Big Bad Baptist batch 74 issues

You guys are learning the hard way that all adjunct and barrel aged beers need to be kept cold and drank fresh. Big Bad Baptist and other beers like it are not for cellaring. This is not to say that the brewery doesn't have any blame in this, but if the beer has turned sour right from the start setting it down to be aged will only make it worse.

You shouldn't be aging any beers you haven't tasted fresh, that includes batch by batch whenever possible, and you shouldn't be aging any beers with coffee, vanilla, etc and you shouldn't be aging any clean beer that spent time in barrels. Adjuncts and barrels are all ingresses for souring yeasts and bacteria.

So sure, let each other know what batches are gross, but as far as I'm concerned anyone who doesn't practice proper cellaring shouldn't be cellaring beer at all.

 

I've come to realize that most beer is better fresh anyway. If it tastes good fresh, drink it. How dissappointing to buy something, age it then drain pour it.

 

The culture here with cellaring beer is the same as with the ultra rare stuff. It's less about how good it is and more about the status of having it.

As long as the misconception is alive that an aged beer is somehow an improved beer, or at the very least a rare beer, there will always be the age first ask questions later approach.

 

Totally disagree. I've had several of this type of beer cellared (including several batches of BBB) and they have been excellent.

 

Good luck getting too much. I messaged Epic about Baptista being way off of previous batches, got a response a day or two after and replied with the info they wanted and never heard back. Emailed back twice and got nothing.

I didn't expect to get a refund or anything back, but at least a confirmation that they are taking action into my complaint.

 

I've had Bcbs and Kbs aging for up to 5 years, I think with Bc it peaks at perhaps 3-4 year. Let them sit too long and they can oxidize a bit and taste stale. I'd submit that bad beers are born bad and if not stored cold and dark age accelerates the off notes. This stuff you want to drink quickly. But if the beers are not infected there's no reason why they would turn bad unless they were mistreated, so usually let BC sit, Kbs I like fresh and hot, but I won't hesitate to let it sit. I've got some BBB aging for maybe 4 years now, no idea the batch number, not a second thought there.

 

How do you know a beer isn't infected before you put it away to age?

That's the point, you don't. You run great risks by aging beers that have a higher than normal likelihood of being infected.

 

What's a higher than expected rate? Outside of the big infection year for Goose Island I've never had a problem, and even in that year my bottles were good. Infection doesn't come from aging a beer, it comes from being initially infected and probably accelerated by time, a good beer is a good beer, now or 3 years from now. Providing it's age worthy to begin with.

 

??

 

This seems as if it would be a safe assumption. Any added vegetable/fruit/coffee bean could carry some kind of mold or bacteria. Barrels would have to be meticulously cleaned to ensure no wild yeast or other contamination occurs. I've had a soured (infected) barrel aged beer and it wasn't even cellared. I don't wish to push anypne away from cellaring, I'll probably do so with certain beers myself. Just figuring out what makes sense for me to cellar.

 

It happened to Jackie O's. They found that coffee and vanilla beans were introducing microbes.

I'm not saying you shouldn't cellar anything, but Baptist is among the very worst candidates. How many reports of infected Chimay Blue, Bigfoot, Stone IRS etc have you heard vs reports of infected barrel aged coffee stouts?

 

I know cellaring doesn't cause infection but it will bring it out. How do you know your bottle isn't infected when you add it to your cellar? Aside from being smart about it and only aging the correct styles, ones that lack adjuncts and barreling, there isn't really a way to know.

What are you even getting out of aging coffee and vanilla stuff anyway?

Again I say, look back at all the reports you've heard about infection. How many were big stouts with stuff added and/or barrel aging done? How many were straight up barleywine, quads, base stouts? That's what higher than average means.

Also, no, a good beer now isn't necessarily a good beer in 3 years. Cellaring isn't an improvement, it's a change that can be subjectively seen as positive. That's one of the biggest facets of this misconception this community has. Too many people are under the impression that age is some magical way to turn beers into epic whales that are mind blowingly good. Not true.

 

Certainly aging is no magic cure, it won't make a mediocre beer better. And you can kind of guess where a given beer goes with age, mostly I've aged Bcbs, and it does change a bit with some age on it. I have ages Kbs but the coffee definately mutes, and I do prefer this one fresh. Barreling anything increases the likelihood of infection, the barrels themselves are potential problem, and with blending barrels one barrel could spoil a whole batch. But if I bought as an example Bcbs in some volume I won't be compelled to plow thru them to drink them in the event they might turn. I'd have some faith they're good beers and sitting on them does no harm.

 

Man there are a couple goddamn asshole posters in this thread.

 

You mean every thread? Unfortunately this community has been infiltrated by some pompous d-bags in the passed couple of years.

 

And they apparently know everything about every batch of every beer ever released. And they know even more than the brewery that produced the beer! And they'll be more than glad to tell you about how much more they know than you hahaha

 

Over the last year or so I purchased 4-6 bottles from several batches, all were nasty. I took a chance on a Triple Barrel BBB, it was incredibly good.

And no......I have no idea on screen shots.....

 

Here's the deal, aging anything is a risk. There are so many things that can go wrong, but if you take precautions when deciding what to age, and how long to age it for, you can get through these situations unscathed. These guidelines are ones that I set forth for myself and are not hard and fast rules to cellaring beer. I don't like gambling, and my collar choices reflect that.
I don't cellar anything barrel aged or containing fruit, vegetable, or spice additions. The BA beers are already aged, and suffer a drop in body as they age out, as does any beer. The flavorings in most beers fade quickly, and some taste like shit as they oxidize. I love coffee stouts, but green pepper stout is gross. I also understand the risk that BA beers as well as flavored beers offer a higher likelihood of infection. This risk spans across all breweries and brands. If it can happen to goose island, it can happen to anyone.

I dont cellar anything below 8%. Big beers age better it seems.

I don't age stouts for long. As they oxidize they can sometimes take on a soy sauce type flavor. While not infection related, it is gross.

Stouts age a maximum of 3 years. Barleywine that are super simple like JW Lee's harvest ale can go indefinately it seems. I attribute a stouts lesser shelf life on the roasted malts used. They have a propensity to oxidize faster it seems.

Lastly, temperature plays a huge role in the cellar. I will let my Belgians and barleywines ride in my cellar, everything else gets fridge space to slow down the aging process.

There will always be the risk of a loose cap, dropped bottle, shrunken cork etc, but by not playing fast and loose with my beer I have luckily only come across one truly infected bottle this way.

A caveat to this is that I don't do anything with brett due to the histamine like byproducts it can produce and the allergic reactions I have had to them. So I have no rules for sours.

 

Get off my beer page, you pompous d-bag and let me ruin my expensive beer in peace. If I handle every beer I come across properly I'd have a lot less to complain about and I'll suffer atrophy in my blame pointin' finger.

But seriously, thanks for spelling out what I've been trying to say every time this topic comes up. People here seem to be threatened when I say they shouldn't be aging this or that. Typically everyone eschews meaningful discussion in favor of defending the equity they believe they have from aging beer.