This article is from the Dogfish Head's website.
Aging beer is a little like enjoying music. Some folks are
forever chasing the latest releases, while others stick to the classics.
There are live-music junkies fueled by the fervor of a crowd, and there
are audiophiles who rarely come out from under their hi-fi headphones.
Some like bass, some like treble. Tomato, to-mah-to and everything in
between.
Beer offers just as much nuance, even when the labels look exactly
the same. An Immort Ale from 2002 tastes different than one fresh off
the bottling line. Which one is better? That depends.
120 Minute IPA, Olde School and Immort Ale are all great candidates for aging.
"It's like your stereo system," says Dogfish Head Quality Control
Manager Rebecca Newman. "If you like it really tinny and not very
bass-y, you adjust that. Think of beer coming out of the brewery as
really tinny, really sharp, really crisp. Over time, those bass notes –
those bigger, fuller, sweeter, malty flavors – come up, and a lot of the
sharpness is diminished. So, what do you like: bass or treble?"
While there are no hard-and-fast rules to aging beers, it helps to keep a few things in mind.
1. A little experimentation goes a long way.
Taste, of course, is subjective, and the things that happen inside a
bottle of beer are more alchemy than exact science. If you're curious
about how a beer ages, buy a few bottles, drink one fresh, and stash the
rest. Try another six months down the road.
Do you like the direction the beer is taking? Are the flavors you
liked the first time around becoming more pronounced, or are they fading
away? If you're happy with the evolution, try another in six months and
ask yourself the same questions. If you're not happy, grab a few
friends and finish off the bunch.
2. Don't underestimate fresh.
Depending on the beer you age, you'll notice some flavors fading into
the background and others becoming more pronounced. Several things
influence those changes, but the main driver is oxygen.
"There's always very slow oxidation," says Rebecca. "If you're a
really good brewer and you've worked hard to get the oxygen out, then
your beer will age very gracefully and slowly. If you haven't spent the
time and the effort to get the oxygen out at the time of packaging, then
you lose those beautiful flavors very rapidly."
Hops – whether bitter, floral or citrusy – fade with time, so IPAs
and other hop-forward beers aren't great candidates for aging. That
said, Dogfish Head
120 Minute IPA
only gets better with age. A year or two on the holy grail for hopheads
brings out deliciously sweet sherry and marmalade notes. (See – we told
you there are no hard-and-fast rules!)
Seasonals, which often take advantage of freshly harvested ingredients, and fruit beers are usually best young, as well.
“Beers like
Black & Blue,
Red & White and
Festina Peche have these incredible fruit additions,” Rebecca says, “and we want those bright notes to come forward.”
3. High-alcohol beers tend to age better.
While there are exceptions, we recommend aging beers that clock in at 10% ABV and up.
"Typically," says Rebecca, "there's some protection in high-alcohol beers and in beers that have big, dark malt like
Palo Santo and
World Wide Stout.
Often, those beers are so flavorful and complex that some amount of age
starts to take off the sharper edges and you get a real velvety
finish."
Even lower-alcohol beers with a malt-heavy profile will age better. A year-old
Indian Brown Ale, for example, will fare better than a year-old
60 Minute IPA.
"They're very similar in alcohol," says Dogfish Quality Control
Technician Ryan Mazur. "But the darker, roastier beers have a little
more defense in terms of shelf life."
4. Storage matters.
This one is important. Light and heat speed up oxidation, so store
beer in a cool, dark place. Basements or refrigerators set to 50-55
degrees are your best bets. And keep those bottles upright.
"If you've been storing beers on their side," says Rebecca, "roll
them, agitate them, and chill them upright for a few hours. You want to
get that sediment down into the bottom of the bottle."
5. Beer won't spoil.
You might not prefer what age does to certain beers, but you don't have to worry about beer going bad.
"If someone grabs a bottle of Black & Blue off the shelf and it
says 2009 on it, they shouldn't be afraid to open it," Ryan says.
"There's no expiration date. It's just going to be different."
Rebecca agrees.
"It's not milk," she says. "It doesn't go bad on the shelf. It'll
never make you sick. It might not be the flavor that you remember, but
if might be a flavor that you like even more."
