Bottle Life

[schooldude]

hi guys. my beer brewing teacher found a few bottles of Belgian Tripel that he brewed between Christmas and New Years day. I looked on Northerns site and it said three months start to finish. These bottles would have been ten months old and were awesome. My question, how long is a beer good before you think its not safe to drink.

Thanks

 

[theseeker4]

hi guys. my beer brewing teacher found a few bottles of Belgian Tripel that he brewed between Christmas and New Years day. I looked on Northerns site and it said three months start to finish. These bottles would have been ten months old and were awesome. My question, how long is a beer good before you think its not safe to drink.

Thanks

Assuming it is sealed, it should be safe indefinitely. It might taste horrible at some point in the future, depending on the style, but there really is no danger since the alcohol keeps the dangerous bugs from growing in beer.

 

[bobeer]

yup, as long as it's sealed properly, drinking aged beer should never hurt you. Every beer style has its "peak" point as to when is the best time to drink it. If you age an IPA will will still be beer but a lot of the hop flavors and aromas will have faded. Some IPA's, like DFH 120 minute, are designed to age but it changes the beer. Some stouts age very nicely and shine after a year or so of aging. It really just comes down to what the brewer's intentions were when they brewed the beer as to when the beer is meant to be enjoyed.

 

[Homercidal]

Most beer is good for a little while, some are better aged. And I'm just talking about their peak for best flavor.

All of them are "safe" to drink indefinitely.

A Trippel is a strong ale and is meant to be aged a bit. Probably a few months to a year or more.

 

[Teromous]

As long as sanitary practices were adhered to it can be aged for a very long time. On a side note, sometimes it takes a long time to really notice that a bottle is infected. It's always amusing to read or hear people say that they've never had an infected batch because they didn't notice something wrong in the fermenter or immediately wrong in the bottle. I keep high ABV beers for many years (5-6) and many of them are still good. Some people prefer the way a beer develops over the years and some prefer they way they taste fresh. A lot depends on the beer, the style, and the drinker. The high ABV of a Belgian style Tripel does very well with age (a year is nothing) but personally I like them fresh. Again it's all about what you like...

 

[schooldude]

thanks to all who responded. I had no idea they would be good that long. I have heard of store bought brands that were pulled because of age and thought all had a shelf life. I think i might just get me a tripel kit next.

thanks again

 

[slym2none]

Most (note the emphasis!) store-bought beer isn't meant to be aged. Budweiser will undoubtedly taste worse if it's a year old. Those kinds of beers do have a definite "best by" date. So do IPAs, even if they are 7% or so.

I doubt that even Dogfish Head's 90-Minute IPA willl ever go bad on the shelf, but it probably also will never sit that long anyway.

 

[brick_haus]

My wife and I went to an aged beer seminar put on by anchor brewing. We sampled beers from as recent as one month old and as old as 1980 (31 years at the time!!!). The whole point old it was to show what happens to the beer as it ages. Even the old stuff was good, albeit very malt forward. This was a great experience that will probably not happen again. Glad I was part of it.