The Story: A few nights ago some friends of mine visited my house and they were having some drinks. Now, one of them asked if they could have some of ours, and I kinda waved in the direction of the fridge and said "Anything over there should be fine." The next day I come to find out that my father had left some Grolsch 1976 Op Sail beer near his fridge, and one of my friends drank it. To make me feel even worse, apparently they were a gift from his dead father.... Anyways, so I don't drink (neither does he), and frankly have no idea where to even look for this stuff. I just reached out to Grolsch to see if they still have any lying around. However, I thought I'd reach out to people who really know their stuff (Beer Advocate), to see if anyone knew of any collectors who might have some of this?
A quick search shows some cans available on eBay. You'd need to confirm they were still full because they're for people who collect cans, but that might be a way to go. By the way, who was the weirdo who drank a warm beer from decades ago?
If you're going to replace it AND tell him, don't bother. It's probably not the 42 year old beer he cares about, since it sounds sentimental. Any replacement - if he knows - would not be very sentimental.
The last very old beer I tried (thirty years, plus) had been well-kept in a spare refrigerator. I was happy with how it had held up, but I’d say I got very lucky. I agree that the sentiment in replacing this one might be lost, but perhaps the search will be fruitful.
Another thought: Post your question in the Breweriana forum. You might find some folks there who actually trade in this type of thing. It couldn't hurt.
