Top 5 Beers to age!

Expedition Stout
Third Coast Old Ale
Stone IRS
Bigfoot
JW Lees Harvest Ale

All based on personal experience, plus bonus points for availability.

 

cantillon classic
stone irs
speedway
bigfoot
the jewbelation series beers have been a thrill over the past few years. fourteen being the beat thus far.

 

Thomas Hardy's Ale should be at the top of any list. Having just recently drank a 23 year old bottle, I can assure you that it ages amazingly. We did a vertical tasting and the younger version was not in a class with the older one. So even if you can obtain a 15 year old bottle from the original brewer, it could still improve with another 5 to 10 years or more of aging. Some of the original brewer bottles had a message about aging the bottles. I believe that all of the second brewer bottles state that the ale can be aged at least 25 years. Can also recommend Old Crustacean by Rogue. Recently had a 19 year old bottle that still had a strong punch and great flavors. Believe it could have aged well years more.

 

From trial and error, I've found 120 to be better fresh; it does age well, but 3 months of aging produced better results than 2 year of aging. Also, don't waste 120 on the ultimate high octane black and tan mixed with a World Wide Stout - the WWS dominates and made me regret mixing the two. Just my opinion.

 

Top accessible beers in no particular order
Old Stock,
Samichlaus
Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw
Gueuze (Cantillon or 3F)
Certain Fullers beers (some have aged awesome, some have tasted like cardboard)

I've heard Rochefort 10 - have one in the cellar, but waiting to try at 5 or 6 years.

 

Bourbon County should be all 5 spots on the list. Just list out your favorite variants.

 

Personal taste is personal taste, but I've always hated Bigfoot (aged and fresh). I might add I don't care for American (or any hopped up) barley wine. English all the way, but Bigfoot just tastes like stale beer to me. I tried a '12-'15 vertical several months ago.

My list:
Stone irs
Any gueuze
Bcbs
Expedition
Third coast old ale

On a side note. I split up a 3 liter bottle of 2007 Chimay blue that was unreal

 

DFH 120
Wells & Young Courage Russian Imperial Stout
SN Bigfoot
BCS
Samichlaus

 

The Big Six Styles
From what I've read as well as from experience:

1. Gueuze: 3F Oude Gueuze (10-20 years)
2. English Barleywine: Eldridge Pope's Thomas Hardy's Ale (13-14 years+)
3. Quad: Westvleteren 12 or Rochefort 10 (5 years)
4. American Barleywine: Bigfoot (3-5 years)
5. Imperial Stout: Ten Fidy or Old Rasputin (1-2 years)
6. Flanders Red: Rodenbach Vintage or Grand Cru** (0-2 years) **Best on tap; its always unpasteurized

Others:
Orval (less than 3 years)
Saison Dupont (0-2 years)
Duvel (0-2 years)
Westmalle Tripel (0-2 years)
Westmalle Dubbel (0-2 years)
St. Bernardus Abt 12 (0-2 years)

 

Anything Bourbon County.
Almost anything bba.
Anything high abv 10+%^ like Bell's Exp, FIS.
Barley wines.

 

Great thread!

I can't get enough of tremendously rare stuff. I'd love to try some fresh and age the rest to compare.

So to stick with what I know or had enough luck to find verticals on tap:
1) expedition stout
2) abyss
3) BCBS
4) BBPT5
5) 120 minute

 

I'm sure my opinions will change in a few years when I taste stuff I've put away with duck tape around the box to open at a later date but for now, the best five that I've tasted that have been aged are:

1) 2009 - Temptation at RR - $50 for a big ass bomber. Best beer I've ever had.
2) 2011 - BCBS
3) 2012 - DFH 120 Minute
4) 2011 - Dark Lord (Haters gonna hate but that beer is amazing after a few years to be shared with a couple ppl)
5) 2013 - Expedition Stout (The most easy to find, relatively inexpensive cellarable beer IMO)

 

Fantome saison
St lam
Uinta labyrinth
Orval
Framboos

 

My cellar is mostly used to hold bombers I won't get to for 3-9 months, but I do have a few that I've kept for 2+ years which easily exceeded their fresh cousins...

-120 min
-Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot (5 years old)
-BCBS
-Left Hand Wake Up Dead
-Bruery Black Tuesday (only had aged, not fresh)

Some I am excited to try in another year or so:
-Rochefort 10
-WWS
-FW Sucaba

 

My first son was born last month and I'd like to give him a beer for Christmas meant to be enjoyed when he turns 21. Any ideas for beers that might hold up for that long? The only beer I've had that is anywhere near that old was a 15ish-year-old bottle of Sam Adams Triple Bock and it was an absolute disaster: soy sauce, rotting fish, just a goopy gunky mess.

Or should I just splurge for a nice bottle of port or sherry?

 

Congrats!!

You should definitely look into a really nice geuze. Just my opinion but I think it's a better style for celebration than a bold, high ABV stout. Many people have reported them still going extremely well at 20+ years on this forum. If you decide to go with a geuze, just remember that it's important to keep a proper cellaring environment as the cork might even be the limiting factor through the years.

 

1. Samichlaus
2. Old Stock
3. Expedition Stout
4. BCBS
5. WWS
Also any good English Barleywines

 

From my research, I would try a Samichlaus.

 

I like this idea since it could be an excuse to put together an order from Belgium In A Box or a similar site...never have been able to justify the shipping costs in the past.

 

Blue Chimmay
Fullers Vintage Ale
DFH 120
Stone RIS
Founders Backwoods Bastard