What to look for prior to cellaring

The first key indicator I look at is the ABV, anything 10% and above passes the first test as cellaring candidate; 7-9% ABV I have to drink first and assess if it has enough residual sweetness to put it as a cellaring candidate.

After that I look at other factors- barrel aged means it is already aged, if it is too much barrel flavor (which it is for me), I will then ask myself if the base beer behind the barre flavors is good enough to age. I tend to think that in recent time brewers, in their rush to get in on the BA hype-train, put subpar beers in barrels with the logic that the barrel aging will make a suspect beer even better. Aging those BA beers lowers the masking barrel flavors revealing the true base beer.

If it has fruit in it, I won't age it, unless it is a sour-- again this is just my personal preference. I like the different bacteria and yeast that fresh fruit additions bring to an aged sour (on rare occasion it is not so good).

In short, if it tastes almost bad because it is too sweet or too hot or too hoppy (think fresh JW Lees or fresh Thomas Hardy), however I notice qualities hiding in the back of the palate that I think might come forward with time (chocolate flavors, toffee, etc), then I will experiment with aging and see if my speculation is correct.

Aging does not automatically mean better.

That said, I do enjoy purely for the fun of it, aging beers that aren't meant to be aged just to see what aging does. Mostly I end up with watered down cola flavors due to aging, however some seasonal release winter warmers like Jubelale have surprised me after a year. At 2 years I notice a decline, and after that it becomes a game of "how long do I want to keep this up and tolerate beer past it's prime?"

Aging beer for me, is a hobby for the curious and experimental mind. If you do it "because it is done" then you are approaching it all wrong. It's all about taking the hard work of a brewer, and "hacking" it (read: aging it) to see what new concoction comes out of the aging process of chemical reactions in the beer. Whether or not your aging experiment is good/successful is completely subjective. For example, many people state they like aged Founders beers-- to me they just aren't thick or sweet enough for age, and they end up tasting like cola and Redhook mixed, too dry, and just not good. This is again purely subjective- the opinion of good/not is in the eye of the beerholder.

 

Very well said above. I agree with it all. I'll just add that for me, personally, the majority of the beers I age aren't any better than when fresh. It is just for fun. Some beers after aging just aren't very good, the "watered down cola" like the above poster mentioned. But those very few beers that really do get better with age make it well worth it. And the more you do it, the more you learn what's worth space in your cellar/fridge. I've found that nearly all barleywines get better with age. Definitely drink some fresh so you get a sense of what they're like, but I've found that I no longer need to drink one fresh. Whether too hoppy (American barleywines) or too sweet (JW Lees), any good barleywine will be notably better with a few years on it.

 

I've tasted many bottles of wine and beer. I've never observed alcohol diminishing over time. Has this been your tasting experience? I know that some people confuse alcohol with sugar because of the sweet characteristics of alcohol (something I'm not accusing you of). But, a diminution of alcohol has never been my experience. I'm not scientifically minded. Is there some scientific authority? Just asking...not trying to be confrontational.

 

From the book "Vintage Beer" by Patrick Dawson:

"Given time, the booziness will mellow and fade, creating a more drinkable beer. This change results from the maturing of higher alcohols, which are simply ethyl-alcohol molecules with additional atoms attached."

 

I am curious if anyone has read or found a particular size (12oz or Bomber/750ml) being better for aging.

 

I would think a bomber would take longer to oxidize. They both have about the same air space but more beer. Does that mean it ages better i don't know. But i see more bombers marked cellarable than 12 oz

 

Fusel alcohols do break down into esters over time, but if the brewer did their due diligence during fermentation there shouldn't be a problem with fusel alcohols to begin with.