The Oldest Beer You've Had

1852 Samuel Allsopp and Sons Arctic Ale. Drank at a gathering at the Andechs Brewery in Bavaria in 1996 w/ the late Michael Jackson. It was a large gathering; therefore, each individual only sampled approximately 4 oz. the bottle held up well and was recovered by my father from the Allsopp Ind Coope Brewery in 1957. My father still has on in his vast beer cellar. The best aged vintage beers are by far Truman's No 1 Burton Barley Wine or Benskins Colne Spring Ale. Remember there ales were made under strict guidelines (English Brewing Laws no adjuncts) & no pasteurization. Today's beers are no comparison and will not stand the test of time.

 

So why are they different?

 

1985 Cantillon super gueuze Consumed last summer.
Was still going strong, not over the hill by any means. Still was nicely carbonated!

 

At the 2006 Stone Winterstorm, I had a bottle of 1999 Old Guardian. 7 years is not very old by some of your standards, but I was still excited by it at the time. It was delicious. One of the few bottles that I've kept.

 

I haven't had any 500 year old beers like you guys, just an '07 BCBS in '12.

 

I have a bottle of Guinness from 1977, not sure whether to risk it though.

 

1999 JW Lee's back in 2010-2011.

 

Pretty sure the oldest I've had to date are an '84 Eylenbosch Gueuze and 1988 Alexander Rodenbach. That should change in a few hours though, as I'll be having a 1946 Ballantine Burton Ale and an '81 Eylenbosch Gueuze (side by side with another '84 Eylenbosch Gueuze).

 

1988 Anchor Christmas, opened last holidays with a 2003, 1998, 1996. Those three were alright but the '88 was dead flat, soy, and chalky. Also had a 1994 Triple Bock this year and thought I was going to die. Sour, rotted fig, prune juice, soy, and it stained my hands when the cork came apart. I literally had to use kerosene to get it off my skin.

 

Cross posted in other threads, but I had a 14 year old gueuze a few months back:


I wish I had a fresh version to compare it to, but it was surprisingly carbonated and had a great mouthfeel. Not mouthpuckeringly sour like 05 Lou Pepe Framboise I had a year prior. Really great, but I unfortunately was not able to compare to see how it developed.

 

Recently had a 1997 Elizabethan Ale http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/164/2416 Other than being flat it was quite good. Disappointing of course because you just knew that if it had a little carbonation, it would have been great.

 

1997 SA Triple Bock (still have nightmares)

 

After Yorktoberfest on the 26th, @DrBier shared these older gems with me:



I think it was the Prize Old Ale (1994) that had a bad cork that basically splintered when we opened it.

All good, but all quite a bit similar. Glad that I got to try a birth year beer though. Can't wait to open my 1999 bottle now.

 

Had a bottle of 2005 Brandy Old Stock Cellar reserve opened in 2013. So an eight year old beer. It was pretty delicious too.

 

As this thread was just resurrected, I hadn't seen it before. While the oldest beer in my cellar is a Ratcliffe ale (Bass No. 1) brewed 16th Dec'r 1869, it is still unopened. The oldest I have had is the Bass King's Ale from 1902, in 2010. It was part of a tasting I put together with all of the so called Bass Royal ales: King's (1902), Prince's (1929), Jubilee (1977), Princess (1978), Princes (1982), Queen's (2002) and Duke's (2002).

Unfortunately, my summary of the experience was deleted when the site was changed and I would have to find my tasting notes to recreate it. Due to some home renovations those notes are hidden in a box somewhere. Having said that, @Pencible was there and added all of them to the BA database. As I recall, my tasting notes and his were fairly close, though we had a couple in different places when we ranked them best to worst.

The Bass King's and Prince's are the oldest I have had. After that, I've had Eldridge Pope Coronation Ale from 1937 tasted together with an Eldridge Pope Coronation Ale from 1977 and a 1977 Thomas Hardy's Ale. I've also had Courage Founder's Ale from 1937. I have one bottle of Ballantine Burton Ale from the 1934 brewing, but to date, I've only drank bottles from the 1946 brewing.

 

The evening of Bass Royal ales with @Traquairlover was an experience that I will never forget and am deeply grateful for. I tell that story often.

The oldest beer currently in my cellar is a 1993 Alaskan Smoked Porter, followed by a 1999 JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale. The oldest beer that I've actually pulled/consumed from my own cellar was a 2001 JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale, which was delicious.

 

2005 De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva

 

Tried a 77 Billy Beer a couple weeks ago at Darkness day. One ounce was enough. I imagine it tasted the same fresh?

 

Not the oldest I've had, but I also had one fairly recently. Still amazing and glad I've got another couple in the basement.

 

Even when they're "good," those Gales are so. ..different as to be hard to really classify as good or bad. Do you like "sours"? How about dungeons?