Aging Barlywines question.

They're right about the IPAs.....as far as bigfoot goes my 12 and 13 still taste great and i still have some left which i plan on aging further....just had a 14 and it was great fresh but i still want to save at least one or two....my only mistake was not buying more....

 

Depends on what you want out of the barleywine. If it's to be as hoppy as possible, don't age it. If it's to see how it changes over time, age it. Refrigerating will just slow down the aging changes. All barleywines aren't as hopped up as bigfoot either.

 

Some I've had with a few years under their belt seem to get very and almost too sweet. I'll age a few here and there, but I think Barleywines are better fresh.

 

This really warrants repeating a few times. I doubt many people would be able to peg the barleywine label to Bigfoot if they drank it blindly. Fresh Bigfoot tastes more like a DIPA than some "actual" DIPAs do. If that's what you are after, you really don't need to age it. On the other hand, I've had year-old Bigfoot bottles that were indistinguishable from a fresh bottle; the lesson here is that while hopheads should always seek out fresh Bigfoot, they should not dismiss aged Bigfoot on the grounds of hop depreciation. The general hop depreciation rule of thumb doesn't apply very well to Bigfoot, and if we are talking about bitterness depreciation specifically then it might as well not apply at all.

 

I prefer my barleywine less hoppy and more dark fruit so I like a little age on them and also tend to prefer the english style vs the american style. Bigfoot IMO needs some age on it but that is really only because of my personal preference of the style

 

It's not like they're gone.

 

Aging a barleywine without it changing its taste characteristics will depend on whether it is an American-style barleywine or English-style. American versions are more hop forward, thus that flavor fades over time with aging. The English-style is more malt forward and changes very little in its profile as it ages. The English-style typically improves in flavor with aging.

 

This question makes no sense. If you want to enjoy the hoppiness of the barleywine why would you age it at all? Drink it fresh. If you're trying to enjoy the hop character of anything aging it is the last thing that should be on your mind.