Upon the aging of beer.

How well do beers age? and do they continually become stronger over time?

Both of these issues have become hot topics in the shop recently and so we felt that it was time for us to add our grist to the mill. We shall address each aspect of this question separately, with some answers coming from an aged beer tasting that I attended in London, way back in 2007. (My original tasting notes are attached.)

The question of the aging, maturation, and indeed, deterioration of beer is based on a couple of important criteria, the first being the style and strength of the beer in question, and the second is the conditions under which the beer is stored. (temperature and light.)

In terms of style, there is little point in deliberately aging a low abv, session bitter or pale ale. These (and many other.) types of beer will gain nothing from being cellared, and they are better off being drunk and enjoyed as they are designed to be, i.e. as fresh as possible. However, it is increasingly argued, that stronger, darker beers might well benefit from some additional maturation. Perhaps most famously, Thomas Hardy`s Ale, which bore the legend on it`s bottle, "Will continue to mature and develop in the bottle, for up to 25 years." (We have tried them, and they do! ) A number of other breweries have, in the past stamped their bottles with a `Drink after` date, stating that there are not at their best until matured a little.

It is clear, that some beers can benefit from cellaring, and will undergo change, and develop and improve with age, but that maturation process is dependent upon the temperature and light conditions under which they are stored.

A number of our customers, recently asked if a 10% abv IRS that had been stored in cask for 10 years would be "O.K. to drink? Because surely it would be off!" The beer in question would certainly be safe to drink, given that beer is not medium that can sustain seriously harmful pathogens. However, we were unable to say whether the beer would taste good, because we had no idea where it had been stored for the last 10 years and under what conditions. Our advice would be. Give it a try! What`s the worst that could happen?

In summation: Old, Aged, and Matured beers will always be `O.K. to drink!` And whilst some may taste a little disappointing, some will have matured superbly and taste incredible! Quite recently, my old friend Donald Burgess sampled a bottle of Duvel which had been cellared for 11 years, and which he proclaimed to be amazing.

The oldest beer that I have drunk, and enjoyed was an 1869 Ratcliff Ale 13%. This beer was over 130 years old and tasted absolutely incredible.

Do beers continue to get stronger with age?

Simply put. No they do not. On the day that a brewer mashes in to brew a beer, they will have carefully calculated the volume of grist required for the style and strength of beer that they intend brewing. At the end of fermentation, the remaining yeast will have consumed most of the fermentable sugars available to it. (the brewer will have ensured that the grist contained enough unfermentable malts to provide the beer with body and `mouthfeel` and taste good.) Once the beer is packaged into it`s final container, there will be just enough yeast and sugar in there to continue working and give the beer condition.

Brewers do not leave enough `spare` malt sugar in finished beer, for it to carry on fermenting indefinitely, and there are a number of reasons for this. It would cost them money, it would most certainly get them into hot water with HM C&E. and if this super strain of yeast kept on consuming the residual sugars and producing alcohol AND CO2, then with no way of venting of the pressure then there would be a lot of bottles and casks either exploding, or blowing out their stoppages. It simply is not possible for a beer that is packaged at 10% to continue to ferment to the extent that after 10 years it becomes 15%. (These were the figures being discussed at our shop.)And even if this were somehow possible, then I dread to think just how thin and dry this beer would taste and feel on the palate.

For those of you who are still reading, thank-you for taking the time, and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Cheers Chums!