Beginning a Cellar

Most BA s would probably tell you to drink the founders breakfast fresh. Also, I have never aged. Some of the ST . You may want to drink the pumking fresh.

 

Founders Breakfast is one of the best stouts as is and fresh, no need to cellar that one IMO. My rule of thumb is if the ABV is above 10% it will probably cellar nicely. I'd be interested in finding out how the Southern Tier Choklat would be after about a year. BCBS for sure.

 

I could make an argument that many on the list will not improve with age. However, at the same time, I can see the argument on the other side and reasonable minds do differ. However, the foregoing having been said, I would urge you to refrain from aging the S/T at all. JMO

 

I would not age any of the Southern Tiers, the FBS, or the Speedway Stout (although I know some folks will disagree with me on the latter). I'm not sure the Skull Splitter will really benefit from any age, but I guess why not try? Haven't tried 5 Golden Rings but it takes a special belgian strong pale to stand up to aging.

 

IMO Avery Meph ages really well. I had a 3 year vertical at the brewery at the 2011 release. It blew me away and really opened my eyes to cellaring beers. That being said, it's up to each person's individual tastes.

 

speaking from experience, I can say bells expy, bcbs, and founders RIS age really really well.

 

I think that the question that's more important than "do these cellar?" is "What's my goal in cellaring?" If you just want to see what happens for curiosity's sake, then you can age whatever. If you want something that you'll enjoy more than you would if you drank it now, you should cellar only a few of those. Of course, to know for certain if you'll like it more with age you need to try it first with age, so it's a bit of a guessing game.

But I'm going to echo some people above and say "Don't bother cellaring coffee stouts." I've just never had a positive experience with that. It seems like every coffee, no matter what, turns into a weird peppery flavor for me. YMMV, but I think it's a pretty common experience.

 

I "cellar" Coffee stouts in the fridge. Not to age, just to have available.

 

I've found that most coffee stouts are best fresh. Expedition ages wonderfully, cellar as much as you can and start tasting it at a year.

 

All the Avery ages well, I've had bottles aged over 3 years and they still had some abv heat. I would also drink the GI Big John within a year, it loses a lot of flavor after that.

 

All of the avery demons age well, I have had them with three years on them and they get better and better. I HATE rumpkin, so I can't help you there, and my case of uncle jacobs didn't even make it six months. Its a phenom of a stout that nobody outside of CO seems to appreciate for some reason. Stash that bastard for a year or two and let me know how she was!

 

Any thoughts on aging the Bitches' Brew?

 

I don't remember what one tastes like fresh, but I had one of the 2nd releases on New Years Eve. It tasted fine, but not great. I guess if you really, really like it fresh don't sit on it, as I could not tell you if it improves.

 

I actually like letting pumking sit for a while, I'm not sure about aging for an extended period of time but IMO after a few months it mellows out a bit and is super smooth.