Vintage Homebrew?

[bosox]

I made a brew that was supposed to be a Christmas Ale, but upon tasting the beer before conditioning it, it came as as WAY too bitter, and overpowers all the spices I used. I'm not even talking an IPA or IIPA bitter either, I'm talking like very exaggereted bitter.

So I've heard that commercial craft brewers will make beers for times such as Christmas that are not supposed to opened for 5-10 years after their brewing. I've also read that these beers typically require large amounts of hops and around 8-9%+ AVB, and after their extended aging they will mellow in bitterness and expose very complex and delicate flavors.

Well my beer is 5% ABV but I'm more than confident it's hoppy enough. Do you think there'd be any benefits if I take a few bottles of it and store them away in a box in a dark room temperature basement for maybe at least Christmas 2011? Or is it not even worth it?

 

[Revvy]

In the Dec 07 Zymurgy Charlie Papazian reviewed bottles of homebrew going back to the first AHC competition that he had stored, and none of them went bad, some had not held up but most of them he felt were awesome...We're talking over 20 years worth of beers.

This is a great thread about one of our guys tasting 4-5 years of his stored brew.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/revisiting-my-classics-160672/

Beer's like wine, a lot of them improve with age....That's why stone has "vertical epic" with vintage, and people have vertical tasting parties

I made a beer that won't even be opened before 5 years go by on . https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/he...emorial-5-year-aged-barleywine-recipe-195096/

The first beer I brewed was a sweet stout. And I got 3 years out of it. But I didn't put any more bottles aside to see.

It won't be the same beer, but who says it won't be a great beer.

 

[ksbrain]

It IS worth it. If you don't like them now, store some away and see what happens.

I mean, you don't like them now, what's the worst that can happen? You don't like them later. Nothing to lose.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I have one barleywine that I made in 2002 that I tucked away. Others I have let sit for about 3-4 years and they turned out even better then when I had them back in the day. But, they are usually high gravity brews or lambics that I put away. I don't think I have any normal strength (besides lambics) that I tuck away. Go for it. You have absolutely nothing to lose.

 

[mr_bell]

Over at my brother-in-laws house for Christmas, and unexpectedly found 4 holiday ales I had left there about 2 years ago, tucked in the back of the basement beer fridge. This was not an exceptionally strong beer, just a mildly spiced brown ale. It had kept fine, tasted great. Left 2 for next year.

Put them away somewhere and forget about them for 6 months or a year or more and see what happens.