Drink or Age?

Trade them for other beers and then trade those beers for other beers and then don't drink them because you might get a better trade.

 

Drink one of everything soon and buy more if you like it and see what some age does to the brew.

 

I didn't bother to read your initial post, OP, but the answer is always DRINK.

 

Agreed, never age anything if you haven't at least tried it once

 

DRINK

 

Answer is simple, send me 1 of your multiples and I will drink

 

I would recommend just drinking all of them, except for maybe Abyss, that has a best after date on it you will notice, and I do recommend you stick to that. Abyss really isn't the best fresh. You have 4, so you could drink one next year, and then one each year thereafter. Or trade a few.

BCBS is great fresh and aged, so just drink two and age two.

They all should be fine aged if you don't get around to drinking them, but you might as well drink em.

 

Anything of which you only have a single...drink it...drink it NOW!!!

Anything of which you have multiples...drink half and age half.

 

I too am new to cellaring, but one thing I think I've come to understand is that the difference after aging may well be far more subtle than you or I are currently anticipating. I've got some beers I bought with the intention of aging a while ago when I first discovered cellaring, plan to finally drink one tonight and perhaps buy more tomorrow.

edit: of course my current situation is that my wife who also enjoys beer is pregnant, so I have kind of been on the look out for beers that I can save for when she can enjoy them with me.

 

Echoing others, don't age something unless you've had it fresh. I'm not much of a cellarman, and I don't know much about the beers you have, but I can definitively say that you should hold on to at least one BCBS for next year and you should absolutely drink the Velvet Merkin fresh...it really doesn't seem like something that would age great

 

Starting an effort to really boost the beer cellar and I brought back a Drake's Jolly Rodger Imperial American Black Ale (2013). It clocks in at 11.5% and 75 IBUs but I'm trying to decided if aging will do it well or not being that it's not your typical aged beer (barley wine, imperial stout etc.). Thoughts?

 

According to my understanding, you should anticipate that the hoppiness will fade, so instead of becoming more well-rounded, which seems to often be the goal, a black ale might just become less exciting (?)

 

Here's what I know for a fact... Bourbon Abominable is good fresh, but it's also great with a year on it (just had 2012). Bourbon County is also pretty good fresh (super Bourbon forward, and some heat). I'd drink one fresh, and drink the following 3, over the course of 3 years, or more. Haven't had Abyss yet (have 2 bottles), but the Black Butte 25 could stand to have some age on it, so I'm guessing other high end Deschutes products are manufactured with the intent of aging. Never had Mogli, but it's only 8.5 ABV, so I'd say drink that one now, or cellar it properly, and try it a year from now, probably no longer tho. Speedway Stout is a coffee beer, and coffee beers lose their appeal over the course of 6 months to a year. So drink that one somewhere between fresh, and 6 months out. Velvet Merkin is also about 8.5 ABV, so drink now, or cellar it properly for a year, no longer. Firestone 17 is around 13% ABV, and is also a blend of various other beers. So that one will probably age VERY well. Here's some things I'd keep in mind...

Age the beers around 50 degrees, or cooler, any warmer might spoil them. Anything under 9.5 ABV, I typically don't bother aging. Stouts and Barley Wines typically age gracefully, but not always.

 

I just joined Beer Advocate to help answer your question. I recently fell in love with the 2013 Jolly Rodger at an event and couldn't find it in stores for the life of me. When I stumbled across some at my local BevMo I bought out their entire supply thinking I could cellar it away for a while and enjoy them over the next couple of years. Being that I couldn't find an expiration date on the bottle I e-mailed Drake's to inquire and was told this:

"While in general, dark, high-ABV beers can age better than lighter ones, the 2013 Jolly Rodger is a Black IPA, which means a good portion of the flavor comes from the hops. Hop characteristic starts dying out pretty quickly after a beer is bottled, and since this beer is about four months old, I'd say you should have a few friends over and enjoy them sooner than later."

So there it is, straight from the horse's mouth. I guess we better get to drinking!

 

Being that you're in the cellaring forum though, makes you a troll for that.

Most stouts I would say are probably best either fresh or within 12-18 months, but my experience so far tells me that Abyss is one to age 2-3 years at least. Of course try at least one sooner, but take your time.

Most of the others I'd put one or two away but drink the rest (ie BCBS)

 

Fair enough. On the other hand, this seems like a perfect place to share an opinion about my optimal length of cellar time.

 

Haha, spreadin' the gospel huh

 

If you haven't tried abyss or bcbs drink one now for sure. But personally I think BCBS just starts to hit its stride around 6-9 months and ages well for up to I'd say around 5 years.