How long does room temp beer last?

what is the basement temp ?

 

No! At least cook with it.....steam some shrimp or mussels with it. On the other hand, drinking it won't (shouldn't ) make you sick. I've had some beers that probably sat around that long and could not taste any thing objectionable. The thing that really destroys beer is heat and air (oxygen). Oh yeah, and what about that German classic "Alt Bier".....! So pop one open and give it a try.

 

That's a good suggestion: it's so far beyond the rule of thumb of 6 months for beer and 3 months for ale that I'd be interested to know what he discovers.

 

I store almost all my beer in a cool unfinished basement room. The only thing I have ever noticed is that w pale ales or ipa's the hops tend to fall off as they age. Stouts and Barley-wines etc. are just fine.

 

It won't make you sick but you will most likely notice a serious decline in flavor/aroma.

 

Welcome to the BA site, CreepyCrawler. The beers are certainly past their prime, but won't make you sick to drink them. I'd go with the suggestion above to boil shrimp, etc. But if you are into beer, then you can turn this into a learning experience and drink one of each to see what the effect of time can do to a beer. It would be even more interesting to go to a good beer store and get fresh versions of both beers for comparison. You may get lucky and find both beers in a single bottle section and only have to buy one of each instead of a 6-pack if you don't think either beer is worth the larger purchase.

 

Cool it down, pop it and see for yourself.

 

Well, in both cases the brewery's own request to their distributors is to pull the those beers off the retailers' shelves and destroy them after 4-6 months - 120 days > 6 months for most of Anheuser-Busch's beers (no idea on Land Shark specifically but I imagine there's a "Best By" date on it, like all AB products) and 5 months for Samuel Adam's beers, I'd say they're certainly not "good" - but they won't kill ya.

The best "clue" is take one and drink some of it:
If you don't find it objectionable > continue.
If you do > drain.

Whose thumb does that rule belong to? Few brewers have different suggested shelf life periods based only on the type of yeast used for the style, and the first one I can think of offhand which does, Bell's, it's pretty much the opposite (save for the DIPA):

 

In my house only until I refrigerate it.

 

Except for bottle-conditioned/brett beers, beer only deteriorates from the brewer's intended fresh result. The effect of that deterioration is subjective. As someone said, hoppy beers are greatly impacted as the hop flavor falls off. Coffee beers can start tasting like green peppers. Some beers start to taste like cardboard after a few years.

Some flavors can fade, allowing other flavors to come forward and that's why I personally like what happens to Founders CBS and Prairie Pirate Bomb/Noir with over six months of aging. So - you need to decide the effects of aging on any beer because you may like how it deteriorates while others hate it, or vice-versa.

 

With what you mentioned. Do a soak and cook with it.

 

Only taste can tell.

 

Beer won't go bad at room temperature but the flavors and aromas will fade. I wouldn't recommend aging most beers under 8% for more than a few months, especially hoppy ones.

 

"How long does room temp beer last?"

If it's a BA Stout, only a few minutes in my glass.

 

To 're-enforce' what you are discussing here:

There are indeed some beer styles which can benefit from aging in the bottle (e.g., Barleywines, Quads, etc.) the vast majority of beer styles are best enjoyed fresh (e.g., less than 6 months in the bottle/can).

Cheers!

 

Life's too short to drink stale really old beer.

 

Yeah, but what if life is too short to take the time to drive to store and buy fresh beer?