Dive into our guide to giving it a go at home.
So, you’re a beer drinker, perhaps a ‘craft beer enthusiast’, and looking for ways to expand this interest of yours. Maybe you’re even wondering if beer can be aged. Well, you’ve come to the right place. The short answer is yes, it can, but the longer answer is that not all beers should be aged.
Ageing isn’t just an exercise in delayed gratification, and it also doesn’t necessarily mean ‘better’. Ageing beer does make it different, but sometimes only subtly so. The process is not an exact science, and there are no guarantees. All you need is an open mind – and this handy guide – and you’ll quickly learn more about your tastes and your favourite brews.
Generally speaking, beer is best enjoyed fresh. In fact, some beers ‘age’ in a matter of weeks, or months. This is especially true for IPAs, wheat beers, pilsners, and lagers. Their bold flavours and heady hoppy aromas are at their peak shortly after they’ve been bottled, and, depending on the beer, these characteristics can start to fade rather quickly.
When looking for the best beers to age, the general rule of ‘dark and strong’ will serve you well. To stand a chance of preserving flavours and developing more, a resilient beer with a higher ABV is essential – up to 8% or more.
We’re talking porters, stouts, strong ales, and Belgian beers. These darker, maltier beers have heavier and sweeter profiles that become rounder and more complex over time. Wild beers, sours, lambics, gueuzes, saisons and anything with active yeasts, such as lactobacillus, pediococcus, or brettanomyces, are also great for ageing. These yeasts help a beer's flavour to develop while naturally guarding against oxidation, which is when stale characters can creep into your brew.
You can age beer anywhere – in a box, a cupboard, a cellar, an old broken fridge. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but there are some things to consider, and in all of them, consistency is key.
- Temperature
Aim for 7 to 18 degrees celsius. These temperatures allow, and won’t restrict, flavour development.
- Light
This goes for the colour of the bottles – dark is best – and the light in your space (preferably none). All types of light can affect beer, so the darker the glass, and the darker the space, the better.
- Upright
Most beers are capped with a crown that has a plastic lining. Over time, the lining will deteriorate if beer is left in contact with it, leading to unwanted oxidation.
- Movement
Once you store it, don’t touch it until you’re drinking it. Movement causes delicate compounds to break down, and it increases oxidation.
- Records
Make note of the name, the date you bought it, drink dates printed on the bottle, a date for when you plan to drink it, your tasting notes.
There’s no definitive answer as to how long to age beer. It depends on the beer, your preferences and the cellar conditions. If you pick a suitable beer, then six to 12 months is fairly safe. Some porters may last a couple of years, while sours, gueuzes and lambics can age up to 10 years, big Belgians can go a little longer, and some barleywines and imperial stouts can even last up to 20 years.
To start, choose a beer you know you already enjoy, buy three, and drink one every six months. Voila! You’ve just aged beer, and it probably wasn’t a disaster. Once you develop a feel for it, you could build a vertical. Simply buy three of the same beer, drink one and take notes. Then every subsequent year, buy three more, and drink one from each year in your collection.
This all depends on the beer and ageing conditions. Generally, you’ll find the original flavours become mellow, not mute, and the newly developed flavours harmonise, they don’t clash.
After a year or so, a good stout often yields intense, tertiary flavours of dark fruits and chocolate. Although if left too long, these flavours inevitably break down and the beer can wind up tasting of ink or meat. As they’re bottled, Belgian beers often get a shot of brettanomyces yeast. This yeast slowly eats sugar and chews up oxygen. Brettanomyces can transform a young, bright beer into a bready, earthy, spicy number.
Speaking of oxygen, it usually isn’t great for beer. As mentioned above, oxidation can lead to unwanted characters – think flavours of dried fruit, soy, sherry and even paper. Perhaps you’ll enjoy these flavours, and maybe they’ll set off your imperial stout nicely, but most people find them intrusive.
A flavour profile you enjoy is often a familiar one. So, if you’re not so sure about aged beers, first seek out something that's been aged for you, prior to release. This way, you can experience the benefits without the wait or the risk, and you might just discover you actually prefer fresh, young beers.
Just remember that, for the most part, a dark beer with a high ABV that’s stored upright in a cool, dark place will age safely for six to 12 months. From there, you can experiment and your new hobby will be well underway.
So, next time your mate pulls out vintage Champagne, or his parents’ Penfolds, you can say, “Alright, but how about these lambics? Both were aged three years, in puncheons, before they were bottled. One’s fresh, and the other, I aged for three years myself. Whaddya reckon?”
Still not sure? Make a habit of reading labels, talk to your local merchants, and most importantly, chat to your local brewers or the passionate beer folk at your favourite local brewery. Getting as close to the source as possible is the quickest way to gain intel on optimal drinking and ageing windows. Plus, you’ll meet a bunch of fellow beer enthusiasts along the way. Win win!
