Try?
Most beers are best drunk fresh.
This is the mantra of any Brew Guru, and we say it three times a day: morning,
noon, and night. Unlike many wines, which can improve with aging under proper
conditions, beers are best drunk as fresh as possible. The dry, bitter, fragrant
hop character; the delicate, crisp, biscuity malt flavors, and the fruity yeast
esters in beer are usually best appreciated when beer is fresh. The freshest
beer is draft beer, but some breweries do a good job of getting fresh bottled
beer out to we who have the task of drinking it. Much maligned as they are, the
large brewers such as Anheuser Busch, Coors, and Miller do a great job of
selling their beer while it’s still fresh.
Every rule has its exception however, which is a rule in and of itself, to which beer is not the exception. Some beers will in fact age well, generally heavier ones like barleywines, imperial stouts, Trappist ales, and India pale ales. They do this for various reasons. Hops act to preserve beer, so well hopped IPAs therefore will have a longer shelf life. Some beers may be bottle conditioned, meaning they have live yeast in them that will continue to consume malt sugars and oxygen, which can ruin beer in time. And then some beers are just so darned big and complex that they will mellow and mature and develop new and interesting flavors over time. Indeed, this is great fun for the beer enthusiast, observing how a beer changes over time, hopefully for the better.
Full Sail’s Old Boardhead Barleywine Ale is surely a beer that will improve with time. The brewery ages it before release: the Reserve 1998 was brewed on June 30th of 1997 and not bottled until October 12th of 1998. On February 6th of 1999, I described this magnificent brew as follows:
Dark caramel color, bready-yeasty nose with some citric fruity notes. A rich caramelly malt palate with hints of vanilla segues nicely into a peppery, alcohol warming finish. This one ranks up there with the best of them, it reminded me very much of Dominion's Millennium. Alcohol by volume is 10.6%, bitterness 91 IBU's. A beer not to be missed.
As it so happens, I have a bottle of the same vintage before me tonight. It’s a special brew for a special time of year. I pop the cap. Hark, the Herald Angels sing! My nose is assaulted by a wonderful rush of thick, chewy toffee notes. The beer pours a cloudy, murky orange color with a very faint head formation and a sweet caramelly nose. The palate is thick and sweet, like a chewy chunk of caramel, slightly peppery, with a huge warming alcohol finish. Truly incredible beer, complex and well aged.
I don’t think I’d match this one with food. Had I a sufficient quantity of it however, I would enjoy it poured over vanilla ice cream
Every rule has its exception however, which is a rule in and of itself, to which beer is not the exception. Some beers will in fact age well, generally heavier ones like barleywines, imperial stouts, Trappist ales, and India pale ales. They do this for various reasons. Hops act to preserve beer, so well hopped IPAs therefore will have a longer shelf life. Some beers may be bottle conditioned, meaning they have live yeast in them that will continue to consume malt sugars and oxygen, which can ruin beer in time. And then some beers are just so darned big and complex that they will mellow and mature and develop new and interesting flavors over time. Indeed, this is great fun for the beer enthusiast, observing how a beer changes over time, hopefully for the better.
Full Sail’s Old Boardhead Barleywine Ale is surely a beer that will improve with time. The brewery ages it before release: the Reserve 1998 was brewed on June 30th of 1997 and not bottled until October 12th of 1998. On February 6th of 1999, I described this magnificent brew as follows:
Dark caramel color, bready-yeasty nose with some citric fruity notes. A rich caramelly malt palate with hints of vanilla segues nicely into a peppery, alcohol warming finish. This one ranks up there with the best of them, it reminded me very much of Dominion's Millennium. Alcohol by volume is 10.6%, bitterness 91 IBU's. A beer not to be missed.
As it so happens, I have a bottle of the same vintage before me tonight. It’s a special brew for a special time of year. I pop the cap. Hark, the Herald Angels sing! My nose is assaulted by a wonderful rush of thick, chewy toffee notes. The beer pours a cloudy, murky orange color with a very faint head formation and a sweet caramelly nose. The palate is thick and sweet, like a chewy chunk of caramel, slightly peppery, with a huge warming alcohol finish. Truly incredible beer, complex and well aged.
I don’t think I’d match this one with food. Had I a sufficient quantity of it however, I would enjoy it poured over vanilla ice cream
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
