Long Term Aging Home Brewed Beer

I have beers that are 3-5 years old (from when I first started brewing) but they are big stouts, sours, stuff like that. I had a CAP that I aged for 6 months after packaging/lagering in cold storage and it was not good. I aged my Dopplebock for a year and a half and it dropped from a 1st place to a second place beer in that time.

 

Had half a batch in my now-obsolete Quoin party pig for nearly two years. Was "still" but had some Sherry quality I didn't mind. Put it into a couple of growlers and over the course of several months the carbonated mildly. Were (are) interesting.
And there's a few odd bottles that I'm not even sure the history of at this point. In the interest of science, they will all be tasted eventually if for no other reason but to free up some bottles.

 

I had an 8 year old can of Coors Light in college that my friend found in his grandparents' basement. It tasted like malt liquor - sweet, not super carbonated, not hoppy. Definitely had gotten a little darker than Coors Light is supposed to be, but all in all, you could have put it next to any fresh macro and thought something was just a somewhat off.

 

I recently picked up a bottle of Black Butte Porter. I had read great things about this beer, but I could hardly stomach the stuff while drinking it. I then noticed that the "enjoy by" date on the bottle was 18 months ago. It definitely didn't stand up well to aging.

 

I'm not entirely sure how long I've aged some of my beers... I know when I do a Belgian Quad it'll usually kick around in the keg for 2-2.5 years. With the birth of my child (and one coming up) I've started brewing a few beers with the intention of aging them until the kids are 21. They may be great, they may be terrible... Either way it will be a cool bonding moment, and afterwards we can brew a nice fresh batch. The brews I am planning on aging (a few bottled of) are a RIS, a sour, and a 15% English Barley Wine.

 

I have had a Doppelbock go about 2 years. It hit its peak, then fell off rather quickly. Kegged and refrigerated for package and storage.

There have been 23+ year old Berra served at Homebrew Club meetings, some are too far gone, some held up surprisingly well.

 

We've got our first kid coming up in a few months, and thought of doing the same thing. Hell, might even enjoy it with her when she's 18, not that she'd appreciate a barleywine at that age (I know I wouldn't). I think if you cellared them at cool cellar temps (50s) they would age a lot more gracefully than if you were to leave them in a 70ish degree closet for 21 years. Congrats though!

 

I cracked open an IPA that I brewed back in October the other day... Wasn't bad, but starting to get more malty and such.

My Imperial Stout though is better than ever, brewed in September. Aging very well.

 

Homebrews will often be a great candidates for aging because they are unfiltered and unpasteurized. A light lager is still not going to go as long as a commercially brewed barleywine obviously, but it may hold up better than that corona you forgot about . Actually one of the best aged beers I ever had and one that really got me considering aging more was a 4yo homebrewed dubbel in a 750 swing top that I left alone mistakenly storing it with a batch of mead.

 

You just have to start them off early so that they are "ready" for a 12% barleywine on their 18th birthday. My oldest (7) loves to taste my beer, the other two want nothing to do with it.

 

Now I know why I wouldn't appreciate a barleywine at 18, because I grew up with my dad giving me tastes of his Busch Light! I had a pretty bland palate for beer until I realized there was a whole new world outside of macro lagers.