Beer really does change when conditioned

[Saunassa]

I tested how flavor changed on biermunchers centennial Blonde. I am sure part of it is that it is whole grain vs partial mashed. Partial mash and extract never changed as much.
I put one bottle of the blonde in the fridge each week for three weeks. Waited a few days and opened and had as a flight. Wow it was amazing how the malt and hop flavors evolved. The taste of the grain and the bite of the hops is so much better.
Have any of you noticed this change?

 

[RM-MN]

Yes, and the flavor change in a blond ale is so much less than a darker ale and also happens earlier. Try a porter but extend your testing for 3 months instead of just 3 weeks. Then try an imperial stout and see how that changes but extend the testing to at least 6 months. I've found that my imperial stout was still improving at 2 years when I drank the last bottle.

 

[Miraculix]

Yes, and the flavor change in a blond ale is so much less than a darker ale and also happens earlier. Try a porter but extend your testing for 3 months instead of just 3 weeks. Then try an imperial stout and see how that changes but extend the testing to at least 6 months. I've found that my imperial stout was still improving at 2 years when I drank the last bottle.

This.

 

[Lefou]

You'll also find flavors and aroma perceptions will change with temperature. There are some styles that shine when blindingly cold, some are good simply chilled, and others will present perceptions you'd never get cold when consumed at room temperature. Some beer styles are good as stand-alones, others will make outstanding complements with certain kinds of foods depending on your tastes.
I've sampled cold, mildly hopped lagers poured still that showed very little capacity for foam in a clean mug later present themselves with foam and hop accents when poured over ice. Chilled porters and stouts become a whole other experience at room temperature giving you aromas and flavors the carbonation covers. Heavier ABV holiday ales, bocks, and stouts are some of my favorites at room temps during cold months but I'll fight to consume more than one Belgian styled tripel. Odd, but true.
Some of this may seem odd but it has to be tried. I have a super taster and foodie in my house and this has rubbed off on my appreciation of food and beer in certain combinations.

 

[kevin58]

English brewers often kept beer for a year before shipping it out.

 

[Lefou]

Anyhoo, blonde ale covers a wide spectrum of brew and Biermuncher's is an awesome variation. It's probably the most popular beer recipe on the site - I know I stole part of the recipe, modified with white wheat, Citra and Cascade and it was awesome.
The beer was brilliantly clear and the four or five gallons bottled barely lasted me six weeks.

 

[Saunassa]

Yeah I gave away 12 packs to two people and they both like it. In fact when someone said they were going to have drinks and what did my sister want she said she was going to have a few of my brews.

Down to a single 12 pack. Might be time to brew again. Might have to learn how to harvest the Nottingham yeast as that is almost the same price as the grain.

 

[gnef]

I may be a bit of an outlier in how long some of my beers have aged. I had a barleywine from 07, a 'double IPA' from 08, and still have an RIS from 09. I also have a braggot from 06, I believe. From there, I've got steadily more each successive year.

I may also be an outlier in that I have 90 usable kegs, and around 80 kegs in the walk-in cooler filled with something. This is what really enables me to be able to age beers for as long as I have, as I have enough kegs to let beers go for years.

I've also started some projects the past few years. I have a Jack Daniel's barrel as a single vessel solera with a flander's red that started in 2015, and doing an annual partial drain and refill.

I've started a multi vessel barleywine solera as well on a two year cadence, started in 2017, so it is time to brew to fill the second vessel this year. I'm using sanke kegs for this.

I also want to do a smaller project of a sanke RIS single vessel solera.

The reason why I talk about the soleras, is that it is an interesting way to age and blend beer, and the aging beer changes each year, as well as with each drain and fill.

 

[El Nino]

I just upgraded my operation to 5g from 2.5g and hope to test this out. Historically my batches have never lasted long, so I did 30 brews over the past year just to keep up with consumption and demand lol.

Then again, I get amnesia sometimes after a few beers. By the time I'm on to beer #4 or #5, every beer I have is the best beer I ever had in my life haha.