Can u age a black ipa?

If you age a hoppy beer, you will lose that hoppiness.
I wouldn't intentionally age one. But if you do, who knows? It will taste different, might be a good different or it might not.

 

Interesting experiment though, there is no reason you couldn't. For example, I am aging a few Founders Devil Dancers. I didn't think much of them fresh, and I am hoping they might age off a bit like a barleywine - but in that case it was age them and see or throw them out - didn't care for that beer...

I probably wouldn't as a general rule though. black IPAs don't tend to have the dense malt backbone to hold together. If the ABV was up around 10% then it would keep, and would evolve, but I wouldn't expect it to improve per se.

 

Stone 15th Anniversary... Incredible after all this time!

 

Not a fan of black ipas or even of american bwines but this sounds like it would produce a very interesting beer. Like @pagriley said, make it fairly big if you want it to age well.

 

Like regular IPAs, these will probably invariably be better the fresher you have them. I personally found that Wookey Jack and Sublimely Self-Righteous, which I think are two of the best, taste so much better when they are only a month or two old, rather than three to four months or more. I would never age this style intentionally; and I only buy it when the bottles are reasonably fresh.

 

Depends on ABV.

 

Can't comment on the specific beers you mention as I haven't had them (or at least often enough to know much) but I recently finished the last of my SN Celebration that was getting on for 2 months old, and I actually liked it better with the hops a bit faded - fresh was a bit harsh to me.

My point is, there tends to be a sweet spot for beers for each person that is very individual. I don't actually like IPAs straight off the bottling line unless they are well balanced and understated to begin with. the really big IPAs are a bit harsh to my taste.

Don't be afraid of letting the hops fade a bit, but also, pick an aging window that makes sense for the beer - 4 or 6 months might be enough to change it quite a lot. I think people make the mistake less often in beer, but in the wine world people think older is better ad infinatum. This isn't true - so experiment a bit, and decide for yourself!


Edit - oh, and storage conditions really make a difference - in your fridge things will evolve much more slowly. At room temperature things will move faster, so bear that in mind. Also, this matters when you buy the beer in the first place, so the effect of your aging will have started in the store, and at the distributor... Just something to bear in mind

 

That's not the only factor. High ABV beers can be aged, but so can some low ABV beers. Gueuze and lambics, for instance.

 

I know that, but we're talking about Black IPAs here. Other than Lambics and American Wild Ales, low ABV beers are not suitable for cellaring/aging.

 

Just had some Founders Dark Penance, a somewhat suitable contestant for cellaring at 8.9% and 100 IBUs, aged since late September 2014. Not as good as fresh by any means, but still an interesting drink. Personally, I wouldn't buy any IPAss with the intent of aging (unless they're 12%+ abv and the brewer recommends it, like Devil Dancer, 120 Minute, etc.), just isn't worth it to lose that beautiful hop flavor.

 

You can age anything. Will it taste better with age? good question. I would assume a black IPA would turn into a porter-esque brew with cardboard.

 

I forgot a box of beer in the cellar. When I moved I placed a box at the bottom of other stuff and when I noticed it I remembered that there was beer in that box, 3 years earlyer I had placed some barley wines and
Beer Here Dark Hops and it had developed into a really good beer. Like a smooth porter/milk stout.

But in the same box there was a Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic. It was awfull!
Rest beer in the box were belgian quads and they were all good, or still existing in the cellar.

 

Extremely fresh Victory Storm King drinks kinda like a Black DIPA, but it ages pretty nicely, too, so it really depends on the beer

 

I'd say it depends a lot on the hops used. American hops are generally high in alpha acids and low in beta acids. English hops are sometimes up to a 1:1 ratio of alpha to beta acids. Over time the hops that have high alpha and low beta begin to taste like stale to cardboard like. Where as hops high in beta acids tend to maintain there flavor over time and can last a few years before become stale, even possibly adding solid aged flavors to it.

I'd say a Black IPA with high beta acid hops and an abv of at least 8% could stand up and age well for a couple of years but not a super long time. There even may be some that taste better with age. I have not played around with any yet but I am sure there are some black IPA's that fit that description.

 

I agree with this, this has aged awesomely. Had it a few months ago- still a little bit hoppy, but it turned into this wonderful stout-like beer with tons of great dark chocolate flavor. One of the best beers I've had recently.

 

I'm gonna stash a few Odell Mountain Standards in the cellar, out of curiosity. 9.5 ABV, so it seems a reasonable candidate to at least not fall apart with some age on it.