Aging Beer

Don't age anything that is hop forward (IPA, DIPA's, etc)

 

Any beer you look up in the database will have a general recommendation in the right hand black space. You can use that as a guideline. Most beers are meant to be consumed fresh but several do age nicely and may even improve.

 

Porters, stouts, sours, barleywine,... the list goes on, the beers that you should be worried about are beers that mainly use hops to flavor the beer, hops break down quickly so enjoy your hoppy beers as fresh as possible
I see you're new so browse through the website as much as possible, you can probably find answers to many of your questions without needing to post, take in all the knowledge you can, and enjoy your beers!
Cheers!

 

Everything goes bad sooner or later.

 

IN one sense you're right - all beers will eventually be past their prime. However, in another sense, beer doesn't go "bad" in the way that chicken or veggies do. There is nothing that can survive in beer that can hurt humans, and even the oldest, skunkiest, most light-struck beer is still technically drinkable.

IN reality, the ones that do best in aging are generally the higher-abv, malt forward beers. Anything hop-forward should be drank fairly soon, though even that can vary. Pliny the Elder falls off extremely quickly after brewing/ bottling, whereas Heady Topper is still excellent after a couple months.

 

I know.

 

Generalizing, lower alcohol beers don't hold up as well as higher ABV ones.

What do you have currently that you are concerned may have sat too long? What kinds of styles do you most enjoy and purchase?

 

I gotta disagree. HT is definitely very nice for a while, but IMO it is just magical the day it leaves the brewery for about two to three weeks. I've drunk quite a number of cases over the years and this has been my experience. I agree it's delicious for two months but ridiculous during that initial over-the-top peak.

 

Just don't.

 

As of late, I've been cracking into some bottles after a couple of years to experiment what aging REALLY does and have been very disappointed. You spend all this money on brews that hide away and do what? "Get better?" How does one even know? I used to be of the mindset that they all HAVE to get better and they'll turn into this new, magical brew! I know taste is 100% subjective and I am now advocating the drinking of all beer "fresh." Out of about a dozen bottles I tried for the 2nd/3rd time (BA and non BA barleywines/stouts, fruit, aged IPAs), only about two improved but most were all noticeably worse.