What are the best styles to age?
How long is long enough/too long?
What temperature?
Humidity?
Thanks!
1. Barley wines, wee heavies, big Belgians.
2. As long as you want
3. Cellar temperature (upper 40s to low 60s°F)
4. Huh?
what chumley said except
- also sour beers and brett beers
- unless it’s corked humidity doesn’t matter as long as it’s not so humid the cap starts to rust.
I would add Imperial Stouts to that as well.
I know ya’ll will squeal a bit…but I might include IIPA as a potential to that list.
Sure fresh is awesome, but I kid you not, a well aged strong IIPA coupled with a fresh keg dryhop is not to be sneezed at.
:-X
You’ll hear no sqealing from me. I like to set aside a dozen or so bottles of IIPA for future consumption. I really like a Big Foot Barleywine grainbill in my IIPA as well.
I’ve long said that an IIPA, after a year or so turns into an American barley wine. The fresh keg hops idea is intriguing though. if only I had enough kegs that I could set one aside for a year.
I agree it does. Which is why I like IIPAs fresh. I can see a dry hop in the keg reviving the hop character some. I’ve just always felt that if you ferment cool enough (ie., no hot fusel-y character) it needs to be consumed fairly quickly, to get the hops at their peak. I’m sure it’d be good with a fresh round of dry hops though.
And frankly, a well-fermented American Barleywine is excellent fresh as well.
Yeah I cellar some Bigfoot every year, but it’s always pretty stellar fresh.
agreed! I try to get three four packs, one for drinking, one for tasting in the first couple years and one for leaving alone till I get a wild hair and do a vertical tasting
Pretty much the same thing I do with Bigfoot. Occasionally the cellared stuff doesn’t last as many years as I intend ! I’ve had a few verticals over the years though.
I got a case of big foot at an auction. It will wait and be added to over the years. Not my favorite beer, but it was a good price and a good cause and I’m looking forward to the aging.
I’d add old ales to the aging list. And pretty much any big barrel aged beer.
For me, aging beer tends to make it smoother and more complex (probably because I seem to be able to taste more of the subtleties in aged beer as the aggressive notes diminish). Given this, I look to bigger beers with some “roughness” for aging - all of the examples previously given match that criteria more or less. I especially like to age beers that have been in wooden spirits barrels (bourbon, rum, rye etc) to let those aggressive flavors smooth out. And you don’t normally see “small” beers aged in wood to begin with.
As to how long, that depends on the beer and your preferences. I think it’s best to put away several bottles of the same beer and then taste them over the months/years (more quickly for the “smaller” ones), so you can taste the progress of the aging process. You’re also less likely to “over-age” that way, too. Temperature plays a big part in the timing of aging; as I recall chemical processes tend to double in speed for every increase of 10 degrees C or 18 F, so beers will age more quickly with warmer ambient temps. But I’d guess that, so long as the storage temps aren’t extreme or variable, anything between maybe 50F to 75F or so should be OK.