quote: Originally posted by Suds McDuff What beers can be aged? and how do you do it without ruining the brew... I have always wondered about this, thank you - suds

I had a saison, 1995 vintage that was like vinegar from hell...age a quad, barleywine, Istout, or maybe and IIIIPA.

Most high ABV brews can be cellared. I've got some Chimay, Kasteel, Maredsous and more in mine.

quote: Originally posted by Suds McDuff What beers can be aged? and how do you do it without ruining the brew... I have always wondered about this, thank you - suds

Well, I'll answer the second question first. It's easy to age a beer, you just need a cool dark climate. If you have an unfished basement, putting the bottles directly on the cement in complete darkness is perfect. You want to keep them between 50-60 degrees. I usually drink them at this temperature too. You can store at slighty higher and lower temperatures, but you'll be shortening your beers lifespan. For example, if someone says a beer can be "cellared" for 10 years easy, storing at 70 degrees might mean the beer will max out after only a couple years. You may also see other negative affects, like autolysis of the yeast (sulfur flavors), increased oxidation (wet cardboard flavors), or coagulated proteins (doesn't affect flavor, but looks a bit gross, chunks of what look like fat globules in your beer). Personally, I don't mind the last, but it's not exactly aesthetically pleasing. You want to avoid aging beer in a fridge if you can. Fridge's are designed to keep humidity low, so corks will dry out quickly. After that happens, you have carbonation and oxidation issues. Also, unlike wine, you don't really want to "lay down" bottles. Having a beer on it's side increases risk of oxidation, plus contact with cap or cork can affect the flavor negatively. So onto what beers to store. A couple things need to be considered when cellaring. First, is the beer bottle conditioned (is there yeast in the bottle?)? If not, then any aging of the beer will be degradational. This isn't always a bad thing, I've had great results aging filtered Old Foghorn for a couple years. It should be noted that a filtered and/or pasteurized beer will not age very well in general. The second thing to consider is alcohol content. Alcohol is a preservative, thus high abv beer will last longer without degrading in quality. This makes beers like barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian Tripels, and Quads perfect for aging. If you try a high alcohol beer, and the alcohol is abrasive and hard to drink, then it's a prime candidate for aging. Age will mellow out the alcohol ten fold in most cases, giving you an easier drinking beer. The third thing to consider is hopping rates. This isn't incredibly important, but it works on a similar principle as alcohol. Hops are preservatives, the oils protect the beer. Highly hopped beers age very well, without much degradation. That said, aging a IPA is a bad idea in general. Hop flavor slowly disappears over time, so if the hop character was your favorite part of the beer, then don't age it. If the beer doesn't have an interesting malt character to it, it's probably not worth aging. Still, highly hopped beers like American styled barleywines, and Imperial Stouts age very well, due to the 1-2 combo of high alcohol and high IBUs. Exceptions! Lots of exceptions, for example any lambic or sour style beer. These lambic style beers are very acidic, and the acid acts as a preservative. Flavors in sour beers change over time, and can yield very interesting results. I highly recommend aging a lambic if you enjoy the style. Some spiced beers are also very good agers. Anchor Our Special Ale is a cellarman's favorite, and you often see vertical tastings of this one dating back a decade or more. Styles I like to age: Barleywines, both American and English, but I like aging English b-wines better. Foreign/Export stouts and Imperial Stouts, possibly the best agers. Any lambic style beer. Tripels and Quads. Baltic porters (Carnegie Stark at only 5.5% ages incredibly well for 10 years even) Old Ales. Strong Ales. SOME doppelbocks (Sam Adams changes into a whole new beast after 1 year in the cellar) Well, that's a starting point. There are exceptions out there for every style just about. If you think something can be aged, post here first. E has a pretty extensive cellar from what I hear, and I've cellared a bit myself. If it's fairly common, chances are we've cellared it or cellared a similar beer and can give you an opinion. A recommendation. When storing a beer, I usually buy 6 or more bottles. This way I can sample it at 6 month - 1 year intervals to watch it's progress. Every beer has a time limit, and it's a real bummer to have a cellar full of "overdue" bottles.

Yeah, what Cott said. My biggest barrier to aging them is wanting to drink them now. I've only had aged beer when buying them pre-aged.

quote: Originally posted by Suds McDuff What beers can be aged? and how do you do it without ruining the brew... I have always wondered about this, thank you - suds

I'd try EKU 28, as you sure can't drink it fresh! Good luck with the old stock, it has that name for a reason...

I have well over 100 beers aging right now, of maybe two or three dozen different brands. My favorite one to do is Chimay Blue, which in my opinion goes from about a 4 rating to near 5 after 3 or 4 years. I usually get a new one to share when opening some aged ones, and the difference is clear to even non-beer drinkers that I've offered sips to. It becomes extremely soft and malt character goes through the roof. I also aged a half case of La Trappe quad, which turned out great as well. I believe my oldest beer is a Thomas Hardy from 1977. It may very well be past its prime, and who knows how the previous owner took care of it (however, the seller did have a good reputation and I've known others who tried similar bottles from him with satisfaction), but I just had to have a bottle from the year I was born! I may not ever drink it! [:D] But like Cottrell said, it should be mandatory that you sample a bottle at least once a year if you're aging several of a beer. And make sure you try at least one before you start! There can't be anything worse than waiting years to learn that all that anticipation deserves the toilet.

Thanks everybody! especially Cottrell...is there anything you don't know mate? I was going to go get at least one more 4 pack of the old stock SO i'll have a few to play with over the years! - thanks - suds

[quote]Originally posted by Brad Pear
<blockquote id="quote"><table width=90% cellpadding=10><tr><td bgcolor=FFFFCC><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote: Originally posted by Suds McDuff
What beers can be aged? and how do you do it without ruining the brew... I have always wondered about this, thank you - suds </font></td></tr></table></blockquote> I'd try EKU 28, as you sure can't drink it fresh! Good luck with the old stock, it has that name for a reason... As noted, I put up some St. Sixtus 12 and got burned pretty hard! Old Saguaro held well after three years. I am amazed to hear Chimay Blue becomes better with age. It is like the toad becoming a prince or something. I will sure give it a try. Once, when working for my old importer, we had a couple of hundred cases of helles and pils that were "expire". I sold almost all of them, average age 14-18 months. I think it was more "old" then "aged", but for 50 cents per .5 liter, it was great! I would never try and put up the local non-pasturized local brews. They turn into "Belgian Spezials" in about three months.

Killer info, thanks E!

I am trying to age a weyerbacher Blithering Idiot and the main site says that it should not be aged but it is a barley wine and is 10% alc. but i have still been doing it, it has only been ageing for like 3 months i just wondered what you guys thought should i drink it now or should i let it go and see what happens to it after some ageing???