Aging Barrel Aged Stouts

had the 2005 and 2006 at a tasting, enjoyed both. Hard to compare them to RARE, Vanilla, and 2008...Those 3 killed everything else!

 

personally i don't like to keep them more than three years, and prefer them between 6mos to a year, just enough time for the heat to settle but still have big bold flavors.

 

I had a 2009 BCBS a while back and it was divine. I assume that this beer in particular will hold up quite well over time.

 

I will not say that there are not some amazing aged barrel aged stouts but I think the majority of them are best fresh to one year. A lot of people fall in love with the idea of cellaring, a much smaller percentage fall in love with the results.

 

Like Kevin said, I like most of mine within a year. There are some exceptions but most seem to see the barrel characteristics fading and to me, that is why you're drinking it in the first place.

 

Exactly this. Bourbon County is the only stout I've really found to hold up well, but even then, it's nowhere near the 5 years that the bottle indicates. I'd say 2-3 years tops. For others, I don't advocate going much more than 6 months, unless you're conserving supply until the next release for a beer like Dark Lord, Darkness, etc.

 

I find the act of aging beers to be sort of ridiculous, especially the practice of not drinking them fresh. I accidentally age a few things, like Black Tuesday when you can buy a case of 20% beer, it takes me about a year to drink all of them, other than that it is not my job to finish a brewery's beer for them. If your product requires a year to "mellow" and that's the way you want people to enjoy it, YOU store it for us. I think people don't always realize that barrel aged beers are already aged and have had a chance to mellow in the barrel sometimes for years. They don't get better, they just get more boring. And I like fresh Bourbon county.

 

Oak is porous so there is a significant amount of oxidation that goes on in the barrel which really accelerates the aging process.

So it really comes down to how long the beer has spent in the barrel. I find that BCBS peaks around 2.5 - 3 years. After that the oxidation notes begin to taste a bit tobaccoish and the body has thinned to the point that its a disadvantage. The '09 is drinking at a world class level right now. That whole 5 year thing is listed on most of GI's bombers so I don't put too much faith in it being real specific to a beer.

As far as other stouts, it is really hard to say. It is going to come down to residual sugar levels, boil time (kettle carmelization), amount of malt melanoidins, hop alpha acid content, etc. Its too hard to generalize. In general, the most you can hope for is 5 years, though many will fall apart after just a year or two. There are notable exceptions like some of Midnight Sun's really old Imp stouts and Courage's RIS though.

 

This. End thread.

Saying that all, or most, barrel-aged stouts should or shouldn't be aged is plain silly. There are a couple that I absolutely love with 2-3 years on them (BA Blackout Stout!) & others that have faded fairly quickly & ought to be drunk fresh (FiftyFifty Rye). But even those results are just according to my palate.

Back on topic, the longest I've aged a BA Stout is an '06 Bourbon County Stout. Those I've had have hit the sweet spot for me in 2-3 years, too much before, fading afterwards, stellar in the middle.

And if you stick around for another 6 months, you'll see this question pop up another half-dozen times.

 

Abyss, to me, is virtually undrinkable with less than a year on it. Not sure how long it holds up after that, but it vastly improves with a bit of age.

 

Abyss might be my favorite beer to age & I'm with you, fresh it's good, but not much better than anything else. We've had an '07 & '08 recently & both were fantastic.

 

No it's not. Most stouts shouldn't be aged much, if at all. Based on fairly-extensive experience, the vast majority of stouts fall off fairly quickly after the first 6-12 months, and beyond a few months to lose any boozy heat (which the consumer should not have to do), there's little to no improvement.

 

While I normally advocate not aging barrel aged beers particularly long, as they already oxidize in the barrel, Bourbon County Stout is the poster child for -bal stout aging. I also enjoy 1-2 yr Expedition.

 

There is some good info in this thread. It seems to be as subjective as the taste of the beer before it is aged.

 

Agree 100% on this. Bourbon County is the one that consistently ages well for 2-3 years. I also like it fresh. Expedition bothers me a bit in that Bell's should not be releasing that beer as they do, as it's a hot, boozy mess when it comes out, IMO. After a bit of time, it's quite delicious.

 

In my experience:

1 year old KBS (2009 in 2010, 2010 in 2011): I have had two vintages at this age now and it is so great. It mellows out just a bit and everything seems to be balanced and delicious.

2 year old Bourbon County (2009 in 2011): Still extremely whiskey forward and hot, a beast.

That's all I can think of but in general I like my beers fresh to 1 year old. Much older than that and I personally stop seeing improvement.

 

This is just wrong, based on my fairly-extensive experience.

A more accurate statement (agreeing with MordorMongo above) would be "I DON'T like the vast majority of stouts, & FOR ME they fall of fairly quickly after the first 6-12 months."

I happen to prefer several BA stouts with age vs. fresh, to the point I won't even bother drinking them fresh anymore. The best way for anyone to figure out what they like is to experiment with a couple of bottles (preferably of relatively low cost like Expy Stout, Founders Imperial Stout, Plead the 5th, etc.) & see if it agrees or disagrees with them, before going in whole hog.

Of course, your palate may vary

 

You can age them, sure, but the barrel aspect fades out, just like hops.

If you like them with less of the character that you paid extra for, then by all means go for it. It is your beer.

(btw, all of the beers you listed, are not barrel aged.)

 

To each his own, I suppose. Sure, everyone should experiment a bit, but the mentality that anything dark and malty and 8% or over will age out well is mistaken, and plenty of good beer is waste.

For these stouts, if a beer isn't near its prime when it's released, then the brewery shouldn't release it. Plain and simple.