Simple Guidelines for Aging Beers

Should you be collecting beer that could benefit? If you are going to do this, at least drink any beer you haven't had before cellaring. What do you hope to gain by aging them?

 

There are no practical guidelines, unfortunately. Really, there are only three ways to go about it:

Best is to find someone you know, or that has a similar palate to yours, & find out what they've liked aged. If you're part of a tasting group, you can spread out the risk by several of you aging different beers so each individual has less invested, so to speak.

Second best (& the way a lot of us stumble into this) is just to experiment. This is what I've done, but it's a long-term endeavor. I've found over the years that I love Abyss, Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine, Parabola, & Bourbon County Stout, while I haven't enjoyed Exepdition Stout, the FiftyFifty Eclipses, or Bigfoot.

Lastly, & not really helpful, is to listen to the 'advice' of people around here. Advice will run the gamut from the dull & repetitive "Don't age any beer" crowd to the "Aged XXX beer it's my favorite I love it!" And you may not.

Aging, & the tastes that evolve, are so variable beer-to-beer, that it's really tough to make generalizations. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot seems to be one that people love to age...for me it turns into a swampy, oxidized mess that I thoroughly loathe after a year or two. There are plenty of people who say "Don't age barrel-aged beers, they're already aged" & this, too, is sometimes right, sometimes wrong.

That's probably completely unhelpful, but there you go. Age what you feel might improve or change with age, drink the rest fresh.

 

I'm sort of new to the whole aging beer idea...what are some of the benefits of aging certain beers? For example, does anyone have any experience with how Black OPS or Bourbon County's have improved/dropped off?

Thanks!

 

You'll get as many opinions as people's responses.

I'm one of the people who thinks fresh BCS is pretty good, but nothing to get excited about. However, after 3-4 years, this is a beer that moves into the transcendent category. It's just sublime. This is one beers that actually improves with aging, IMHO.

Black Ops I've only had a couple times, but aging never did anything for it. For me, this beer stays relatively static until it begins to go downhill.

 

truths, but I did enjoy a 3 year vert of Black Ops.

 

From what I've gathered over time, beers that are pasteurized will hold up over time but won't really evolve into anything that they aren't already. Beers such as New Belgian La Follie and Duchesse would fall into this category I believe. Another good rule of thumb would be to try everything fresh first before throwing it in the cellar. Some beers are just too good fresh. Barleywines and a lot of imperial stouts are good candidates as well as many different lambics if you're into that sort of style.

 

Have a plan, think about what you are doing and do not go in blindly. Ask yourself what you are wanting to get from age, what do you think you will gain with age and what will you lose. Ignore the traditional ABV and style thought process, it has its place but does not replace personal preference and critical critique.

There is a place for experimentation, at times it is needed to gain a knowledge and understanding of how beers age and evolve. I do not believe one should get into aging beer until they have a greater understanding of beer however, this would eliminate some of the need for experimentation. Aging beer is overly romanticized and few beers truly improve with age. Whether you agree with that assessment or not I think it is important not to go into aging blindly assuming it will benefit the beer. More often than not a little common sense goes a long way.

 

Gueze is a classic example of a lower abv style (5%-ish) that is popular to age.