Having just read the “aging beer” thread while sipping on a year old 14% abv braggot I figured that it would be interesting to see how long everyone else is aging their brew. Currently, I fall in the “1-2 year” category; I have a keg of 12 1/2 month old RIS and this braggot. Within the month though i hope to start a batch of “bastard flemish something” and a batch of tripel (think tripel karmeliet), both of which will see significant aging. If you fall in the 5+ years category; please tell us about the changes in flavor along the way and any other details you’re willing to share.
[edit] I guess I should have mentioned that I have an autumn wheat on-tap, an ipa in secondary and a session stout in primary.
Currently what’s the oldest homebrew (batch & bottle aging) you have in storage?
Difficult to answer the poll… usually, don’t age my beers. Just wait for them to carbonate, and start drinking. Others I will age until their gone.
My oaked imperial stout is collecting dust though… I plan to keep it as long as I can keep my greasy fingers off it. So far, it’s a little over 1.5 yrs old. I’ve got a bottle of my second batch of beer ever back from 2008. The beer sucked, but haven’t got myself to dump it or try it. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to it. ???
Yeah, I have beers that I drink right away, and others that need (or that I want) to age. I’m not sure how old the oldest ones are, I’m doing a good job of pretending they’re not there.
I rephrased the poll. For the sake of this poll I’m speaking of brews that are appropriate to age (i.e. if you have a two year old mild ale, I don’t want to hear about it )
that last part is the key, pretending they’re not there or having the willpower not to drink them even when you know they’re available can be a bitch. but if you’ve got the willpower, it can be incredibly rewarding. though I’ve got a few of my homebrews cellaring, most of my aged collection are commercial beers… mostly barleywines, RIS, and belgians of a variety of styles. I’ve got a few that date to the late 80’s, but most are significantly younger from babies to 10-12 years old.
when I first started dating my wife, she found my beer closet and had moments of wondering if she’d gotten involved with an alcoholic. I’m trying to build my stash, but it’s difficult - space, money, limited willpower. I’ll never get to be like my friend Jim Ritchhart, though I’d really like too!! He’s got cases of beer, some going back to the 60’s-70’s, possibly a few significantly older than that.
luckily, he’s willing to share. we’ve did a vertical tasting of Thomas Hardy going back to the first examples in the mid-60’s, 1965 was the first I think. That was truly an amazing afternoon.
Ok, you’ve nailed the spirit of this thread/poll. I remember the first time I had a properly aged beer, it was a six year old Hibernation Ale and it seriously brought tears to my eyes. Since then I’ve had many TH’s dating back to '87 which is an incredible experience, one that more brewers should have the opportunity to experience.
I have a barleywine going on nine years, down to the last few bottle. I also have a RIS that is going on seven years. It not uncommon for me to have stuff around that is 2-3 years old.
I have a couple of bottles of 8 year old AM. barleywine. Last time I a had one from this batch, it had some sherry notes, and had mostly malt left in the flavor. What you would expect for one of these.
Just kicked the 2nd keg of an Old Rasputin Clone (1.2 yrs old) aged in the basement in mid-Mi at ambient. Deelish. My oldest beer to date. Loves me some fresh IPA’s primarily…
I have a 12-year-old maple syrup porter. It tasted like rocket fuel when I made it, so I decided to age it in a keg. I left it in the corner and gassed it every month to make sure it was still under pressure. Right now it tastes very similar to Sam Adams Triple Bock, the ones in the blue bottles. I serve it in 9 oz. glasses around the holidays and have about 1/4 of the keg left. It’s got a serious kick to it.
Normally we age ales 1-2 months, and they last 3-4 weeks after they’re tapped. Lagers go about 3-4 months in the fridge, and they too only last about 3-4 weeks in the keg. We have a scotch ale that’s been in the carboy for 10 months, and that’s long for us.
Again as Denny pointed out, it all depends on how the beer is designed. I like to age my barleywines, the older the better in most cases. I like most of my lagers fairly young as well as APA’s and IPA’s. Old Ales are designed to be aged at least a year or two. We could down the list but I think you probably get the point. I pretty much go by the book but that’s my style for the most part.
I have a IIPA from January 2009. Getting down to about 3 or 4 bottles of that left. Pretty good stuff. I don’t typically like to age my beers though, especially since I’ve started kegging. They age as long as they last in the keg, which is usually about 2-5 weeks.
I can’t stress enough how important yeast and bottle conditioning are to aging beers. That’s not to say that kegged beers won’t age well, but in general you really want to bottle condition beers that you’re intending to cellar. It makes a huge difference over the long term.
Brews that are eight, nine and twelve years old, I’m impressed! For the last 5 years I’ve thought about work and that’s about it, no time for brewing. Now it’s time to replenish the aging homebrew that I use to have in storage.
Do you have multiple brews aging long term? If so, I’d like to hear about them. Thanks