Six year old homebrew... not terrible

[lilleypad1]

Have a 4 year old chocolate milk stout that get better and better.

 

[metaltim]

I have about 6 half liter bombers of Belgian dubbel homebrew.. borderline Belgian quad. Opened one a month ago, it was really good. Very complex. Pretty surprised as it was one of my first batches so I didn't have high hopes for it.

I may save 2 of them, 1 for each of my sons 21st bday. That will be 2035 and 2037. Almost 30 years old by then.

 

[Grainpaw]

When I was brewing more than I could drink in the 90's, I had two walls of a 12' x 12' basement lined with shelves about 5 feet high which were mostly full of the last 6 packs of each batch. There was also a keg system, usually with about 5 kegs serving, and wine racks for about 75 bottles, and storage for cases inside the crawl space hatch. A small table and two chairs were in the middle. Several times I went down there for a drink and came back empty-handed because I couldn't make up my mind.
When I had to move, after about 12 years of filling the space up (and drinking), I started drinking down the supply. It's easier to move empties. Most of the older beers were oxidized and tasted much the same no matter what they started as, a bit like an odd, non-sweet cola. Most were foamers if not gushers. They were still adequate as a cold thirst quencher, if not a taste treat. On 3 or 4, the caps had rusted through. A few beers, the stronger or more recent ones, were still recognizable and fairly enjoyable. Back then, oxygen absorbing caps weren't used much.
I still have a few survivors from that era somewhere in my current crawl space. I don't expect much from them, except the Thomas Hardy Ales from the 90's.

 

[PetenNewburg]

I kept a case of very heavy stout for 4+ years. I recently started drinking them, intense barley wine flavor, licorice, raisin, and strong alcohol.

 

[bighorn08]

I opened a 5 year old tripple with a friend a few weeks ago, it was awesome.

 

[Ranger_10X]

Funny story. I brewed a batch for a home brewers competition amongst friends and found myself short on bottles when I remembered seeing a case tucked in the back of a closet under the stairs. Pulled it out and was shocked they were FULL. Had to go look at my log to learn it was a Franken-brew I had made to clean out my stockpile of left-over ingredients. It was the darkest, nastiest creation with an off-the-charts ABV. I then remembered stuffing it away to see if time could make it drinkable. That was TEN years earlier! As a joke I brought a couple bottles of it to the tasting. My entry didn't get much attention from the highly exalted judges - but they FLIPPED over the Franken-Brew! Said this was the stuff they seek-but-never-find, like it was their nirvana! Said it should have been my entry - would've won! I thought they were joking, but apparently not. They wanted to know everything about it. I was embarrassed to tell them what it really was. (I still think it was nearly un-drinkable).

 

[wisconsinitebrewer]

Opened up a double IPA that was 4.5 years old...turned into a nice malt forward beer...

 

[JeffPhD2005]

I have half a case of 750ml bottles of 2006 Smoked Porter from Alaskan Brewing company, the year they recieved a gold medal I think from GABF.
While not a homebrew, certainly worthy as a beer or is it?
Have no idea what it will taste like...

 

[rat3het]

I have some Russian Imperial Stout , bottled June 2010

like a liqueur muscat , about 9% alcohol

still makes head from groschl bottles , would even drink it flat

 

[B-Hoppy]

Started brewing around '86 and scored a ton of pop kegs around '94 so that's when I began kegging and never bottled again . . . well, once. Still have about 5-6 cases in the fruit cellar. A while back, I saw this on twitter: https://twitter.com/StanHieronymus/status/587651784568508416?ref_src=twsrc^tfw. Back then, Pierre Celis was blowing folks away with his wit and the talk was that chamomile was a 'secret ingredient'. I had a bunch of pineapple weed (matricaria or chamomile family) growing around the farm so I decided to make a batch using it as sort of a whirlpool addition. Ended up sending Stan a few bottles and he and I both agreed that for a 20+ year old beer there was almost NO oxidation? Thinking that there's something in the pineapple weed that does a good job of scrubbing the o2.

