Shelf Cellar-ables

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by mrmattosgood, Oct 22, 2015.

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  1. mrmattosgood

    mrmattosgood Maven (1,301) Nov 6, 2010 Canada (BC)

    Long story short, my friend and I had a stout weekend. He came from where he's from with stouts, I provided some as well. He's not super into the finding rare beers or cellaring, but found a bunch of shelf stuff that we drank. It was amazing. Anyway, I'm left with a substantial amount of stouts here (happens when said friend is in a much higher tax bracket, I guess). Any experience with any of these? Keep in mind, I've had all of them fresh.

    I mean, worst case scenario is I have many stouts to drink and won't have to run to the store for a few weeks or best case I have a couple gems that do well with age. All of these I have two or more.

    Flying Dog oyster stout
    Youngs double chocolate
    Revolution Eugene
    Rising Tide Waypoint
    Founders Breakfast
    Green Flash double stout
    Boulevard dark truth
    Victory Storm King
    LaGunitas imperial stout
     
    #1 mrmattosgood, Oct 22, 2015
  2. Beardaxe

    Beardaxe Devotee (367) Sep 29, 2014 Connecticut

    Storm King and Double Stout should age well. Breakfast stout, not so much. I forgot some in my cellar for a year. When I drank it, it made me sad.
     
    #2 Beardaxe, Oct 22, 2015
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  3. tkdchampxi

    tkdchampxi Pooh-Bah (2,473) Oct 19, 2010 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah

    Definitely Storm King ages well and MOST people think that Breakfast Stout ages poorly. I personally agree, but at a tasting of 6 people, 1 preferred 2-year-old Breakfast Stout compared to the fresh.

    Most likely, there's no real loss in experimenting with aging any shelf beer, since, by definition, you can get more pretty easily and don't need to worry about the opportunity cost of cellaring it. That being said, I wouldn't age anything lower ABV like Young's Double Chocolate.
     
    #3 tkdchampxi, Oct 22, 2015
  4. mrmattosgood

    mrmattosgood Maven (1,301) Nov 6, 2010 Canada (BC)

    Odds on breakfast stout making it past this weekend are small. One of my favorite beers in the history of beers.
     
    #4 mrmattosgood, Oct 22, 2015
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  5. sjverla

    sjverla Initiate (0) Dec 1, 2008 Massachusetts

    There are plenty of shelf beers well-worth aging. I was never one for truck chasing. More good options for you:

    Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
    Founders Curmudgeon (really peaks around 9 months)
    Dogfish Head Burton Baton
    Dogfish Head Olde School
    Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout / Barleywine (not exactly shelf beers, but not hard to find the last few years)
    North Coast Old Rasputin
    North Coast Old Stock Ale
    Pretty Things Our Finest Regards
    Boulevard The Sixth Glass
    Trader Joe's Vintage Ale (seasonal, depends on whether the TJ's near you sells alcohol)
     
    #5 sjverla, Oct 27, 2015
  6. MastaaaGrillaaa

    MastaaaGrillaaa Initiate (0) Feb 10, 2015 Ohio
    Trader

    Bells Expedition
    GLBC Blackout
    Thirsty Dog Siberian Night
    Ten Fidy
    Any of the Deschutes beers with the "drink after" - i.e. Abyss, Black Butte Anniversary, etc.
     
    #6 MastaaaGrillaaa, Oct 27, 2015
  7. mrmattosgood

    mrmattosgood Maven (1,301) Nov 6, 2010 Canada (BC)

    Pretty Things is my favorite BW. Second place would be Olde School. Have three from last year still.

    I had never had Bigfoot with any age on it until recently. Found it to be just okay. Not bad, but I'm not in a rush to replace it, like say the Jackie O's Brick Kiln.
     
    #7 mrmattosgood, Oct 28, 2015
  8. sjverla

    sjverla Initiate (0) Dec 1, 2008 Massachusetts

    Yeah, I'd have to agree with you on the Our Finest Regards. Amazing fresh, amazing with a couple years on it. I've got an Olde School from 2012 that I'm going to be popping in a month or so. I'll try to remember to report back. Those really big ones you're not going to notice tooooo much difference year to year. And as for things like World Wide Stout, I've heard it really hits it's stride around 5 years.

    Bigfoot, while not as alcoholic as those examples, is just such a monster that it also ages really slowly. I love it fresh, but after two years it'll start to become something different.
     
    #8 sjverla, Oct 28, 2015
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