So I’m taking a few bottles of some commercial winter warmers and barley wines and going to age them a year. So far I’ve got two bottles left from a 6-pack of Great Divide Hibernation and a couple of Avery Old Jubilation, a special whisky barrel aged barley wine release from Dry Dock and Stone’s Vertical Epic 12.12.12. What’s the best way to store these till next year. My basement is 60-63 and will get to 70 or so in the Summer. Right now I’ve got them in the fridge. Should I move them in the basement or keep them in the fridge? Thanks!
I would leave them in the basement, even in the summer if it only gets to around 70F. Maybe on hot days put the beer in a cooler with a couple of Blue Ice packs to keep it cool without getting it too cold.
I agree, your basement sounds like mine and I recently had a St Bernardus 12 that had been down there for ~5 years and it was beyond amazing.
Thanks for the suggestions! Beer is heading to a dark corner in the basement.
My understanding/observations are that they will keep for virtually forever at fridge temps. One can see changes over time with warmer temps and unpasteurized beer. Some of those BW’s are fairly raw at 1 year and need some time. I prefer a cool not cold closet to bulk age beer.
You can go too far with “aging” because there will come a point at which the brew starts to lose quality.
I plan on keeping them in the basement until next December. I’m assuming that’s not too long, but please correct me if I’m wrong. I know the bw has already been aged 7 months in a whisky barrel when it was released last week.
True, that.
And the deterioration happens faster with filtered and/or pasteurized brews. The stronger beers, whether filtered/pasteurized or not, do much better in general.