Aging Beer

You are staring at 4 years (2007-2010) of Sierra's Bigfoot Ale, a delicious American barleywine which comes out this time of year. To the uninformed, the thought of "old beer" is probably a turnoff. To the beeradvocate, properly aged (or vintage) brew can be a real treat.

Most people think that wine is the only fermented drink that should be be aged, not true. Various styles of beer benefit from aging as well. Now this isn't for all types of beer. Your typical brew only has a shelf life of about 4-5 months, before it starts to noticeably degrade. The type of beer that may benefit from aging are your big beer styles like barleywines, strong ales, imperial stouts, Belgian strong ales, old ales and etc. Aging can add a whole lot of complexity to a beer like this. A general rule of thumb is beers over 8% are good candidates for aging.

Starting to age or cellar beer is easy enough. The toughest part is the patience required. If you've got a beer you love sitting around it's real easy to pop the top and quaff that delicious brew. Make sure to buy at least two of every beer you plan to age. You'll want to try one immediately in order to have a baseline in which to compare the aged version. The "second" or remaining beer should be aged for at least a year, but sometimes for several years (some beers can be aged for 15-20 years).

Where the heck do I store this stuff? Most importantly the beer should never come into contact with heat or light. Both will punk your delicately aging hooch. Beer that is allowed to sit in direct sunlight for too long (more than a few minutes) will develop a skunky flavor. You should store your beer in a cool area, away from direct light. Ideally you should store this aging brew at a constant 50 - 60 degrees.

That being said for most people it'll be near impossible to store at those temperatures unless you've got a temperature controlled room in your house. For many people a dark and cool basement is the most practical and best environment in which to age beer.

Counter intuitively, long-term refrigerator use is not ideal. Refrigerators are designed to keep food dry, so dehydration of cork or cap can become an issue (laid-down or upright), allowing the beer to become oxidized.

Now that you know how to cellar, what should you expect a year or more from starting to age your stash. Honestly, no one knows for sure. There are lots of variables that come to play. Some beers age exceptionally well, others don't. One word of advice, big beers like double IPA's that showcase a large hop presence, usually don't get better with age. The hop characteristic tends to degrade quickly with age.

Age some beer,

HolzBrew

Perfect Holiday Beer: Old Ale

Sitting around this evening decorating the HolzBrew family Christmas tree and sipping on some Old Ale (North Coast Old Stock Ale). Sounds like a bad thing, right? Despite the name, Old Ale is a very very good thing. The perfect beer to enjoy this time of year sitting around the fireplace.

While not easy to define, because barleyewines and some winter warmers taste similar, old ale generally refers to darker english ales lowly attenuated so there are a high level of residual sugars. Per the name, these beers are typically fermented longer than the average english style ales. The alcohol levels can be anywhere from 7% to 10%.

During the early to mid 1800's brewing was big business in England. Porters and pale ales were being churned out at a quick pace. Typically fully fermented in just a few weeks. This was a change in business plan from brewers who were hoping to turn their inventory over faster. Naturally, it wasn't that easy. These beers with shorter fermentation tasted different. In order to get around public backlash (due to different tasting beer) brewers kept a smaller volume of beer around for a very long time, hence "old ale", and they would blend this beer with the fresh beer to achieve the flavor profile desired by their patrons.

By the 1850s - 60s, porter started to decline in popularity, so brewers started selling "Old Ale" directly to the pubs. These Old Ales sold to the public began to be brewed to their own unique recipes instead the Old Ale that was used for mixing. These beers were typically fermented for a year or more.

These Old ales had another unique quality, a noticeable acidic flavor. Around the year 1900 the yeast responsible for secondary fermentation (while the beer was being stored in casks, for aging) in old ales was identified in the Carlsberg laboratories in Denmark, and given the name Brettanomyces. Which is commonly found in Belgain ales.

Examples of classic english style old ales are Theakston Old Peculier and Thomas Hardy's Ale. Some of my favorite American takes on this style include North Coast Old Stock Ale, Great Divide Hibernation Ale, and Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale.

Sometimes older is better,

HolzBrew