I was wondering about the shelf life of this beer. I will be receiving a 3L of the 09 vintage soon and Im wondering how long I should hold on to it till I open or is it peaking now / soon. Any help and personal experiences would be awesome. Cheers
Nowhere near peaking. That thing is practically fresh still. I wouldn't touch it for at least another 3-4 years. Oldest I've had was a 2003 maybe a couple years ago. Incredible beer with some time on it. Perfect, really. Also, a 3L? Wow.
A 3L bottle of Doggie Claws would be exciting and scary at the same time for me. Exciting because, I really enjoy DC. Scary because, I have had a couple bottles that were super carbonated and foamed up all to hell. I look at DC in a similar way I do Bigfoot - Fresh to 1/2 years there isn't a lot of change. It stays as a very hop-forward and tasty. Then it goes through a bit of a muddled state for some time, after which it starts exhibiting very delicious aged American barleywine characteristics. If it were me, I would hold on to it for awhile longer (5+ years).
Doggie Claws along with Dave and Adam all age very well. After doing a 10 year vertical of Doggie Claws I was amazed to see how it got better with some age. I still enjoyed it fresh and I didn't think any of the vintages tasted too old. Most beers are better fresh, not too many that get better with age. I think HotD makes great beers for the cellar. These beers can hold up for many years.
Thanks for the responses. I think I'll age it like most west coast Barleywines beyond the hop bitter into the sweet caramel toffee, that's what I enjoy the most about American Barleywines. I'm 29 now maybe when I'm 34, hope I still have enough friends to share this beast with, lol.
