What is your oldest home brew?

I have a few 7 oz. bottles of a couple different barleywines / old ales I brewed sometime between 1992 - 1995. Last time I sampled, there was no carbonation or head, cedar / tobacco aromas, and maybe a little oxidation. They were still very drinkable.

 

The only beers I've ever sat on are sours. I had a sour brown that I kept for about 2 years. Not super old. It was good. I didn't start drinking it until after 1 year. I have a berlinner weiss in bottles tha is approaching the 1 year old mark and it is just as unapproachably sour as ever.

 

I just busted open a Belgian Pale Ale that is just over a year old the other night. It was my second batch since moving into the new place and I used the tap water like an idiot (my old tap water was awesome). It was still holding up amazingly strong and if it wasn't for the water it would be a kick ass beer. I also have an Imperial Oatmeal Stout from a year ago that I haven't tried in a few months.

 

I have bottles of barleywine and mead that I bottled in 2001.

 

they've never lasted too long, but a belgian strong ale that's about 2 years old is down to the final 3 bottles, and I have a champagne cider (13%) that has been sitting for at least 2 years while the yeast continues to do its thing. since i transferred to just kegging it's been tough to get myself to age as long, although i am interested in setting up a good cellaring space for my kegs

 

I've got christmas beers from every year since 2008 that we sample every year on christmas eve to see how they've changed over the years.

Same recipe every year, a holiday spiced 1.080 english old ale. Come to think of it, I'd better brew this years batch very soon.

 

I have one bottle of wee heavy left from 1997. It's probably crap, if my last taste in 2008 is any indication, but I will keep it to try in 2017. I used some peated malt because I didn't know better at the time and it took until 2002 for the smoke to disappear.

 

I still have about a case of a raspberry brown ale that I brewed in early 2009 that is actually drinking really nicely... The raspberry has held up surprisingly well.

One of my biggest surprises was a honey orange wheat beer that I also brewed in early 2009. I found a few bottles about 6 months ago and amazingly they were delicious. The orange had completely faded away but the honey flavor had gotten way stronger... I was totally shocked by it.

 

I've still got 2 bottles each if an imperial stout, barleywine, and imperial porter from '08 sitting in the cellar. Busted one of each open last summer and while different, they've definitely handled the aging process well.

 

I have an oaked RIS that was brewed in the winter of 2009/2010. Waiting for some cold weather and maybe some ice fishing to break out a bottle. Last I checked (about a year ago) it had strong oak and wine notes from the barrel it was in - hoping time has been kind to it.

 

With only a single homebrew bottled so far, I have a pale ale that dates all the way back to mid september, and a pumpkin porter that is so young it's still in primary.

 

I have a Imp Bourbon Porter that I brewed in 2008. Still very good, but most of the Bourbon is gone now.

 

Sad... Oldest brew I have on hand is 6 weeks old.

 

Four weeks, I guess you like to read some history but i have only get one year + 4 month under my belt and I cannot resists fresh delicious homebrew beer.
Hopefully I will start archiving one 12 Oz bottle from each batch because time improves flavor.

 

I have a case of 750ml bottles of a Scaldis Noel clone (which I tweaked with a lot of spices) I did in 2002. It didn't ferment out and it was overly spiced, but I had spent about $70 on the ingredients as I was doing extract brewing at the time, so I didn't toss it. It stayed in bottles until 2008 (moving from LA to Phoenix and then to Portland during that time). Then I decided to unbottle it, carefully pouring each bottle into a fermenter to which I added fresh cherries, brandy-soaked wood chips, fresh hops, and some flor sherry yeast. I think I added a little water to reduce the abv slightly. I then re-bottled it with more yeast and those bottles are now sitting in my cellar. Haven't tried one in quite some time, but it's still pretty cloying and pretty oxidized. Maybe I'll open a bottle during the holidays this year or something.

 

Imperial Maple Brown Ale fermented with hefeweizen yeast back in '10, back when I thought I could set the world on fire. One bottle left. The last tasted was about a year ago, and it was totally banana pancakes beer. I'm sure that this last bottle will need to be the last bottle.

 

A single bottle of eight yr old raisin mead. Molasses.

 

a 20 month old RIS, I have two bottles left and last time I had one it was great. those are the last two bottles I have from my extract brewing days. I'll sit on those until at least the beginning of next year, it's younger brother (same recipe) is shaping up nicely, but without a great deal of carbonation.