What styles of beer age best?

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I saw another post on here that sparked my interest in aging beer and giving as gifts for Christmas, birthdays and other occasions. What styles of beer age well for +1 year besides the usual RIS and Barleywines? Has anyone experimented with beers styles to see what ones age well? I know that general consensus says not to age hoppy beers due to loss of hop character which makes sense.

P.S. Related question about historical IPA’s, wouldn’t these historic IPA’s be aged for a couple months before being consumed once the reach their destination in India. I guess I am just asking because it would be a cool fact to know. Thanks in advance for everyone’s replies and insight.

2

A guy in our club makes an AWESOME aged IPA.  He intentionally uses waaay too much hops, ferments it with yeast then ages it on brett strains for over a year.  Killer beer, but I don’t have specifics.

3

I would think wee heavy and strong Belgian ales like quads would age well.

4

Belgians do age well, but they tend to lose a lot of their unique fruity and phenolic Belgianiness over time.  End up tasting more like an aged barleywine after many years in my experience.  But still great.

There’s a reason RIS and barleywine, and Biere de Garde, and maybe Double IPAs or similar, are noted as the best styles for aging – it’s because it’s true.  Other beers don’t age well at all.  And I would know.  I’m the guy with 10 cases of beer in the cellar that’s several years old.  I end up dumping some of it, not all but a few, because shock it all does go bad over time.

The other “style” that tends to age well are the Brett and sour beers, IF you’re into that kind of stuff at all.  The more alcohol, the longer it will last.  And the alcohol thing holds true for most styles.

5

I recently had the last bottles of my dunkel and bock from late 2014 and they were great still. Too far separated from having them before to compare to, but I did really enjoy them. No real experience with older than that though. My barleywine from January 2015 is still too hot and boozy for me (The Queen’s Diamonds, from Drew and Denny’s book) but SWMBO loves it, so I guess another vote for barleywine

6

The stronger and hoppier a beer is, the better it will keep.  Yes, in something like an IPA you might lose some hop character, but aging is obviously style dependent.  Although historical IPAs obviously had age by the time they got to India, there’s no indication that was a good thing.  It simply was the way it was.

7

True.  I have a 5 year old quad that just continues to get better.  I have some 12-13 year old North Coast Old Stock ale that’s amazing.

8

Whatever you brew be really anal on cleaning and sanitizing.

9

My Old Ale ages very well.  It is also quite drinkable at 5 mos too. Strong lagers age nicely as well.

10

Thanks everybody for the input. I am not a huge of Belgians as of right now, I have brewed 1 or 2 and tried a few commercial examples of different styles and they were decent but not my style. I don’t have any experience with Barleywines, sour beers and very little IPA experience. Do you guys think a moderately strong Brown ale would hold up well for +1 years? Most of the people I would be gifting beers don’t venture too far into the craft brewing seen and I don’t seem them liking Belgians, a strong RIS or a complex Barleywine. I have been trying to perfect a Chestnut Brown ale that I and other family members have liked and I think it would be a good one to age once I finalize a recipe.

11

I don’t see why not. You may want to consider bumping up the OG to help in the aging process.  Some good character malts along with a decent amount of chocolate malt(s) for complexity will also help to combat oxidation during aging. I would think a 1.075-1.080 OG would be good for this.

12

Yeah, doppelbock doesn’t even to start to hit its prime until about 6 months at cellar temp after the initial lagering, IMO. And it keeps improving well after that.

13

A big wee heavy, like 1.120ish OG, doesn’t start to taste good until it is at least 2 years old, IMO.  Until then, it just tastes too sweet. Something good happens to them over time.

14

The last brown ale that I brewed was a Northern English brown with an O G of 1.045. I had the last bottle almost exactly one year after I brewed it. It was still really good and I have it on my list of beers to rebrew.

15

No oxidation after one year?  Was that in a bottle or keg?

16

Lambics,  with a only 5% ABV and medium amounts of aged hops age surprisingly well due to the low pH.

17

Lambics: +25 years if you like oxidation (which I do) - some barrel aged beers such as De Dolle on red wine barrels: also virtually eternal.

18

If their not into craft beer why give away your beer to them? Drink it yourself make them something else. I love sharing my beer and mead with someone who appreciates,its perhaps the greatest joy of homebrewing, but if their not into it its a waste of effort and money for you and a bad gift for them

19

any style that isn’t in my brewhaus -unless I lose them or forget about them  :wink:

they all tend to disappear too quickly to age very long.

20

The other day I came across a bottle of the first beer I ever brewed, two and a half years ago, an imperial IPA made with extract. I actually drank one third of it! But sentimentality may have played a role…