2 questions from a newbie

I would estimate you would have to age a beer for many years before it would (possibly) lose any alcohol. I'm no expert but i feel a little oxidation or done chemical reactions cause the alcohol to blend better or masked. I think most times it probably doesn't change it to much, but if you have a hot beer that you don't like what do you have to lose by letting it set some.

I have not had to good of experience aging old ras more than a year. It's quite delicious from the start. For me i find more soy sauce comes from a fresh heavy roasted beer. Where as with age it turns more chocolatey. If it's been sitting for over a year in bright lights that could affect the flavor. If you're wanting to age a good beer. My all time favorite to age is bells expedition stout

 

If i saw 5 year old expy in a store i still would buy it. I don't think twice about buying an older stout and i think most are the same way. Just giving you a potential explanation for metal.

 

Alcohol heat doesn't fade, but from my understanding time can let those more volatile higher alcohols dissipate.
I also get some metallic flavors in aged beers, I have always blamed it on autolysis.

 

Hey guy! Some quick advice on aging beer: not every beer is meant to be aged. That said a lot of us have fun aging those beers to see what time will do to the flavors. Further to this point, all beer that is aged should be taste tested fresh for comparison purposes (so goes common site logic).

My answer #1: basically yes. The alcohol doesn't ever go away, but the burn does mellow out and play nicer with other flavors. Sort of like home made chili- fresh that night it's ok, but the beans really stand out, so does the tomato flavor, the cumin and meat are off on their own flavor palette doing their thing....but have that same chili as leftovers the next night, and wow it really came together and tastes more like the chili you were thinking. Aging beer sort of works on this concept.

My answer #2: it's your choice. Aging raspy longer won't necessarily "make it better" as this logic is purely subjective. Referring to answer #1, do you like day old chili or week old chili? Raspy is a good shelf beer to experiment with for aging- buy some, age one at room temp, and age one in the fridge for 3 months-- do you notice any difference between the two, and if so which one do you prefer?

 

I just want to point out for anyone who's planning to age beers that you really need to start with fresh beer.