Cellaring Chocolate Stouts

I cellered (by mistake) two 2004 Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock. I opened one in 2010... and it still ranks as one of my five favorite beers of all time!!! Also had a four yr old ST Choklat that was without a doubt in my top ten all time!!! I love how rich the Chocolate becomes after the hops fade! I had Ommegang Chocolate that I aged two yrs and it certainly changed... but not better, just different. I guess it depends on the Chocolate beer.

 

I agree on some chocolate beers it's hurtful to age them, but ST Chokolat is one that could use some mellowing. I also think Brooklyn's BCS and Ten Fidy (not chocolate by definition but very chocolaty) do good with a year or two. Fort Collins or Rogue's chocolate beers though lose a ton of their character with age. I've had the FC Double Chocolate at eight months and was very unimpressed, Rogue's regular chocolate stout fades pretty quickly too, had one at a year and it was almost gone completely. It's really a guessing game with some of the others.

 

I'm in the process of aging some FBS and ST Choklat. I know you're not technically supposed to age these flavors, but I've also read about people doing it and loving the results.

Plus, things like FBS and Choklat are pretty easy to get (and not terribly expensive), so why not try it?

 

I had one from 2008 a couple of days ago (Stone's 12th anny bitter chocolate oatmeal stout). I was weary of it, since I was under the impression that chocolate flavours fade with time, but it still had a strong, wonderful taste of dark baker's chocolate and was a truly wonderful beer. I'd say go for it!

 

I just drained poured a 1 year old ST Chokolat. Yes, I could have finished it, but I felt like Augustus Galloop scooping chocolate from Wonka's river. The chocolate was anything but faded. You could smell it across the room. Subtlety is not a strength of ST. As with Creme Brulee I would have needed at least 4 people to reasonably consume a bomber.

 

Gotta disagree with you on the ST Choklat. I've had it numerous times with a few(six-ish) months on it, and it seems too alcohol-forward and the chocolate fades hard. Like most big ST beers, this one is best fresh IMO.

 

Couldn't agree more with them being affordable and easy to get so why not?. You'll see pretty quick though that the FBS isn't the same beer even after 6 months. But on the other hand the coffee is what makes that beer so awesome for me. So to each their own.

 

See now here, I had the opposite experience. I remember fresh Stone 12th as one of my favorite beers --- I loved the bitter chocolate and the bitter hops combination. I opened one this past summer and one the summer before and in both instances the chocolate and the hops faded. These beers were the shell of their former selves.

Another example of chocolate-forward beers, Deschutes XII and XIII, were not served well by aging. Again, I had both of these with a little more than a year on them and the chocolate flavor faded significantly IMO.

My opinion is to drink these fresh if it's the chocolate flavor you like.

 

that's funny, i don't taste much more than a hint of coffee even when it's fresh. the chocolate is pretty crazy at first, but i guess it's supposed to be subdued after a little aging.