Question: Can Your Taste Buds Change Over Time?

Other have already answered the specific question of whether taste buds and palate will change with time.

As to your remark about Celebration tasting different from one year to the next, that does really happen with this beer. I have been drinking Celebration a very long time (I would guess 15+ years). That beer always tastes different from year to year. BA sierranevadabill had a very good post about how the fresh and wet hopped Sierra Nevada beers vary from year to year. I searched for his post on this topic but I was unsuccessful (which is a shame since it was a great write-up).

The gist of what Bill Manley stated was that the fresh hopped beers (e.g., Celebration) and Wet Hopped Beers (e.g., Northern Hemisphere) have flavors which are heavily influenced by the new hop crop (i.e., the fresh/wet aspect) and consequently there will be variability of these beers from year to year (essentially a batch variance).

I always enjoy drinking Celebration but there are years when I like it better than others.

Cheers!

 

Of course they do...

Case in point, I used to hate the taste of beer and seafood (among other things when I was a kid), and now I don't.

 

Jeez, no doubt about that, as you get deeper into different brews the preferences most definitely change. My 1st Hopslam was really an eye opener, now I think is just an average DIPA that I might try if I find it on tap, but I really don't look to acquire or buy any off the floor..

 

I know my taste for Buds has changed. Thirty years ago I thought it was great.