How beers hold up over time

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by SeanBond, May 22, 2014.

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  1. SeanBond

    SeanBond Pooh-Bah (2,904) Jul 30, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I haven't been into craft beer for more than a couple years, so I don't have much experience on how different beers have held up over time. I've been thinking about tracking down some of the old "classics" (like BCBS Rare, etc. since I'm a huge GI fan), but I'm wondering if it's worth it as this point.

    In you guys' experience, are BA beers (bourbon-barrel, wild ale, etc.) still worth tracking down a few years later, or am I better off drinking fresh stuff? For example, if I drink a Parabola from '11, will it (assuming perfect conditions) be "better" than a '14 version? Would a BVDL from a few years back be equal to one from this year's DLD?

    I know that a lot of that is going to be preference, but, using BCBS as an example, if I bought a bomber of coffee or vanilla from years back, I wouldn't want that taste to be muted (kind of like GI tells you to drink Prop now).

    So back to the initial question--Should I waste effort on tracking older BA beers down (older meaning more than a year or two old), or am I better off drinking something more recent?

    I'm open to any and all thoughts and opinions on this, since I'm sure everyone on this forum has had different experiences.
     
    #1 SeanBond, May 22, 2014
  2. brureview

    brureview Pooh-Bah (2,803) Jan 20, 2012 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    Good questions. The Coffee BCBS doesn't age well. BCBS(non varietal)and Parabola age well. I prefer ithe latter cellared- I just opened a fresh 2014 bottle.

    You may also want to post on the cellaring forum, where you will get a lot of feedback on cellared beers.
    It may be better to taste the fresh version first, and possibly cellar the same year bottle for comparison. I don't try to track down older bottles. Also, I haven't had good experience with older bottles sitting on the shelf in the beer store.

    Cellaring is hit or miss. Perhaps buy two fresh bottles and cellar one. You will get some good results, and others won't work well. It's totally subjective.
     
    #2 brureview, May 22, 2014
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  3. SeanBond

    SeanBond Pooh-Bah (2,904) Jul 30, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I appreciate the feedback! I do typically try to buy 2 of a bottle when at all possible (went to 2 different Binny's to get a bottle of Darkness this year), and when not possible I just drink the one fresh.
     
    #3 SeanBond, May 22, 2014
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  4. mdomask

    mdomask Initiate (0) May 27, 2012 Illinois

    The answer is... it depends. What do you want to get out of those old beers?

    Will the beers taste the same as they did fresh? Probably not. So, do you just want to tick them? In that case, go for it. Do you want to know what they tasted like fresh? Well, you really won't be able to tell with a 4-year-old bottle of Bourbon County Vanilla, which is what you're looking at now.

    Honestly, there's so much beer coming out right now that tracking down rare vintages is a lot of effort you could spend elsewhere. If you really want to try those "classics", get yourself to some bottle shares where people are cracking them. Some of the bottle shares may have a "whalez" requirement... but a lot don't. So, focus your buying on good, fresh stuff to share around. The old stuff will come to you.
     
    #4 mdomask, May 27, 2014
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  5. SeanBond

    SeanBond Pooh-Bah (2,904) Jul 30, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Thanks man; I kind of suspected that this would be the case. I don't mind ticking stuff, but I've found that my expectations are rarely met when it comes to the big beers (which in this case wouldn't be whales per se, but still), so I didn't want to trade the farm for something that on the Whale-O-Meter rates much higher, but on the Taste-O-Meter would by this time be lower.
     
    #5 SeanBond, May 27, 2014
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