Stout in a can

The oldest can of stout I’ve had was about a year-old can of BA Ten Fidy. The barrel character had faded a bit, but otherwise the beer held up fine. I’ve read about other people drinking cans of regular Ten Fidy that were multiple years old, and other than the beer mellowing out, it didn’t seem to develop any off flavors. As far as other stouts go, some of the biggest factors are probably dissolved oxygen/total package oxygen level, and the quality of the seam on the can. IMO, stouts between 8-10% abv tend to age decently, with my personal sweet spot between 12-15% for BA stouts. YMMV.

 

Abv won't necessarily have a factor in how it holds up. But...
It wasn't in a can, but I had Founders Breakfast stout that was over 4 years old a couple weeks ago and thought it tasted fine. Perhaps not as bright from the coffee doing old coffee stuff, but still.

 

Stouts usually hold up well no matter the container material. I've been finishing off some 2yr old coffee milk stouts in 16oz cans, and they're just as good as they were fresh. Coffee has faded a bit, muting the coffee bitterness, but still outstanding. Year old BA Fidy fell off after 6 months as far as in-your-face boldness, thinking again it was the coffee fading, but still held up. I've had FBS bottles go "green pepper" in a year - so I'm thinking the beer matters more than the container.

 

I had a year old Ten Fidy two nights ago and it had aged wonderfully.

 

I'll add on to the Ten Fidy comments. I've had 2.5 year old cans that showed no development of off flavors or aging-related issues. Still delicious as well.

 

I almost never see fresh TF and that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

 

Ba ten fidy goes to hell in 6 months. Loses 90% of the extreme barrel blast you get when fresh.

 

Regular 10.50 ages very well. I've had 5 year old cans that are sublime.

 

Agreed with Ten Fidy being the prime example for me, too. I've probably had twice as much Ten Fidy that's at least three years old than younger than that.

I've been trying to pace myself with Revolution's Deep Wood series cans from this past winter, so that I'll run out right around the time of this year's cycle. A year isn't much for big bruisers like VSOD, but I can't say that I've noticed any difference in any of them over the course of the year.

I would assume that the same general rules for ageing stouts apply for canned stouts, as well, but that you might even see less oxidation over time, depending on the extent of modern tech on the canning line.

 

A couple of years ago I drank a regular Ten Fidy canned in 2006. It was extra'd to me in a trade at 9 years old, and I decided to hold onto it another year to hit the 10 year mark. It was fantastic.

 

I drank a 15 Ten Fidy last night and was still very good

 

I had a non-BA TenFidy last night. Wasn't aged very long, about 10-11 months.

I thought it was great. Perhaps the slightest muting of the flavors from being fresh, but overall it was a terrific pour.

After seeing these comments, I'm very interested to try putting one aside for a few years and seeing how it goes.