Goose Island BCS pasteurized? Still cellarable?

Current info about pasteurization and BCBS from the GI brewmaster can be found here.

 

Wow. Nice problem to have...stocked up on BA Darkness.

 

Pre-pasteurization BCS was on my top five list of beers that go from really good to freaking divine as they age. 2012 BCS a bit more than a year ago was one of the finest beers I've ever tasted.

Despite the disaster in 2015, I'm willing to give the new BCS a chance. I bought a few bottles last year & this year & don't plan on touching any of them for another couple of years. Time will tell, but if the recipe stayed similar, I'm hopeful that the new batches will at least brush up against the glory that the old bottles displayed after years of rest.

 

There is only one surefire way to settle this. Drink a 4 pack now, and save a 4 pack to have one bottle at every 6 months. If it tastes crappier than fresh by 2 years, then it’s not really meant to be aged.

 

Not sure I agree with this. As an example, many people seem to believe/agree that BC coffee ages rather parabolic (convex), and thus other than fresh, there is s 2ish year period where it goes downhill before getting better again, and surpassing fresh.

 

I'm not sure if 2 years is enough time for a beer to really begin to age. I've did a 3 year Narwhal vertical and didn't really notice any changes until I got to the 3 year old bottle. Yeah, that's not a BA beer, but I think it illustrates the point relatively well.

 

This is a far too general comment.

The majority of some styles change rapidly - see, IPAs. The majority of some styles change much more slowly - see, stouts.

However, even within these sub-categories, there are huge differences. For example, BA Scotch from Central Waters changes a lot, fast. I really like it fresh, but by the time it hits the six month mark, I'm not a fan at all. Whereas to me, Alesmith's Wee Heavy is a beer in a similar style that doesn't change much at all for quite a while.

There's also the consideration of temperature. Warmer conditions will accelerate changes in the beer, while cooler ones will make them come along more slowly.

And that's just a few of the variables. There are plenty of beers that change radically over the span of three years, while there are others that will show little to no difference. That's part of the fun of the cellar experiment!

 

@maximum12 - I totally agree...hence why I keep my BA Expedition in the fridge, I don't want it to age too quickly lol. But without any conditioning yeast (at least I don't think BCBS has any), do the changes really occur that rapidly? I'm by no means an expert...

 

You'll have to get a brewer involved in the discussion to get down to a molecular level - I started cellaring over ten years ago, so I can only report what I've tasted & experienced. But I do recall that there are other chemical reactions (such as oxidation) that are in play, so the lack of conditioning yeast by itself is no guarantee that the beer won't chance, quickly or slowly.

 

As a homebrewer I can give you some insight. There is no such thing as "conditioning yeast" in the way you are thinking. Yeast will only be at work with sugars available for them to eat. Without sugar they will go dormant at the bottom of the bottles waiting for some more sugar to eat so they can reproduce some more (this assumes some yeast cells survived the fermentation process). There can be a taste to the yeast which is why it is not recommended to pour the bottom of the bottles (or shake them up) if you see crud at the bottom.

When a homebrewer is talking about needing yeast for bottle conditioning they are likely talking about the process of adding sugars (typically corn or cane) at bottling in a certain amount to produce CO2 in the beer (CO2 is a byproduct of the fermentation process so there is some carbonation already at bottling but not enough to meet standards of most beers). As a homebrewer this is one of things you have to be careful of as you do not want to over-carbonate a beer and have exploding bottles. So having yeast working in the bottles beyond the intended sugar you add is not recommended. You can also force carbonate a beer in a keg and in this case any yeast would remain dormant.