Everything else that's down there tastes somewhat similar (like others have stated) except for the sour mashed wheat beer, it's actually getting better year after year, haha!

Hoppy Trails~

 

[myndflyte]

This Christmas I'll be opening one of the few remaining bottles of a barleywine I brewed back in 2010. It took 2 years before it even really tasted good so I'm looking forward to trying it. Unfortunately the guy I brewed it with lives across the country so we can't share it together.

 

[UWbucky]

In late fall of 2006 I had a handful of my lab mates over for a "beer brewing party" while in grad school at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Each person got a 6 pack for their efforts, I believe it was an oatmeal stout. 18 months later we were sending off one of those lab mates to new endeavors, and stumbled across a bottle that had "lagered" in her refrigerator that whole time. We popped it open and it was as drinkable as ever.

 

[Ullarsskald1988]

In the summer of 99, while I was back in Massachusetts visiting, my mom told me she found a case leftover from my first batch, which I brewed in the summer of 1974, in the back corner of the basement.

I opened one, poured it in a glass, and after a short examination that did not include tasting it, poured it down the drain. The rest of the case joined their brethren in an unmarked grave by the side of my parents garage. It did not improve with age.

 

[wwgiese]

I opened a 20 year old berlinerwise last week. Turned a little dark and funky. Could be because I dumped in a lot of the crud from the bottom. Long time since I opened a home brew bottle of beer. I have been kegging for a long time. Out of practice.

 

[Spbevets]

I've been aging homebrews and commercial brews for some time now. I brewed a beer when my first kid was born, and gave it out instead of the old cigar concept. But I saved a few bottles. I gave my son a bottle on his 30th birthday, and we shared another to see how it was. Great! It was a light lager that ended up with caramel, dark fruit and malt flavors. It was only 3.5% ABV. Cleanly brewed beers can last a long time!

I try to brew at least one batch for aging every year, and put it away for the long term. Barley Wines, Imperial Stouts, Doppelbocks - the types of beer that age well.

 

[aceuass]

I was given a bottle of barleywine from a friend brewed 1997, every year I keep saying Im going to open, only have to keep 1 more year to be 20 years old
Cheers

 

[Spyksman]

I have some 20+ years Barley Wine keep getting better with time

 

[PeteF]

I have a corny full of a porter I made in 2011. When the O.G. was 30 points too high, I figured out my grain scale was broken. I fermented and kegged it anyway (10 gallons) and after 6 months it was far too sweet. I ended up dumping one corny because I needed the keg, but never dumped the second. I "found" the full keg recently when I needed another to keg a recent brew, but instead of dumping it, I tasted it. We've been serving it as "dark and mysterious" for the past 6 months with rave reviews...

 

[captainskinnybeard]

I have a few bottles that are between 25 and 30 years old. We opened several about 10 years ago and they were definitely drinkable. Nothing too weird about them.

 

[marc0871]

I haven't been brewing for long, so i don't have anything that old yet.
My beers usually won't survive 2 months after brewing anyway

 

[RM-MN]

I haven't been brewing for long, so i don't have anything that old yet.
My beers usually won't survive 2 months after brewing anyway

You need to brew more and drink less. Some beers don't get good until after 3 months or more. The only ones that degrade (in my opinion) are the hoppy beers which lose the aroma in 2 to 3 months.

 

[marc0871]

You need to brew more and drink less. Some beers don't get good until after 3 months or more. The only ones that degrade (in my opinion) are the hoppy beers which lose the aroma in 2 to 3 months.

I know
But after 3 weeks they taste so good, i can't help myself getting another one.
By the time the freshness subsides and the more complex flavours are comming through, It's more often than not, all but gone.
More time for drinking than for brewing, doesn't help either

But hey; I get to experience the evolution of the flavours.
that's not a bad thing to learn too, for a beginning homebrewer.

