Does Beer Color Change with Age?

[RmikeVT]

I've notice that one of my double IPA's that I've bottled has been changing color. I brewed a Pliny the Elder Clone back in January. I drank some at 3 weeks and the color was very pale, and I just opened one and drank it yesterday, only two left , and it was almost an amber color. Is there something going on as beer ages that changes the color, potentially oxidation?

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Pale as in opaque? You might have had suspended yeast/hop resins/protien when you first started sampling the batch
Now as the precipitates settle and compact harder on the bottom of the bottle your getting more light penetration which causing it to look amber?
A possiblitiy...also different glassware will make beer look different colors, try putting the same beer into a champagne flute that you do a snifter.

 

[scottland]

Beers will darken with oxidation. So yes.

 

[daksin]

If you bottled it with some yeast in suspension, the yeast can reflect light making the beer look lighter, so it will darken as it clears, too. But yes, oxidation can also cause darkening.

 

[RmikeVT]

Thanks folks. The beer got darker just to clarify. It went from the color of a Pale Ale to an Amber Ale. This is the first big beer I've made and bottled since I started kegging a year ago. It was a lot of fun to watch the beer evolve and change over the last few months.