Far out best-by dates

Some Belgian styles often have 5 years, as do some RIS.

I have some Gueuze in the basement dated 2023 and IRCC, one dated 2030.

 

Yeah. The Gueuze in my basement has a 10 year date span. I think the latest Courage stout had 13 years.

5 years is pretty normal for many Belgians and some US takes on Belgian styles.

 

I must be buying the wrong beers. Yeah, I've seen some Belgians with a few years BB dates on them.

Cheers!

 

I noticed Stone Enjoy By has a Brett IPA that is called Enjoy After 04.17, which I thought was pretty cool for a new concept to their popular series.

 

One example of an Imperial Stout with 5 years BB date is the Victory Storm King.

If the brewer dates it out that far, there is usually some expectation that the beer will be fine but have changed over the years as they all will. Except that some folks find the aging changes the beer in ways the like.

Even without a BB date that far out some beers can be expected to mature quite well so long as kept in reasonable storage conditions (e.g. undisturbed and at cool temperatures for years). That's one reason that some even use cage aging and just leave the beer to sit.

Commercially, the Schneider Aventinus is most readily available fairly fresh, but the brewery also has an aging program. The have an Eisekeller (which is the equivalent of a cave). Every year they set aside some number of cases, half of which they hold onto for 3 years before releasing it, with the other have being held for 5 years before release.

Naturally those brewery aged beers aren't easy to find, or inexpensive, but I lucked out some years back when one of my regular lunch places in Philly got a case of each (the 3 and the 5 years) and so I was able bite the bullet on price and have more than one of each over a few weeks time. I reviewed them at the time and even in retrospect I'd say that for that particular beer fresh is very good but the aged is even better. Or, as one fairly experienced reviewer put it, Aventinus considered fresh is one of the 10 best beers in the world but at 4-5 years it is one of the 3 best beers he'd ever tasted.

If you decide you want to try a bit of aging, spend some time first in the Cellaring forum where you'll find lots of folks with experience at aging beers and lots of ideas about which you might like to try it with.

 

Interisting concept, I'd like to try one. I guess Total Wine is in on the aging process, they have a shit ton of beers sitting around in dust and cobwebs. Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

There's a thought. Set up a display of the old stuff with a sign that says, "Specially aged for your dining consideration".

 

Nothing new there, Deschutes has been using drink after dates long before Stone started the enjoy by series. IIRC Abyss has a drink after date of one year after the bottle date.

 

I recently saw a 2013 vintage Belgian beer dated BB 2023.
My Victory Storm King bottle says Enjoy By: 27 Jan 2021.

 

The notes on many of the Avery Demons of Ale series beers say cellarable for 10+ years

 

I had a cave-aged Abbey ale and Three Philosophers (they used local caves to cellar their beers) several years ago. I think they were aged 3 years? Not sure if they still offer them at the brewery anymore but they were absolutely phenomenal and well worth trying.

 

Weyerbacher puts a 5-year date on many of their specialty Belgian, Imperial Stout, Barleywine, and barrel-aged beers. I've seen 5 year dates on some other brewer's bottles, but I can't remember any other specifics now. Instead of stamping dates, some brewers also also informally state in the beer's description on the label or website now long they recommend aging the beer.

My personal take on aging/cellaring from my experimentation is so few beers benefit from aging that I mostly don't bother any more. [Unless I accidentally don't get around to drinking a beer and unintentionally age it, in which case I'm glad when it's style that can be aged. ] Of the few beers that improve with age, I find that by 2 years they reach a point of diminishing returns or start falling off (too much oxidation). I think barleywines generally change the most with age, but whether that change makes the beer better is a matter of personal taste.

 

I have a bottle of Liefmans Goudebrand BB 2024 and Cuvee Brut BB 2020

 

The description on the back of Alesmith's Private Stock says it will age for up to 20 years. I also noticed that Victory Old Horizontal has a 5 year best buy date as well as a specific time which I found amusing so don't you dare drink that beer a minute too late.

 

Yup. I have some bottles of Weyerbacher Quad beers cellaring in my basement. They were bottled 11/06/2013 and have a BB date of 11/06/2018.

Kudos for Weyerbacher not using Black Ink so these dates are easy to read on the bottles.

Cheers!

 

Yeah - Storm King...memory flash... I'll have to check my Storm King bottles. I have had it sitting since shortly after I joined BA in 2011 before I even realized beer had some sort of dating system...sometimes. I also have Otto and Otto in Oak - long-retired and no idea of the dates or if they even have dates on them. And to round out the Victory trifecta, a cork and cage bomber of Golden Monkey that is five-ish years old now. Pretty Things Baby Tree, Babayaga, and I think one last bottle of Jack D'Or are on my shelves and I wish I had hung onto a bottle or two of Grampus - but it was SOOOOO good anyway despite the reviews, maybe we got lucky there. The original Stone WootStout - recently gave one to my son and he said it was amazing and his taste buds are better than mine, so not worried that I have three left. I was recently very pleasantly surprised at the smoothness of a year and a half old bottle of Allagash Evora, and ten month old Golden Brett. Curieux with age is smooth, drops some of the bourbon character but much more mellow. Not so pleasantly surprised with some others (3 month old Lost Nation Gose, 16 oz cans - not good drinking). I am really trying to work down accumulated inventory because I know many that have been unintentionally aging are not going to be at their best...but I will say the good surprises have far outweighed the bad ones. We have enough sense to drink anything "flavored" in a short time. Hell or High Watermelon is iffy enough to begin with, six months old it is a horror show. But Founder's Rubaeus definitely ages gracefully - my wife's favorite and she maybe has a couple of beers a week, so even less than me. IPA's and the like - obviously fresh is best, but they don't magically turn into drain pours, either. If it an IPA ages in my house, then it's my fault and I take that into account. If it's a year old at the store, well, it is still my fault if I buy at anyway but you get my drift, I hope.

Even Sam Adams Thirteenth Hour and New World Tripel (color was horrible, but tasted great) were very good with at least a year on them. I also have the habit of buying St. Bernardus Christmas Ale the year "before" - I go find leftovers on markdown. Cuvier van de Keizer - blue or red I will buy any time regardless of age.

 

I had a barrel aged De Molen while in Amsterdam earlier this year, bottled in 2015, best by date was 2040.