by John VerPlanck and Jennifer Laskey VerPlanck,
Black Sheep Wine and Beer Shop, Harpswell,Maine
Black Sheep Wine and Beer Shop, Harpswell,Maine
Have you ever tasted an aged beer? I don’t
mean one lost under the couch. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried a good aged
Imperial Stout! Like wine, many beers benefit from extended maturation,
developing higher quality, complex flavors, aromas and texture. Your average
beer has a shelf life of 3 to 6 months before the vitality starts to diminish. But
some beers have qualities that enable them to keep evolving and improving if
kept under ideal conditions. This is called “cellaring” and is similar to aging
wines.
If you love hoppy beers like Pale Ales and
everyday IPAs or crisp Pilsners, these beers typically are best when freshly
bottled, like Tuesday. Store these in the fridge and drink within 3-6 months
for the best taste. A bottle of cold lager is refreshing on a hot day, it
slakes your thirst, but it’s not going to develop, it is what it is.
Look for bottle conditioned, non-pasteurized beers
with higher alcohol (8%ABV +) for potential prospects for aging. A few years
aging will gradually round off the sharp edges and moderate the alcohol into
richer, mellower flavors that will surprise you! Sour beers are the exception,
with lower alcohol, some have the ability to age for a decade. If you see Barrel-
aged, Reserve, Special release or Bottle- conditioned (with live yeast in the
bottle) on the label, this is a bottle that should improve with some age, maybe
for decades. Look to each Brewer for specific guidelines for cellaring.
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For best results, store your bottles upright
in a moderately cool (55˚ F) place, in the dark with just enough humidity
(ideally 50 to 70 %) to keep corks from drying out or becoming moldy. A closet
or cellar is usually fine. In Europe, wine is often cellared in caves, because
of their steady cool temperature. Do you have a spare cave? That would be
perfect! Some breweries actually have Brewery Vaults….
A list of the best styles for aging: Baltic
Porter, Barleywine, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Belgian
Triple and Quadruple, Berliner Weisse, Dopplebock, Eisbock, Flanders red Ale,
Gueuze, Lambic, Old Ale, Oude Bruins, Russian Imperial Stout, Scotch Ale, Vintage
Beer, Wood Aged Beer.
There is no exact science to beer cellaring.
Most age-worthy beers will be fully matured after 2 to 3 years, some as long as
10 to 20 years, if you have the patience to wait that long! Cellar worthy beers
will have noticeable changes as early as 3 months and definitely within 6
months. Most people agree that it’s worth it to buy several bottles or more of
one kind so that you can try it at different stages.
The oldest known bottle of drinkable beer is
the 1865 (!!) Allsopp’s Arctic Ale, a powerful, rich Burton Ale brewed specifically for expeditions to the
Arctic Circle by British explorers. Imagine drinking a beer made in Victorian
times! Pair that with some vintage Hostess Twinkies and you’ve got a meal!
© 2018 Text John and Jennifer Verplanck, all rights
reserved.
Photo/ illustration
credit: Personal photos of the author, Wiki media commons, Bigfoto.com, public
domain, MorgueFile.com, PDPhoto.org
