).

ivegot2legs said:
I believe it was dark lord.

I'm surprised to hear it too, which is why I question the idea. Maybe it was stored improperly, or maybe the person is being overly critical.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I had a 10 and a 12 at a bottle share last summer (so they were 3 and 1 year old) and both were very good.
 
mhurst111 said:
Did you get the book yet? Worth the $12?
Click to expand...

Heh, no.

I accidentally had it shipped to my old address. I just contacted amazon earlier today, I've got to reorder it.

Question for the group here, I am traveling for work and was just at a bottle shop that had a Utopias. It's a 2011, and the guy said that they've had it there behind the counter for "a couple years". I'm really tempted to go back tomorrow and pick it up, then check a bag on the way home with it. This appeared to be a non-refrigerated case that it was sitting in. Would you buy it?
 
TallDan said:
Heh, no.

I accidentally had it shipped to my old address. I just contacted amazon earlier today, I've got to reorder it.

Question for the group here, I am traveling for work and was just at a bottle shop that had a Utopias. It's a 2011, and the guy said that they've had it there behind the counter for "a couple years". I'm really tempted to go back tomorrow and pick it up, then check a bag on the way home with it. This appeared to be a non-refrigerated case that it was sitting in. Would you buy it?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. It is "beer" but it isn't beer. Think of it in a cognac/scotch way. It should be great.
 
TallDan said:
I am traveling for work and was just at a bottle shop that had a Utopias. It's a 2011, and the guy said that they've had it there behind the counter for "a couple years". I'm really tempted to go back tomorrow and pick it up, then check a bag on the way home with it. This appeared to be a non-refrigerated case that it was sitting in. Would you buy it?
Click to expand...

depends on your motivation for buying it. i would not worry about how the bottle was stored in my decision to buy or not buy.

I wouldn't buy a 2-3 year old bottle of utopias, but i also wouldn't buy a bottle of 'fresh' utopias. i had a taster of utopias a few years ago. it is an amazing/interesting beer? yes. Is it worth $10 an ounce? not sure.

if you want to share with friends for the experience or to be able to say you tried it, then sure, buy it - i'd rather spend $100-150 on 12oz and drink an oz or two over the next 5 years than buy a single 1oz for $25 at a bar or tasting.

But, in my opinion it is much more of a brandy / cognac or port wine taste than anything 'beer flavored'. if that is the flavor you want, then go buy hennessy or remy martin and save a few bucks. or buy some of their top shelf versions and spend some real money :)
 
I've never seen one for sale, but I don't think I would buy it. I'm willing to spend some money on beer, but I've never heard anything great about this. Money best spent elsewhere.
 
Utopias is so lights out. Very few beers come close to the complexity it has. We pop open our 2007 bottle every New Years Eve for a small tasting. So worth it.

I wouldn't worry to much about storage. Its not optimal in a store but its fancy bottle protects it from light. If there is crazy temperature swings in the store I might pass.
 

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