Bellwoods Lambda

[groulxsome]

Bellwoods' bottles certainly don't seem that sturdy. I'd be interested to know how they rate pressure-wise with other bottles. I get the convenience going to a single bottle size, but I wish Bellwoods would tailor their releases to different sizes. 500ml, which I associate with British and German-style beers, seems an odd choice for a brewery brewing predominantly US and Belgian-inspired beers.

I seem to recall reading or hearing somewhere (I think they had a blog post about it) that they switched from bombers to the current bottles because these ones could handle more pressure for their bottle conditioned beers. So it's likely slightly higher than a bomber. I use bombers and these 500 mLs for homebrew and the 500 mLs seem a little more durable. 8 Wired and Nogne use the same bottles for most of their stuff, so it's likely just a bottle that works well for both machines and sale.

Ditto grub on the Brettal Head. Brett pale ales are a little new so I guess they just don't want the confusion. Sure the brett might change as it ages, but those nice juicy hops will fall out, so it's a trade off thing which, I guess, they don't think worth exploring.

[atomeyes]

i hope that most breweries bottle once they feel the beer's good to drink. there was a certain brewery's barley wine that was bottled with the "Drink AFTER..." label and i thought that was just silly. same with Brooklyn's barley wine and Black Ops. release it when it's ready to go and not when it's a hot mess.

brett character: it can intensify with time. depends on the strain used. sometimes beer can become too funky. even the Cantillon bio-lambic i have. they get to the point where the funk (and yes, it isn't all brett, but bare with me) really turns a corner and becomes more cat piss, blue cheese and grapefruit than a nice citrus tartiness.

if a brett stout or quad is released and you think it is too sweet, aging it won't necessarily get rid of the sweetness. brett *may* chew away at some of the sugars, but we're talking about a beer that apparently was aging for a while. most of the fermentation's done. if there's still sweetness, we're talking about years and years before that might go down. maybe. and, by that point, you're talking about a lot of funk that may be present.

so age for a few years if you want. but aging a brett quad for 3-5 years? buyer beware.

[grub]

i hope that most breweries bottle once they feel the beer's good to drink. there was a certain brewery's barley wine that was bottled with the "Drink AFTER..." label and i thought that was just silly. same with Brooklyn's barley wine and Black Ops. release it when it's ready to go and not when it's a hot mess.

meh, far from the only ones to do this. dark lord day is in late april, but they recommend waiting until at least thanksgiving (late nov in US) before drinking. Hard to know when it's "perfect" for release, but you'd like to hope they're not releasing it when it's a hot mess. I have no issue expecting things to get better with time (especially when it's a cellarable style).

if a brett stout or quad is released and you think it is too sweet, aging it won't necessarily get rid of the sweetness. brett *may* chew away at some of the sugars, but we're talking about a beer that apparently was aging for a while. most of the fermentation's done. if there's still sweetness, we're talking about years and years before that might go down. maybe. and, by that point, you're talking about a lot of funk that may be present.

"sweetness" is interesting too. the brett IPA i have on tap tastes "sweet" to me, but it's sitting at 1.007. comparing different ports from Applewood, I remarked that a newer one seemed so much sweeter than the previous year, and was told that its final gravity was half that of the previous year. Sometimes we think there's more gravity (or less) to chew, and there just isn't.

[Kish84]

i hope that most breweries bottle once they feel the beer's good to drink. there was a certain brewery's barley wine that was bottled with the "Drink AFTER..." label and i thought that was just silly.

If I'm assuming correctly, I actually enjoyed it before the Drink After date, still have a bottle left for the "recommended" date, which at that point I probably won't remember/care how it compares.

[El Pinguino]

Good discussion here guys, thanks for sharing all your wisdoms.

I've 'accidentally" aged many beers for a year or two that aren't exactly designed for aging, but have never had anything go bad on me, nor have I ever had a bottle explode...hope my luck continues

[jrenihan]

the warnings are likely more to do with it being a hoppy american pale ale than due to the brett content - APAs/IPAs are not suited for aging and best fresh. Probably just trying to keep folks from going with brett == ageable.

That's my guess, too. Curious to see how it develops, though, as my thoughts inevitably go to beers like Orval, and especially XX Bitter which I've heard aged very nicely when it was still fermented with Rodenbach yeast.

Always fun to experiment, I guess, but I wouldn't try aging Brettel Head. It tastes very good right now, and the hops are a huge component of it. I don't think aging will do it well. Anyway, I find this batch a big step up from the first batch, which I found disappointing. Same goes for Farmageddon - I think it has improved.
Ren

[atomeyes]

the warnings are likely more to do with it being a hoppy american pale ale than due to the brett content - APAs/IPAs are not suited for aging and best fresh. Probably just trying to keep folks from going with brett == ageable.

That's my guess, too. Curious to see how it develops, though, as my thoughts inevitably go to beers like Orval, and especially XX Bitter which I've heard aged very nicely when it was still fermented with Rodenbach yeast.

Always fun to experiment, I guess, but I wouldn't try aging Brettel Head. It tastes very good right now, and the hops are a huge component of it. I don't think aging will do it well. Anyway, I find this batch a big step up from the first batch, which I found disappointing. Same goes for Farmageddon - I think it has improved.
Ren

if unsure, ask the brewery what they think.

some breweries pasteurize their beer. For example, Trou du Diable's sour offerings are almost always pasteurized. so when you buy it, you drink it. don't age those beyond a year. the flavours will decrease, not increase.

If I'm assuming correctly, I actually enjoyed it before the Drink After date, still have a bottle left for the "recommended" date, which at that point I probably won't remember/care how it compares.

you're also assuming that breweries actually do research into expiry or best before dates and they have some sort of meaning. we're not talking about eggs or milk.

let's use some examples. Stone's dates used are likely gimmicks. when GLB released Beard of Zeus, do you think they did actual calculations to establish that New Years 2015 would be the perfect time to start drinking it? Trappist beer -what the hell do we do with the dates on quads? Westy 12's sweet spot is apparently 5-6 years after bottling. but wait. that's just after their best before date. or how about Cantillon, which says to drink within 30 years of bottling.

this is when on-line reviews help. if you're drinking a quad that's too sweet, letting it age for 1-2 years won't make it any better and may compound the sweetness. a pasteurized brett/sour beer doesn't benefit by aging. dark, high alcohol beer generally can be cellared with benefit, but after a certain point, they start to develop more sherry notes. most crisp, fresh tasting beer don't benefit (unless they have brett in them). if a review said "too much heat", then i cellar for 1-3 years. if it's a quad and there isn't enough robustness or depth? try cellaring for a few years.

and experiment with easy-to-get beer. Chimay's the best beer for playing with when it comes to accessibility, price and cellaring. Blue is the best to cellar, but Red also does really nicely with an extra year on it. try a Blue now, make notes, and for $3.50, cellar one until next spring, taste it and try it.

(sorry for the ramble)

(i should also add that i haven't tried my Lambda yet, so i have no opinion of it other than it sure is a pretty bottle)