Dogfish Head Olde School and Worldwide Stout

WWS is a great beer I'd just drink that for sure. That's a great extra BTW.

 

i'd opt for "do it now" but I'm kind of biased after a weird experience with some aged dogfish..

 

Drink the WWS now - but be warned - it's HOT (18% ABV?). It is however quite enjoyable after you get used to the high ABV. And don't worry you'll get it again - it's not that hard to find. I can definitely get you WWS in a future trade which you can age and compare - in fact, I'm aging 5 right now. Another one I'd highly recommend from DFH is Palo Santo Marron.
Never had the Olde School though.

 

Drink them now, you WILL be able to get them again if you like them. (And, hell, if you want to taste aged bottles let me know and I'll send you a bottle each from 2009 or 2010; I think I still have a few and who knows when I'll get to them again).

 

When I first had WWS, it was fresh and I really disliked it, a lot. Then a few years down the road I was able to try some older vintages (3+ years) and really enjoyed it. I've since had WWS fresh and it still doesn't taste as good as it does with some time on it, in my opinion. Fresh 120 Minute on the other hand I really enjoy. I have a few bottles of it stashed away to see what some time does. I believe I read Sam say it's killer at the 5 year mark.

 

Aged Olde School is stellar, although it has a lot of flavor fresh, its pretty hot like WWS. Cellar them both.

 

This is my vote as well. I appreciate the "try it fresh first" mentality, but fresh WWS tastes like coffee-flavored cough syrup to me. Not worth drinking without some age.

 

Olde School Barleywine tastes like jet fuel fresh. I'm giving my remaining bottles at least 3-5 years before trying again.

 

If you had 2 of each, I'd tell you to try them fresh. But since you only have one, I'd say to give both a year and enjoy them!

 

We had a tasting one night of WWS 1 aged (2009) and a fresh one (2013). This tasting was in 2013 obviously. Anyway, the 2013 had a super strong alcohol taste. It was good, but I usually don't like my beers with that strong of an alcohol taste to them. The 2009 WWS on the other had was fantastic. The alcohol was mellowed out and the beer was that much more enjoyable to me. Ever since that tasting, I recommend ageing any WWS at least 3+ years if not longer, especially if you don't like your beers having that strong alcohol taste. Just my opinion of course.

 

haven't had the opp. to taste jet fuel, so can't confirm/dispute that 1. for me, fresh it was more like a glass of brandy with DfH's house yeast & profile laid over it.

i bought a case on sale [2010], the heat i believe you speak of tapered off significantly after about 2 years. besides that, i found the fruit to develop or vary is probably a better way to put it as mine aged.

my conclusion has been they do fine with age, (not much of the original flavor degrades). "better" is def. a matter of personal opinion/perception. because there isn't a great deal of flavor variation but a decent dive in the up front alcohol, i'd recommend aging.

 

I just drank a 2008 WWS- it was damn good, really damn good.

 

I've actually never had Olde School fresh, but it was quite mellow with two years on it. Very little alcohol heat. Tasted fairly English actually.

 

Drink them. They're easy enough to track down again and as seen here, there's plenty of vintage bottles available for you to try them aged. They're both hot as shit fresh but a fun beer to try.

 

I've had World Wide with 2 years on it, and it really helped. The fresh bottle I had tasted ok, but smelled like nail polish remover.

Another DFH that does well with age is Raison D'Extra. I had one from '07 recently, and it was goddamn sublime. I hear they're making it again, which excites me, I'd like to try it fresh, as I've only ever had the really aged version.