Aging Beers

 

 

Update January 10, 2003: Just stumbled across this excellent article by Micheal Jackson relating to aging beers, please read to further enhance your knowledge.

 

I know some readers of The Monthly Brew are curious about aging beers.  Most people don’t know that you can or should age some beers to improve their flavor although the practice of aging beer seems to me to be more common in North America than in Europe.

 

First off don’t ever think you can age your Molson Canadian or other mainstream lagers.  Lagers will never taste better over time.   As a rule of thumb the darker beers age better than the lighter beers, but it is more style specific than that.

 

To age beers, just like wines, you should store them at cellar temperature, somewhere around 12-13 degrees.  Beer, like wine, is sensitive to light and temperature fluctuations.  You should keep beer in a dark storage room with a low watt light bulb.   However, unlike some wine, there is no rule of thumb on whether you should keep the bottle horizontal or vertical.   Most people that age beer keep the bottle straight up, perhaps if you have a bottle with a cork in it then keep the cork moist by laying it on it side.    Another consideration is that beer doesn’t like to be moved.  This is one of the reasons, apparently, that Guinness in Ireland is better than Guinness outside of Ireland, including England.   Usually beers aren’t as sensitive as Guinness but they should be kept as still as possible.  

 

How do you know when to drink your beer?  Well, unlike wine, there are no vintage charts yet but I think someone should start soon.  Unlike wine, the year the beer was made won’t matter as much, rather just the length of time it has matured.  Bottle conditioned beers do re-ferment in the bottle and generally are better for aging than non bottle-conditioned beers.  Bigger bottles are better than smaller bottles as the proportion of beer to air in the bottle diminishes as the bottle gets bigger. Therefore bigger bottles tend to have better flavours than smaller bottles.   If you look at Chimay’s website they will tell you to age their magnum beers but they don’t mention anything about the smaller bottles of the same beer. 

 

Some beers, such as Samichlaus from Austria, Thomas Hardy from England and Sam Adam’s Triple bock can be drunk, in theory, 20 years after they were purchased and still taste fine.  In fact those three would taste much better after 20 years then when first bought.  Many beers that are intended for aging or require a long period of time to reach their peak flavour, taste rather disgusting when first bought.  On the trip down to Portland, my friend picked up a fresh bottle of Hair of the Dog’s Adambier which is supposed to reach its peak taste in about 10 years.  I drank Adambier in Japan and it was much too fresh and the alcohol was simply overwhelming.  I told my friend to cellar the beer, but he went against my advice and drank it.  He couldn’t believe the alcohol taste the beer had (10% ABV) and ended up dumping some of it.  Those beers intended to age for longer periods should not be drunk fresh while those intended to age more quickly can usually be drunk soon after purchase. 

 

Here is a rule of thumb on how long to store different styles of beer to reach peak flavour:

All others drink fresh.

 

One last thought, you will often find that beer is cheap enough to buy several bottles of one year so you can run your own test of the effects of aging.  For example, you could buy 6 bottles of Unibroue “10” for under $50.  If you open them up one by one, year after year and taste test them, you will see for yourself how the taste  changes. 

 

Here are some personal recommendations for beers to age for at least 3 years that are commonly available in Calgary. 

 

Unibroue – 10, Trois Pistole, La Fin Du Monde and Maudite

Chimay – Red and Blue

Schniedder – Aventius  (3yrs. Max)

De Gouden Boom – Brugges Triple

Duvel  (3 yrs. Max)

Orval

 

 

  Personal cellar