Cellaring beer

Last year I opened a bottle of Chimay Grande Cru after 4 years and it was magnificent. The flavours seemed to be both deeper and more complex. I tend to enjoy winter ales and the darker beers in general. I wondered if there were any 'rules' about what ages well and what doesn't. I know wheat beers are best drank young, but I thought it would be nice to lay down a few beers for a couple of years hence. I thought I would start with Ommegang's 3 Philosophers.

Does anyone have any experience they would share, please?

I think you are right on the mark. I find any of the heavier Christmas beers age better. They are high in final gravity, alcohol and spices and low in hops. IPAs loose a lot of their bitterness over time but can mellow nicely. Hops are a preservative after all. I have some Christmas ales, gingerbread stout and pumpkin ales that I set back.

Any big high alcohol beer. Barleywine, most Belgian styles, Russian Imperial Stout, sour beers etc.

Don't age IPAs. They are made to be consumed young, no matter how high in alcohol they are. All other mid range beers do not need to cellared.

Whatever you do, do NOT drink anything from Sam Adams after the "best by" date on the bottle. I know it sounds crazy, but I had one that was a month past the date, and it was almost undrinkable.

That being said, I know someone who had some cheap beer that was YEARS beyond the "best by" date. Apparently those aged quite nicely. Go figure.

Isn't Chimay bottled with some of the grain sitting in the bottle? I'd imagine that has a lot to do with why it aged so well.

Chimay and many other beers are unfiltered. They tend to age well because of the yeast is left in the bottle. Aging a filtered beer will not do much, unless it's a Barleywine where you need to age them for at least a year for the hop bitterness to go away.

Oh and re-sam Adams vs cheap beer "aging". It all depends on how it was stored. Bad storage will lead to oxidation very quickly, especially in bottles. Cans are a better storage vessel, so even a poorly stored can will fare better than some properly stored bottles.

The most i've aged a beer was about 6 months. It was a stout. and it was great.

I have a 13% Belgian Golden Strong I brewed in October of 2009 for my wedding in October of 2010. It was bottled a month or so before the wedding, and had barely started to carbonate. Unfortunately, it got pasteurized when my parents house caught fire 2 nights before our wedding. I still have about 10 or so bottles. Its been interesting to see how it has changed over time. I just wish the yeast was still alive so it would have carbonated.

Thanks for all the thoughts. I think I will try selecting 1 bottle a week, concentrating on beers on lees with a gravity of 6% or more. I have set aside a space where the temperature is usually about 5 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. The range will be from 12C in winter to about 23C in summer but there will be no sudden lurches in temperature. The bottles will be stored upright.

My thoughts are that I drink one bottle a month from my stash until my storage area is full at around 100 bottles.

Trappist dubbels and tripels age well, in my opinion. With some reservation, bock beers also improve with time. I would favor unfiltered beers indeed for cellaring.

I have had great luck with stouts and porters. 120 minute is the only IPA I know of that ages well. They even recommend it on the bottle.

To add, beers that have brettanomyces and/or other "bugs" have the potential to age well. Although it will make it more funky, if that's your thing.

I recently purchased a mini fridge with a temperature controller to age my stouts and other heavy beers. They really do much better in that 50-55 degree range, and it's not an expensive thing to do.

I'm laying down a couple of cases of Bud for my grandkids.

I have two cases of darker beers that were brewed a few years ago. A case of Nut Brown Ale and a case of Swartzbier. Both seem to get better and better with age.

I store mine in the basement in the cases out of light and the temperature down there stays around 55-60 F year round.

Frank

Lakebound said:

I have two cases of darker beers that were brewed a few years ago. A case of Nut Brown Ale and a case of Swartzbier. Both seem to get better and better with age.

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I am not sure that all (German) Schwarzbiers age equally well ... what beer do you use?

Chimay Gran Reserve ages fantastically. I had a three liter bottle I bought for lulz from 2010 that I opened on NYE. Incredibly delicious beer.

Bigger beers (ABV) and beers with bigger flavors tend to age the best. Hoppy beers usually do not age well (the exception to that general rule) but will survive well if you keep them at cold storage temperatures. This opens up the opportunity to age the abbey/trappist styles, porter, stout, barleywine, doppelbock, etc. Lighter and low ABV beers generally do not age well. There are exceptions. Saisons are usually not aged but will age well in spite of being a lighter beer. Sour/brett beers age well, period. Spiced and fruited beers will age acceptably for a while but those flavors will fade to an extent so there is a sweet spot depending on how assertive the fruit or spice in the first place.

I had a glass of aged Chimay once and fell in love. I will be buying 2 bottles for this weekend. 1 to age and keep for something special (if I have the willpower!) and 1 for me and my dad to share.

Westmalle Tripel also ages well. My few years old bottles tasted excellent!

IN general dark high ABV beers age well. I have had a few IIPAs that aged well, but it was few and far between. Had a buddy store about 50 bombers in a wine fridge for 12-18 months. All of them lost their hope bite, but some of them mellowed out and were quite tasty. The rest were oxidized an barely drinkable.

I have heard most of the Belgian doubles and triples age well, especially the Christmas beers. I am a big fan of the Anchor Christmas/New Year beer and have read of people cellaring that beer for years.