Are verticals really worth it?

never really did a complete vertical but got 2 in the works...bcbs & abyss (5 yr of ea.)...i'll see how it goes and report back.

 

I have just started experimenting with aging. I will say I had a 2012 Tröegs Mad Elf (actually had a couple) in 2014? at a wedding and it was great. Also had the a crowler of 2015 Tröegs Mad Elf this past December and once again I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed aged Mad Elf vs. fresh Mad Elf.

 

I've unintentionally aged a lot of BA stout and other dark beers. Last year I really got into trying new beers, so much so that I ignored my cellar except to add to it when I ran across annual releases of favorites. Last few months I've been drinking it down, non-BA and non-stout first. Drinking a lot of 2016 now. Nothing has gone bad, but some of the two year old BA stouts just don't seems as bold as they did fresh. So yeah, I'm in the middle of a big aged beer tasting.

 

If you have space, and the patience it takes to forget about the bottles for a couple years. Try it out.

 

"worth it?" -- not sure how to quantify but keeping some 6 pack holders of Bigfoot is pretty easy to do.

Fun--you bet. 10 yrs of Bigfoot is just great to share.

 

Yes, verticals can be useful.

For example, I've done a Vertical with Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout in which we had a blind pour of a sample of each of three successive years bottlings and did a side by side comparison (with lots of water and unsalted crackers to clean the palate between samples, and without finishing a sample in the first round so that it could be returned to after the others had been sampled). It was interesting to see how the flavors softened and seemed to become a bit more complex. (But the water and unsalted crackers were critical in helping to cleanse the palate between samplings.)

Some years back I was part of a tasting with some friends where we had two side by side vertical tastings going on in the same evening. Weyerbacher makes an English style Barleywine called Blithering Idiot. When they age that same beer in Bourbon barrels it's called Insanity. This time we began with samples of the most recent year of each beer, then moved to samples of the two beers with 1 year of bottle age, then moved to samples of the two beers with 2 years of bottle age. (All done with water and unsalted crackers between each sample.)

We all agreed that it was very helpful for all of us at learning to sort out how a beer seems to change both with age and with the Bourbon barrel aging, especially since none of us had any firm preconceived notions about what to expect from each of the six beers except for the two from the most recent year but none of those ideas had been based on a direct side-by-side comparison between Blithering Idiot and Insanity.

 

For specific beers that are known to age well? . . . yes.

For other beers that are a crapshoot? . . . probably not.

For those crapshoot beers, though, a three year vertical should be sufficient to see how things progress.

 

It’s too broad a brush to say that the beers that improve with age peak between 1 and 2 years. I’ve had plenty of beers that have “improved” after being aged for more than 1-2 years. I put “improved” in quotes because It is a subjective notion.

I’ve had plenty of beers that I’ve aged that have not improved, or that would have been much better had I aged them only for 1-2 years.

 

I would certainly agree with the notion that most beers don't improve with age. This is especially the case with non-sour barrel aged beers. Oxygen exposure while in the barrel is the reason why they tend to fall off rather quickly, as compared to their non-barrel aged counterparts.

Not to say that oxygen exposure is bad, but it certainly depends upon the amount in question. A small amount can result in a wonderful sherry-like character developing over the years. Larger amounts can result in a beer quickly coming apart at the seems and/or a glass full of cardboard. Some people like sherry. Some don't. That's the only subjective part of the equation. Everybody who is serious about beer should know that oxidation to the point of cardboard is less than a positive thing.

 

Oxidation is not the only subjective part of the equation. I believe there are other changes to flavor that could occur over time.

On that same topic, you hit the nail on the head with the sherry flavor. It is desirable to me and exactly the reason why I age DFH 120 for 7 - 8 years

 

If a beer is not aged on lees, oxidation is, very literally, the only type of reaction happening. Oxidation-reduction reactions happen to all of the compounds in the beer, so the more different and varied compounds that are present, the more different and varied end products possible.

 

I presently have just over 100 beers in my so-called "cellar"*.

Approximately 80 are barrel aged. I have started consuming the 2016 KBSs, and they are still good sippers, but significantly different from the 2018. I think some (even most?) of that difference was in the '16 KBS when fresh, though. No cardboard.

About 1/3 are BA Imperial Stouts. About 1/5 are BA Wee Heavies. The non-BAs are smoked porters, a few RISs, and English barley wines.

The oldest are 2014. I have consumed a couple of those 2014 beers in the past few months (one of the smoked porters, and the other was a BA wee heavy) and they were quite good.

OTOH, I also had one of the 2016 BA barleywines and, while still good, it seemed to have lost a bit and a bit harsher from what I remember it being when fresh. (Still no cardboard, though!)

* A stack of cardboard boxes in the basement.

 

My issue with a lot of the barrel aged beers that I've had is oxidation. Maybe not to the level of papery/cardboard, but this character, when it is not well incorporated, is very off-putting to me. Many times it is present in "fresh" barrel aged beers and I find that when those beers are aged for any period of time, they completely fall apart from a flavor profile standpoint.

 

Perhaps you're really sensitive to oxidation? I've had plenty of aged (up to ten years) barrel aged beers & with the rare exception, haven't noticed a massive increase in oxidation. I, on the other hand, am overly sensitive to aged hops - to my palate, old Bigfoot is bloody awful.

Two cases in point are The Abyss & The Perfect Storm. These are two beers I believe improve markedly with age. We did an Abyss vertical not long ago all the way back to 2008 & while the flavors were finally really faded, I didn't get any oxidation.

 

what breweries of BA beers, do you find oxidation ? The big ones like Goose Island or the Bruery?



As for verticals, I've only done one. '12 - '15 BCBS. Loved it, but otherwise my interest in verticals has faded. I've been clearing out my cellar of vintage BA Old Rasputin, and I found an oxidized XVI. First time I had an issue with North Coast Brewing, or any BA that bad.

 

Definitely.

FWIW, I'm not talking about the beer falling apart or over the top cardboard character. I'm talking about the trans-2-nonenal "sherry" characteristic. In some beers even a touch of that character is too much for me.

Never got it from a GI beer but have had it from plenty of beers from The Bruery. I get it from a lot of BA beers, from local to nationally distributed ones. Some breweries do a better job than others.

 

Did you drink any or just put them all away? If the former, any favorites?

 

Since I am on the outskirts of Houston, BW are not a big thing, I was able to pick up a couple of Olde GnarlyWine, took one this weekend to wedding, but it got moved into a different ice chest, so I forgot about it. I have had the following on tap (no reviews, was with friends and fam)
Real Ale: Sisyphus (smooth and hoppy 2016 vintage)
Houston Brewery Holler: 20" Blades one of their first barrel aged beers, good barrel character, didn't hammer the base beer
Houston Brewery Holler: Shot Caller from the same brewery, don't think the malt bill was the same as the above beer, this one was lighter on the palate.
Champion: Canis Lupulus, this is a BA barley wine, which I thought didn't posses the booziness most barrels bring, but shit it had this burnt sugar thing going on that had me addicted. It is still on tap locally and since you brought this up, going to go back and try to grab another one. Really liked the complexity this one brought to the table.
And as always, I have Bigfoot hanging around, but now I am stashing some away to do my on vertical in a few years. Was going to do the same with Sisyphus, but I haven't found anyone that has it in stock

 

What I tried wasn't the BBA version. I have not yet seen that in stores. I see the base beer, but it's always sitting dusty due to the big price tag. I suppose that's why we don't get an allotment of the good stuff... I'd probably just drink the BBA stuff, wouldn't have enough to age it.