just got a 2015 in a trade, cellar or drink? How does the coffee hold up if I cellar also have a 2013 BT, GM and CR haven't had any yet
No one has ever said this before, but "always try one fresh" is kind of the thing we all say. I'll let the rest of the crew chime and say the same exact thing.
Coffee and Spices are typically the first flavors to fall. I'd agree with the others saying to drink it fresh. That being said - it also depends what you mean by "aging" - if you're talking 6 months or so and save it for a special occasion - you'll be fine. MW is amazing. Enjoy!
Longest I have held MW is about nine months, and by then it had started to develop a vegetal, old coffee flavor. Very much of green bell pepper to me. Not a necessarily bad thing, but I much preferred it with less than six months on it.
I had MW right after it came out and again ~10 months later. I definitely enjoyed it at least as much, maybe more, 10 months later.
I believe fresh is the only way to enjoy this beer. I just drank last year's along side this year's for the first time recently and the comparison was not even close. Almost no coffee left in the aged version and had a vegetal taste as mentioned earlier. I thought the fresh version was fantastic.
It seems all bold coffee beers develop the 'vegetal' taste over time, but I find it still good in Bruery's beers with time, like Melange #8 and Mocha Wednesday. I wouldn't suggest long term aging, but the flavor isn't as sharp as some which turn into the bell pepper taste we all know of.
