Advice needed: what beers should not be cellared?

You (especially) should never cellar lambic or geueze...

 

Don't age coffee beers. IPAs, DIPAs, and pale ales should not be aged. Many people advise againt aging fruited lambics. Honestly, there are far fewer styles of beer you should be aging.

 

You have some good candidates for cellaring. There are some that stand-out to me though. Personally I wouldn't age KBS as I prefer it fresh. Also I'd drink that CBS sooner than later.


The Great Lakes Christmas Ale needs to be drank in about -6 months. Don't age spiced Christmas ales.

 

Fair enough. Enjoy!

 

Fruit Lambic if you like the fruit character on them.

 

Drink the Blushing Monks or trade them. I had it last summer and I felt it was too flat then, it's even more flat now. But you have plenty of beers that you could cellar, just do some reading on what will improve. No point in cellaring just to cellar.

Don't age IPAs, or DIPAs unless you want them to taste like a barleywine. Don't age anything lower than 8% ABV unless it's a sour and has high acidity levels. Aside from that, it's all trial and error. That's what I do.

 

I'd suggest opening the Nemesis '09 sooner than later. I drank my last bottle in the last 2 months and don't see it improving any further.

While I love KBS fresh, I actually really like KBS with 2 years on it as well.

I'd drink the Blushing Monks as I like them fruit forward. I also don't see any reason to cellar Iron Throne...don't think it'll get better with time.

Most of the other stuff should be fine.

 

In my opinion, the conditions you are planning to age your beer in (be it cellar, fridge, closet, buried in a treasure chest and marked with an 'x'; climate in your location) are the first thing you should consider and then look to the beer style. No two cellars are similar and you can't expect another person's palate to be similar to your own, what works for someone else may not necessarily work for you. That's sort of where the fun is though...

For example, my boyfriend and I had Nemesis '09 in February and thought it was (basically) amazeballs and still had the potential for improvement (granted this was on draft, aged on premise. Not in bottle and not cellared by us).

Another example, we opened a bottle of Scratch 41 recently and thought it had stood up well- decent carbonation, traces of ground coffee remaining, and, though the chocolate flavor was more milk than dark, it was very similar to our original tasting. It was just under two years old and had been stored in our cellar (concrete-walled, below ground basement, in the back of a small unplugged wine fridge used for longterm storage) since purchasing it from Troegs in 2/2011. It's listed as being 6.60% abv.




While I agree with almost everything said, I think there are definitely exceptions to the broad rules to aging. You just have to be willing to experiment, take everything with a grain of salt, and hope for the best.

 

So lemme get this straight. You were banned for trolling, yet, you don't know what you can cellar, but yet, everything you have is cellar-able? Still troll, much?

 

Any opinions on beers like BK Black Chocolate or Southern Tier Choklat?

I'm aware that I shouldn't cellar KBS. Definitely drinking my KBS this year as I've heard of many people doing verticals (or just having last year's) and the coffee apparently just vanishes from it.

 

I had a 2009 ST Choklat in mid-2012 and noticed absolutely no difference from when it was fresh. It will be fine if you hold onto it for a while, but it will not change.

Brooklyn BCS on the otherhand is something I've enjoyed with 1-2 years on it. I like it a lot fresh too, but it mellows out even more with 1-2 years on it. Don't think I'd age it much longer than that.

 

I agree on the conditions. I keep 90% of my beer at my parent's place in NJ because they have an actual cellar at their house that stays between the temperatures of 55-60 depending on the dead of winter or the heat of summer; works out really well. I keep the rest of my beer that I plan on drinking sooner than later in a wine rack, or in a temp controlled mini-fridge, in my actual apartment in NYC. I think the most important factors are consistency (keeping at a similar temp until it is time ot move it to the fridge, keeping the light away from it).

Interesting about the Nemesis '09...I opened my last bottle a few months ago and found it had declined significantly since it was fresh. As you said though, everyone has different palates, so glad you liked it.

 

Drink Fresh (< 6 months):

Beers with adjunct flavor that you like (coffee, fruit, etc.)
Beers with hoppiness that you like (APA, IPA, DIPA, American Barleywine, heavily hopped RIS)
Tripels and other Belgian pales
Lagers (generally - there are likely some exceptions)
Anything lower than 8% ABV unless it's a sour and has high acidity levels (thank you Ahappyhiker)

Anything else is a good candidate for cellaring, but not everything that you cellar will turn out good. All but the most barrel-forward of spirits-barrel-aged beers will lose the flavor and barrel after 3 years or so. Smoked malts also lose their pizzazz over time. I've not been at all impressed with cellared Scottish ales, but that might just be me.

In my experience, most beers lose their distinctive flavors to age and oxidation around the 5 year mark, although beers around 14-15% and above might still have some of their flavor. Some beers, particularly quads, BSDAs, and barleywines continue to change and develop over time, though from what I can piece together, there is anywhere from a 5-15 year window where these beers have lost their original qualities and will have yet to take on the port or sherry notes that really old beer develops. Other, more unique beers like Stille Nacht don't really follow any rules at all.

 

Don't age anything.

 

What is the oldest beer you have? Just wondering.