Six year old homebrew... not terrible

[Lukass]

I've got about 18 bottles of a belgian-style barleywine that's at 3 years. It was one of those batches that was still tasting a bit harsh even after 2, so I'm gonna hold off a bit longer to enjoy them. Longest I've ever gone was 4 years.

 

[Supabru]

My Step father found a crate in the back of his garage from a batch he'd brewed (in an old school wringer washing machine BTW) 12 years earlier. He reckons it was wonderful!

 

[greenbelly]

Found a couple of bottles of a batch from some 6 (I think) years ago that I gave my dad.

If that is what oxidation and autolysis taste like, not bad

So far as I can guess will have been a simplish pale ale, bit of crystal and brown sugar because most of them are...

Like a Fullers Vintage with a couple of years on it, but dryer. Somewhat sherry-ish, slightly cherry-ish.

What is your oldest accidental aged brew?

I apologize for my bad English, I live in Argentina, and I think in Spanish )
I keep a bottle of a barley wine made in 2003, for my father's 80th birthday. We opened another of that development with one of my children and a homebrewer friend in 2014, along with others from 2007 (barley wine) and 2006 (irish red).
All were very attenuated in bitterness, with structure and flavor to Jerez, without gas (they did not have corks, only crown type caps), but very well drinkable. There is a video of the comments on my youtube channel.
Actually they were well preserved and with an interesting flavor, so I then acquired an oak barrel with three uses of Malbec wine and I have waiting 250 liters of a stock ale in Stainless Steel (2015) to pass to that barrel with Brettanomyces clausenii for 5 or 10 Years, after conditioning it.

 

[Grousebane]

I have about 10 bottles that I brewed in the 80s, from before I met my wife in 1986. so, 30 years? I opened one a few years ago and it was pretty good. Still carbonated and tasty-given that in those days it was Munton's kits I was surprised and pleased. I have cases of other "old" ones, going back maybe 5 or 6 years. The hop flavours mellow, but the malt side does not seem to go off at all.

 

[Aelwyffe]

My brother and I made a bunch for family picnics (2009, 2010, 2011). My dad stashed some away somewhere and earlier this year he opened one of the last from the 2009 batch and said it was amazing. I had one from the 2010 batch last summer and it was very good. Not as good as it was in 2010 as it lost a lot of the hop character (40 IBUs) and some of the malt, but all-in-all it was pretty good. I tried a malty, mouthy Red that we cellared for about three years and found that the flavor had completely changed. Even two months ago my brother called to say he was opening one from 2010...

The torment!

 

[Tiber_Brew]

I still have a few bottles each of batch #9, 13, 21, 51, and 54. I'm on batch # 227 now over about 13 years. I don't have terribly high hopes for most except for the Barleywine (#54 from ~2009). If you saw my basement, you'd think I'm a beer hoarder.

 

[Grainpaw]

If you can fill a basement up with beer, it's proof you're not an alcoholic.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

If you can fill a basement up with beer, it's proof you're not an alcoholic.

I like the cut of your jib.

 

[Crohnnie]

Does anyone actually know of somebody who's gotten sick from old beer?

Me and my friends drank ten year old commercial beer. A lot. It was in cans and we were ok.

 

[jackvb]

I have had a few bottles in the 4 to 6 year old range, all were good, but a few weeks ago I was given 27 old heavy glass bottles from a friend whos father was a brewer, they were all full and brewed 19 years ago. I had to try one just to say I had tasted 19 year old beer. They were very malty but clear, perfectly gassed and drinkable.

 

[Newsman]

I brewed up some hard cider a couple years ago. It was really lousy when I first made it, but I put it in bottles, tucked the box away for a couple years and now it's a lot like a nice white wine.

 

[mr_y82]

You guys have inspired me to throw a gluten free creation (wife has celiac) in the fridge to see how it has become.... It is over 5 years old... could check records, but I am relaxing and drinking! It was INTOLERABLE (aftertaste) when new and improved incrementally with age... Too much sorghum and it just tasted like s--t... Was tolerable a couple years ago when I tasted it, so maybe it's great now!

I have routinely let beers age up to 2 years and never had a problem... Still have some sparking and regular mead that is from 2011, which is obviously fine (better really), and I like to let my strong ciders age for a year or 4 before I drink them... I'm running out though... Didn't I saw something about drinking and lazy?

Anyway, I will report back on the gluten free (pretty sure I had a thread on it, but maybe just questions in other threads... anyway... drinking... lazy...).

Cheers! (Commodore Perry IPA from Great Lakes at the moment...)

 

[Zuljin]

Do it!

Do it!











Do it!

Do it.

 

[Zuljin]

Seems like three years was okay. Five was dicey. Some times okay. Some times like wine that'd gone off.

 

[__dash__]

I'm 33 now, actively brewing for 5 years but I brewed my first batch when I was 21. The Oktoberfest we brewed was 8 years old when tried. My dad however, brewed some sort of ale with his colleagues in the 80's. The ring leader found multiple bottles in his basement this past summer... were waiting for an appropriate time to try one, (not sure if by "appropriate," I mean free time to handle being sick!) maybe I'll update when we drink it.

 

[mr_y82]

You guys have inspired me to throw a gluten free creation (wife has celiac) in the fridge to see how it has become.... It is over 5 years old... could check records, but I am relaxing and drinking! It was INTOLERABLE (aftertaste) when new and improved incrementally with age... Too much sorghum and it just tasted like s--t... Was tolerable a couple years ago when I tasted it, so maybe it's great now!

I have routinely let beers age up to 2 years and never had a problem... Still have some sparking and regular mead that is from 2011, which is obviously fine (better really), and I like to let my strong ciders age for a year or 4 before I drink them... I'm running out though... Didn't I saw something about drinking and lazy?

Anyway, I will report back on the gluten free (pretty sure I had a thread on it, but maybe just questions in other threads... anyway... drinking... lazy...).

Cheers! (Commodore Perry IPA from Great Lakes at the moment...)

Gluten Free was better, which is a little surprising give it´s age (6+ years), but still not what I would call good... Probably drank more than 8/12ozs though!

 

[Domminigan]

Six kegs of beer. Four completely full and two mostly full. I'd found three in a closet a few weeks ago, came back to the boards; realized I had claimed I had 17 kegs and could only account for 10. Went looking for and found the rest in the old coal cellar behind a few boxes of wine, three of which were absolutely full. I last brewed a nut brown in 2012. That was full, along with one of stout from 2010, a BMC clone, an Irish red, a Hefeweizen and an American wheat, all from before 2010.
The stout is lovely. The BMC is unexpectedly very dark, but mostly ok, I must have hopped the heck out of it as they still come through strong. The Hefeweizen is ok, a bit less to it somehow, the American wheat is kind of ok, the nut brown is bland and the Irish red is bad; really horrible. All the full beer kegs remained pressurized somehow.
So the oldest I've recently had was 8 years old. I had a friend over and we had a few pints. I always remember that the homebrew was kind of strong but I don't remember it being THAT strong. Time made me forget, I guess.