Longest Aged Beers

I had a 10 year old Lambic the other night. It was great. Typically the longest I would age most non-lambic beer is 5 years.even that's too long for many.

 

What do you mean? Aged by consumers and collectors? That number would be incredibly high. Aged by a brewery? That would be decades at least. Aging on a store shelf? I just drank a 16 year old beer that just sat on a store shelf for years and it was fantastic.

 

Some of the Hardy's Ale series have been posted on here in WBAYDN. People have been drinking some of those that are 15+ years old.

 

I've got a 2012 BCBS in cellar. Opened one last summer and it was still great. I'll drink this winter.

 

10 Barrel Paxton Project aged 4 years in Port barrels before being released.

 

My oldest was this from 1993, my brother gave it to me and I kept it till year ago and it was amazing. I don't think I will top this one again since I held it for 23 years.

 

On my 30th birthday I had a 1986 Thomas Hardy's ale. It was a unique experience, but it still held up.

EDIT: Are you referring to the amount of time it ages in a barrel? There are some breweries that use the solera method to age their beer, so there's some barrels of pretty old beer out there. When it comes to bourbon (or other spirit) barrels, anything over 2 years in the same barrel is uncommon, but not unheard of.

 

Kings Ale.

 

Let's see... I kept a cork and cage Allagash Tripel for five years and it was delightful.

In 2015 I found a case of 2009 Alaskan Barleywine on clearance at a store. Finally drank the last one last month. There was some variance bottle to bottle, but none were bad and some were fantastic.

But in general I find most of the change happens in the first year or so, specifically harsh booziness mellowing. Beyond that I think it's difficult to recall what the experience is like drinking fresh, so I'm more inclined to age with the goal of retaining deliciousness rather than hoping for improvement.

 

I have a few things from '09 in my cellar. Most that I;'ve opened have been as good as fresh (yes, I'm picky about what I cellar) and a significant percent have improved.

 

Do you mean new barrels or barrels that held something non-beer previously? Sorry, but that’s a huge distinction given your question.

 

Regarding breweries aging their beer on wood (in wood vats though rather than barrels in terms of size) - both Rodenbach and Greene King (5X) age beers for at least 2 years. Related to your first post, Rodenbach has done 3 year aging. Back in the day, the Ballantine beer that @jesskidden posted above was reportedly aged for around 20 years at times. Other people here surely know about bourbon barrel use - I don't.

BTW - Your first post was rather vague, and that resulted in a bunch of posts not related to your intended topic. A consequence of this is that your thread was moved to the wrong forum in my eyes. Perhaps you want to report your post asking for a thread title change and a move back to Beer Talk. You won't get your answers here.

 

Central Waters Black Gold says its aged for 3 years in bourbon barrels.

3 Candles by Side Project was aged for 32 months in bourbon barrels.

Open Spaces by Side Project was aged for 46 months in Missouri Chambourcin Barrels.

I'm sure there are others, but the above are good examples of pretty extensive barrel aging.

 

I still have one. One of the best beers I've ever had. Gonna do it pretty big, meal-wise, to accompany this one.

 

On my sons 21 birthday we split a 1993(the year he was born) Thomas Hardy's ale it was fantastic. I still have a 1992-1999 vertical but to much in the cellar to get to them. and I just picked up a case of the 2017