15 Feb Cellaring beer: Drink now, or save for later?
The world of beer has its rules, some are essential and some are simply good guiding principles. One of the guiding principles the beer nerd in me tries to abide by is:
beer is best consumed fresh, and it should be assumed when the brewery releases it, the beer is ready to drink. This holds true for hoppy beers—especially those with a big hit of aroma hops—as this is usually one of the first elements to fade over time. However, some rules are meant to be broken.Cellaring beer is the perfect example. The key to breaking the beer freshness rule is finding one with the characteristics that will allow it to improve and gain complexities. There a lot of variables in play when aging beer—there is no definitive list of guaranteed successes, but a few styles provide good starting points for anyone looking to experiment with interplay of beer and time.
Imperial Stouts
When these big, roasty beers are fresh out of a brewery they don’t hold back on flavor and intensity, and time can soften some of their more assertive characteristics. As imperial stouts age, the prominent alcohol notes and roast character soften, evolving into a more chocolatey profile. With time, they can even develop sherry and port-like notes.
Barleywines
Much like imperial stouts, a high alcohol presence is one of the defining characteristics of the barleywine style. That higher ABV helps to preserve the beer, buying time for new flavors to develop and come to the fore.
English barleywines are some of the most coveted vintage beers in the world. Examples of beers aging 10-15 years are not uncommon and in rare instances, some beers have been aged over 50 years. The boozy nature of these beers in conjunction with high levels of residual sugar create an environment for incredible flavor development.
By comparison, American barleywines don’t typically age as well. The high level of hop bitterness produce different results as the beers age over time. Just like imperial stouts, the alcohol will mellow, but once that hop bitterness fades you can be left with a cloyingly sweet unbalanced beer. Because of these characteristics, the aging potential of American barleywines is much more limited than their English counterparts.
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Sour beers are another popular choice for aging, despite their lower ABV. The lactic acid present in these beers plays a similar role to alcohol by acting as a buffer against negative effects of aging.
If a sour beer contains Brettanomyces, it will continue to ferment in the bottle and become more pronounced—resulting in a drier beer with more of the funkier notes Brett is known to produce. The bottle fermentation serves a dual purpose—flavor development is one of them and driving off negative effects of oxidation is the other. (A footnote on sours—I personally avoid aging any fruit sours for long periods of time. All that fresh fruit character the brewer worked hard to incorporate tends to drop off, leaving the beer somewhat muted.)
I’d love to say that cellaring is as simple of buying a bunch of beer and leaving it wherever, but environment plays an important part in the aging process. Basements are great cellar options but if that’s not available then a cool closet will work. No matter the choice of location, dark, cool (around 50°F) and stable temperatures make for the best cellaring environments. Avoid anywhere with high temperatures or with large temperature swings, as these conditions can result in undesirable flavor developments.
With cellaring, there is no right or wrong, no certain results and outcomes. Some beers get remarkably better and some remarkably worse. The styles above are just starting points, there are plenty of rule breakers out there (see Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA). Cellaring beer is by no means a scientific process—just be prepared for some beers to undergo incredible transformations and for some beers to take less favorable turns.
Had any amazing cellared beer experiences? Share with them with us in the comments below. I’m always interested to hear people’s successes and conversely any failures you may experienced along the way.
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