 

[TitusCooker]

My Homebrewing club is 30 years old. One of the founders stopped brewing some time ago, but hosted us for a yearly meeting. He would bring out aged beers to share to recognize what aged beer tasted like. At the same time meeting, another would bring a vertical tasting of barley wines going back at least 13 years. I had a 26.5 year old beer on Friday. Malty, oxidized, low carb, but still beer and safe to drink. We joked that his beers were old enough to legally drink themselves!

 

[CowboyNate]

My Homebrewing club is 30 years old. One of the founders stopped brewing some time ago, but hosted us for a yearly meeting. He would bring out aged beers to share to recognize what aged beer tasted like. At the same time meeting, another would bring a vertical tasting of barley wines going back at least 13 years. I had a 26.5 year old beer on Friday. Malty, oxidized, low carb, but still beer and safe to drink. We joked that his beers were old enough to legally drink themselves!

I was at that meeting (though I wasn't sure until you mentioned the barley wine vertical: 2001~2016 with only 2 missing years in the whole thing?! Amazing the difference at between the '03 and the '05, then the followup difference at about '12~'13).
Rolf has brought out some of his most aged beers several times; sometimes not so hot, sometimes, a little surprising! I think the end result of that is a 26 year old beer should already have moved out of the house, dammit, you're almost too old to be on my insurance any more.

"Beer Old Enough to Vote" should be his new tagline.
Nate

 

[gaviga]

I cellar my barley wines and RISs. I have 3 batches currently in my cellar, all barley wines, of 7 years and 3 years. The 7-year old is spectacular. I brought it and a 2008 Bigfoot to our homebrew club meeting. The consensus was that it blew the Bigfoot away. I only have 5 bottles left of the 7-year-old barley wines so I will guard them carefully. I have over half a case of the 3-year-old. Not going to touch that for at least 2 more years.

Time to brew some more! I need to get a couple more batches of BWs and RISs in the cellar.

 

[mpt2222]

Found some of my original porter and red ale bottles from 1997-98 a few months ago in the back of my beer fridge. I knew they were back there and had just forgotten how old they had become. A buddy and i cracked them open during a brew day to see how they fared. I was fully prepared to dump them, but after smelling them, we decided to give them a taste. After passing the taste test, we ended up drinking them. Tasted great and no ill effects!

 

[sirmaple]

I have a maple wine from 7 years ago that has only gotten better with age.

 

[MVKTR2]

I love saving beer for years! I've got a ris from 2009 that I still have 5 bottles of that is great, just now getting that soy flavor in it which is a sign I need to drink it!

 

[MVKTR2]

I cellar my barley wines and RISs. I have 3 batches currently in my cellar, all barley wines, of 7 years and 3 years. The 7-year old is spectacular. I brought it and a 2008 Bigfoot to our homebrew club meeting. The consensus was that it blew the Bigfoot away. I only have 5 bottles left of the 7-year-old barley wines so I will guard them carefully. I have over half a case of the 3-year-old. Not going to touch that for at least 2 more years.

Time to brew some more! I need to get a couple more batches of BWs and RISs in the cellar.

I age Bigfoot saving 16-20 per year. My oldest is 2008. I'm always surprised by how well the hops hold up to 3-4 years of aging.

 

[Spbevets]

If you want a good read on how to age beers, and what qualities make the best aged beers, try reading Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide to Brews That Improve over Time, by Patrick Dawson. It's an eye-opener on techniques that homebrewers can use. The hardest part about aging beers is having enough left by the time it gets really good. I bottle a batch and then set aside a case. Drink the rest over a few years to see how it's progressing, but leave that one case alone for ten years. It doesn't help when you've got just one or two bottles left from each of many twenty-year-old batches. Too much stress. Brew to age, put it away, and continue to brew other great beers to drink. Then you're not tempted to drink just one more of your dwindling supply of that fabulously smooth nine year old Barley Wine. On a side note, meads seem to get really good after aging for five or six years.