When to drink barrel aged beers? (specifically FW)

In my opinion it is better to drink most beer, barrel aged or not, on the fresher side. Many people will want to let these beers sit hoping to smooth out the alcohol but this can come at the expense of losing some of the original character and complexity. Abacus, still don't like the name Sucaba, is a prime example. I feel you lose some of the warm bready malt flavor with age.

The more alcohol you have in a beer the better it will hold up with time. Let's not confuse holding up over time with improving. While they certainly can improve, I do not think many show any significant improvement to justify the practice.

 

I don't think a little age hurts nor helps any of these beers. They taste awesome fresh and taste just as good with some age. My opinion is that they come out every year, so I buy a few to drink throughout the year until they hit shelfs again, no need to hang onto them.

 

Even though the myth exist, the majority of the wines on the market aren't meant for aging and should be drunk within a year of bottling.

I believe the same could be said for Beer. It wont kill it to forget about it, but you're no way going to make a mediocre beer better by aging it.

 

The answers/results you'll get on these are really a matter of taste, since all of these are pretty barrel forward upon release. If you're into this, then open sooner rather than later, but if you want some heat to die down, I would sit on them for a bit.

Some people feel Abacus/Sucaba falls off pretty quick, although I've had Batch 1 and 2 recently and thought both of them were still delicious, particularly Batch 2 (when they changed the name to Sucaba). Parabola ages nicely for a bit, and the Anny beers are really all over the place. If you do a forum search, you'll see tasting results of people doing full verticals, with literally every single person having different opinions about which ones are peaking. The only constant there seems to generally be that 10-12 are over the hill, but I can't really speak to that since I've only had 13-16.

 

Sucaba should be drank pronto. It is perfect as is.

 

I have found that batch 1 of Abacus/Sucaba has thinned a bit much for my taste, but some would like it that way. I'm of the belief that you should have a few bottles of each and lay them down six months at a time to drink and note the changes. At least that way you can better determine YOUR likes and dislikes.

 

Brrr!

 

Now. Seriously.

 

I prefer everything they do fresh, except the anniversary series, which I think benefits from about a year of aging.

 

Exactly!!

 

You are likely correct but, respectfully, your response is extremely misleading. I agree that "the majority" of wine on the market isn't meant for aging. HOWEVER, the majority of the wines on the market are common grape, inexpensive simple table wines, likely not the kind of wines that would garner interest from a wine enthusiast or any person with sufficient tastes to be on this site and want to experiment with wine. Your response is extremely technical since most wine on the market is bulk wine and not the kind of wine about which people write, or go to tastings or collect.

So, yes - you're correct. But, to be fair, many wines (including several white wines) that are "higher end" and the kinds of wine about which people write and share at tastings etc. clearly are meant for aging, and a lot of this is the function of the wine industry, where it can take 3 or 4 years to get a vintage in the bottle. Most wines are released as late as they can be released and still provide sufficient cash so the winery can operate. Again, I'm not talking about the holdings of Diagio and their bulk wine sales, or Gallo or such. I'm talking about the smaller premium wineries, the wines and wineries we "read about."

 

Correct. I mean, I don't know if my Gallo made MD 20/20 is aging gracefully. But applying that same situation to the beer world. There's a handful of breweries who list that a beer is best consumed after a certain date. I would lay down those as well as anything that needs to mellow out. But the vast majority of stuff cranked out should be consumed fresh.

The distinction of aging vs. just collecting should be noted. There's a big difference between purposely aging something opposed to just buying too much and having stuff sit for a while before you get to it.

 

immediately. FW more than anyone else it seems, though my reasoning is anecdotal.

well, the general reasoning is that "barrel influence" seems to go away, and FW release their beer exactly when it's ready. the further reasoning is my own experience of abacus and parabola "falling off". p.s. abacus is like the best beer ever.

 

Same people, same responses. I wish there were stickies...or something like that...

Cellaring is a beer-by-beer phenomenon. Anyone who says it's almost all good or almost all bad is speaking in over-generalizations, plus, everyone's palate is a little different...so your guess is as good as anyone else's. My observations:

Double DBA: never cellared this one
Sucaba: drink this one fresh, it's definitely best then
Parabola: fresh? Two years? Whatever. It's a fantastic beer fresh, & the original 2010 batch has maintained or improved on that amazingosity to date. We've had the '10-'11'-12 in the past few months: the '10 was mind-blowing, the '11 turned into a pretty good beer, & the '12 is astounding. My faint memory pegged the '11 as not quite as good fresh, but I fully expect the '12 to be awesome for a few years.
Firestone Walker 15th or 16th Anniversary Ales: had a 16 last night & it's so bloody good I can't imagine it getting any better (though I thought the same thing of the '10 Parabola). The 15 is still very good, though it was, to me, the weakest of the Anniversary series fresh. So it'll be interesting to see where it goes, & I've hung onto a couple bottles. The Anniversary beers seem to bring out the rabid partisans & the consensus seems to be don't age these. We've had them up to three years old & they seem more like "maintain" beers to me than "improve" beers, but since the blend is different every year, it's hard to generalize.

Good luck. My opinion is that the only way anyone feels their way through cellaring is by trying a bunch of different aged beers...hopefully you have some friends to help, otherwise it gets expensive fast. If you're like most people you'll have wild successes, miserable failure, & plenty of beers that just hang around at generally the same level.