I've recently begun experimenting with aging beers in my basement. I've heard from a few readers about the benefits of aging higher alcohol beer and how it can change the complexity and flavor of a brew. One of my favorite sites that I follow is: The Brew Basement. This site has some great tips on how aging a beer can do wonders for it. I'm starting to be a believer.
Quite by accident, I ended up aging some Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter for about a month or two and was really surprised at how in just 8-9 weeks the hops had mellowed and the alcohol bite had smoothed out a bit. That got me to thinking about aging some other beers. So last March I bought several bottles of North Coast's Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. This beer has a 9% ABV and a 75 IBU rating. I opened and review the first bottle immediately and ended up giving it a 3.7 out of 5 ranking. Not a bad ranking already, but I wondered what would happen to it if I aged it a bit. So, I packed away a couple bottles of this in a cool dark corner of my basement and forced myself not to touch them for a while.
Here it is 4 months later and I had the itch to try one of them again. I realize it's been only 4 months and beer of this kind should last at least a year or so if stored properly, but I broke one open for my birthday to celebrate. Good enough reason for me to open this up.
This beer was stored on a bare cold cement basement floor in a dark corner where little to no light would hit it. I estimate the average temperature of the floor stayed around 65 degrees with very little variation. Not perfect conditions by any means but seeing how I didn't have a spare beer fridge with temperature control I had to do the next best thing. I put the beer in the fridge to chill it down just a bit and then opened it up.
So how did it rate after 4 months? The beer poured with another impressive head. I could only pour 2/3rds of this beer into the pint glass before the head towered above the top of the glass. Exactly like last time! So at least the head was not affected.
The aroma was rich with chocolate and coffee malts. It still smelled great. The taste was even better. In a matter of 4 months, much of the alcohol bite had mellowed yet you knew it was still a higher ABV brew. This beer was very smooth and still had a nice dry finish. The hops had toned down a bit as well. It tasted even better than I remembered. I read over my notes from March and couldn't help but think that this beer had improved. This time around I'm giving this beer a 4.0 out of 5 rating!
I still have one more beer left from the original 4-pack and I plan to save it for the end of the year. Let's hope my craving for imperial stouts don't make me open this one up before then. The success of this short-term trial has encouraged me to try cellaring other strong beers for even longer periods of time.
Have you had some beer aging successes? Post a comment and let us know what you found out.
Related links:
- Brew Review - Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.
- Revisiting Beers and Changing Tastes.
- North Coast 2008 Old Stock Ale review.
- Cellaring notes on North Coast Old Stock Ale 2008.
- Why Cellar Beer? (brewbasement.com)
This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com
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Monday, July 21, 2008
Beer Cellar Aging - A Short Experiment
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6 comments:
The beer that I noticed that changes the quickest with aging is Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. When 2007 came out, it was intensely (unfortunately) flavorful. Everything was up front, bourbon, hops, alcohol. (That was like december i think). After 2 months it mellowed dramatically, after 4 it was even better. It's a wonderfully drinkable stout now. The bourbon blended with the hops and the alcohol isn't so harsh. I've still got 12 bottles of the 2k6 edition getting old in my basement. I should open one soon with a 2k7 for a side by side.
The beer I started my cellar with is 3 Floyds Dark Lord from 2k7. There are some beers that have birthdays before those 2 bottles (like the gibcs) but one of those DL's will be probably the last bottles I ever open.
Man, do i need to inventory my collection, if for nothing else, insurance purposes.
You bring up an interesting point vgrid - once you start cellaring, you really do need to keep some detailed records of your inventory. When you bought the bottle, notes from past tastings, etc. Lots to think about. Not to mention - how much room in the basement are you going to take up with this new sideline of ours. Fun problems to have though.
The Bourbon County Stout sounds delicious!
That's a really good point Dave on detailed records - something I've not personally done but something I've been thinking about recently. I've got some beers I've cellared in the last 6 months (Trappistes Rochefort 10, Thomas Hardy's Ales and like you an Old Rasputin) and I don't remember exactly when I put them in. So now it comes down to execution. What do you think is the best plan there - writing the date you cellar it on the beer label with a sharpie or keeping a detailed spreadsheet with much more info (date purchased, date cellared, etc.)?
Welcome Dr Beer Love and thx for your comments. I think you'd have to do a little of both, particularly if you bought more than one of the same kind of beer and if you bought some on different dates and you needed to distinguish between bottles. I am personally a big fan of spreadsheets for tracking stuff. I'd want to know the date I bought it and cellared, the planned dates for next sampling, and (if available) the date the beer was bottled. Some breweries put a date on their bottles but most don't. So perhaps you may need to ask your store owner how long a bottle has been sitting in his cooler. If it has a layer of dust on it then you might expect it's sat there for a few weeks at least.
I'm sure there are a ton of other things I'd like to track (like cost) and perhaps the conditions under which it is stored. Lots to think about.
This is a great post Chipper Dave. I think there may be a beer fridge in your future. I don't have a basement and have been considering a second refrigerator for storing beer. I'm holding a bottle of Raison d'Extra in a dark corner of the closet, waiting for the right time. I think it's from late 2007. Your post and the links you provided will be a big help.
Okay now I feel silly for posting remarks about aging Old Rasputin on your initial tasting. Didn't come across this page yet!
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