Beers than take over a year to age

[bruteforce]

I know this is probably pretty obvious to people who have been in the game longer, but I've been surprised by how long it's taken for some of my beers to come around. The most recent was the latest edition of my 14.5% abv RIS. It's truly awful for about the first year, then magic happens. It goes from harsh and bitter to smooth and pleasant with tons of vanilla.

The same goes for the tripel and dubbel I made 2 years ago. I nearly dumped them after 6 months, but decided to cook with them instead. A year in I took a sip from one of the bottles, it was great. Patience is a good thing I guess, but I'm still surprised each time.

 

[day_trippr]

I may put myself on an island with this, but imo something ain't right when a brew isn't at least enjoyable by a month or two, even if it continues to improve with time. The ~12% stout I keep on tap year 'round is ready to enjoy within 6 weeks of its born date in a pinch though it does get even better if given the chance.

I run 16 corny kegs but I'd still be in a tough spot if I had to let batches sit around for months never mind years just to be drinkable...

Cheers!

 

[ancientmariner52]

Read Charlie Papazian concerning his prickly pear mead. If IRC he hides it from himself on a snowcapped peak. Something about 10 years, I think it was. Don't have the patience, myself.

 

[MaxStout]

I get impatient, too, though I've brewed a few big beers. One was an RIS with bourbon/oak cubes. Six months in secondary, and it was just OK. I bottle, so I just stashed those 2 cases in my basement. After about 3 or 4 more months in bottles, it really started to shine. I'm glad I don't try to keep beers like that pipelined; the logistics of year-long lead times would be a killer.

But I like quick gratification. Beers that can go grain-to-glass in a month or so.

 

[myndflyte]

Had a 12% barleywine that took 2 years to finally taste great.

 

[trav77]

Just brewed a 12% Black Forest cake imperial porter with cocoa, sour cherries and vanilla. Tastes pretty darn good after 10 days primary. 10 days is aging for me. I'll probably bottle some up to see how it goes but I love them fresh... even big beers that by conventional wisdom need aging.

I can't say I've ever had the "tasted bad at x weeks but was good at y years" experience. Anything I've brewed that tasted like crap at 1 month still tasted like crap at any future date.

 

[JohnSand]

Several of my bigger beers take months to improve. Even some smaller Belgians or Rye Pale with Honey Malt take a month or two. I even find that my IPAs often want a little mellowing, but that is a matter of weeks. On the other hand I'm drinking Dubbel that is ten weeks since brewing and quite good.
Do what works for you.

 

[schematix]

I am on the opposite side of the fence with this and moving in the opposite direction. If anything i'm finding that with really tight brewing practices there is virtually no aging requirements at all. In fact, aging is only to the detriment of the beer.

Really realistic numbers:
-Ales racked from primary after 3-5 days (5 being for the higher OG). Fully (naturally) carbonated 2 days later. Couple days in the cold and you can serve a clear, carbonated fantastically fresh beer. Grain to glass in 10 days easily possible. I will concede an additional week makes it better, but beyond that there's no gain.
-Lagers racked from primary after 7-9 days. Fully carbonated a week later. Week or two of ice cold and wow. Fantastic crystal clear lagers in <30 days.

 

[thehaze]

Some beers ( high gravity, complex grist ) can benefit from aging. I had that happening with some belgian dark, stouts and baltic porters.

But IPAs of any colour, other type of ales, including " blonde " belgian, do not get better with age. *
au contraire

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

It took me a few batches to figure out two things about my IPAs. First, they're much better if I keg them pretty early. I usually keg/carbonate at about day 6 or 7. They're carbed and drinkable at day 10, but they really hit their stride about 10 days after that. Sampling daily, they noticeably improve day over day during that period.

For stouts I can't really say...I've done one "barrel aged" porter that I bulk aged for 3 months. At that point the samples were already pretty tasty. I had read about people who didn't like the early samples of the same beer, but for me it was pretty good all along. It did improve and, I think, is still getting better, but it was always good.

 

[RM-MN]

I am on the opposite side of the fence with this and moving in the opposite direction. If anything i'm finding that with really tight brewing practices there is virtually no aging requirements at all. In fact, aging is only to the detriment of the beer.

Really realistic numbers:
-Ales racked from primary after 3-5 days (5 being for the higher OG). Fully (naturally) carbonated 2 days later. Couple days in the cold and you can serve a clear, carbonated fantastically fresh beer. Grain to glass in 10 days easily possible. I will concede an additional week makes it better, but beyond that there's no gain.
-Lagers racked from primary after 7-9 days. Fully carbonated a week later. Week or two of ice cold and wow. Fantastic crystal clear lagers in <30 days.

Replace you palate with my palate and the results may be entirely different. My dark, high alcohol beers are pretty decent quickly after bottling but start to get better with time. I have never kept one long enough to find one that longer aging is detrimental. Hoppy beers (good hop aroma, not just bitter) beers do go downhill with time and I try to get them used up within 3 months as the hop aroma is pretty well gone by then.