Aging Darkness

I've been aging Darkness since 2008 & I can tell you that the quality of the aged beverage depends completely on how much you like the specific year fresh.

There are remarkably few changes to Darkness for the first 3-4 years. The hoppy edge might die off a bit, the flavors might bunch together a little tighter, but really, it's very stable.

After that it's a crap shoot. The 2008 never changed - it was a sweet, sugary mess right out of the gate, & still was the last time I opened one a couple years back. Hoppy years like 2009 retain their hops to an amazing degrees for five or more years, depending on which vintage it is, but the hops definitely die back.

Based on my personal preference for the highly hopped years of Darkness, I believe the 2017 will aged really well & the 2016 & 2018, which were sweeter, likely won't change much. But anyone who has said Darkness doesn't age well hasn't aged much of it!

 

The question is, what are you going for? From our experienced friend above its virtue is stability, not improvement. So it seems like it will still be fine but you get into the why? territory for your 3 year old bottles

 

That's a great reason to crack it open. My experience is that very few beers are worth hanging onto for more than 5 years, and even fewer actually get better in that time. And BA beers are already coming to you with some age.

 

FWIW I cracked a 2016 within the last month and got tons of dark fruits and chocolate - basically what you expect from this beer. I loved the hell out of it - perfect beer for my palate. I'm not much for taking notes but I do remember the earthy hops having more of an edge when it was fresh and not liking that so much. If you like rich dark chocolate-covered fire roasted fig flavors I say go for that 16, you won't be disappointed.

 

I only like Darkness aged, but I don't like any hop bitterness. I dislike it fresh and love it aged. I believe it's 85 IBUs which is way to hoppy for me. This changes a ton with age. I start to like it at a year, but like it ever better with more time. I've only had it to three years, but that's the "freshest" I'll ever drink it going forward and will try go longer to see if it keeps getting better (which for me means sweeter/smoother).

 

Just opened a 17 that was fantastic. Nice light carb and plenty of dark fruit. Really solid

 

I just had this years darkness last night, I'm not seeing this getting any better over time. It's a damn fine beer.

 

Agreed. This year is one of the best out of the gate in years.