Just tried year old improperly stored maple dunkelwiesen

[dvdanny]

This past weekend a few of my friends and I were trying to bottle a maple dunkelwiesen that had been in primary for about a month now. We dug through my friend's garage and my brother found a case of beer with 6 unopened bottles. No labels and nothing written on the bottle caps stating what it was. We then noticed a post-it that read "Maple Dunk 11/7/09" What a coincidence! We found a year old batch of the exact same beer we were trying to bottle! Needless to say we popped one open right there and then. Despite being at room temp and being stored for a year in a garage that hit over 100 degrees in the summer, it tasted fine. When it was young the banana and clovey flavor of the yeast blended sooo nicely with the maple/caramel finish, if it didn't have such a high ABV (10%) it would make a great breakfast beer. All of the yeasty flavors that are associated with a wheat beer have aged out, leaving a slight roasted note with a finish of heavy caramel and maple syrup. It was clear as hell too which was nice. Although it does have 10% alcohol so at room temp there is a noticable alcoholic burn. Going to keep a few bottles and compare it to my newest batch once that carbs up. I used a quart of grade B maple syrup instead of the quart of grade A in the newest batch. The maple flavors gotta be awesome on that one.

Suprised the beer held up so well, especially a wheat beer, considering I had a vomit inducing experience with the year old cider I also found on the bottle hunt... dont wanna talk too much about that one...

I can post up the recipe if anyone's interested. (the dunk not the putrid cider).

 

[vandeg]

Glad to hear about your beer! I have a dunk thats several months old, I've been planning on aging them for over a year. I think there was a thread not to long ago about aged beers, apparently homebrew stores very well but will take out some of the hoppiness out of the beer.

 

[JetSmooth]

if it didn't have such a high ABV (10%) it would make a great breakfast beer.

Malarkey! Never let that stop ya.

Sounds like quite a find.

 

[bknifefight]

That's fun that they were forgotten about and found again. I have 2 bottles from each batch of mine which I will crack open after 1 year in the bottle. They aren't stored in the most idea conditions (they stay in the mid to high 60's), but I still can't wait to try my first later this month!

 

[dvdanny]

Malarkey! Never let that stop ya.

Sounds like quite a find.

lol, people still look at me weird when they ask what I had for breakfast and I say some eggs and a guiness extra stout. That's a complete meal in my book!