The Bar Towel

Today I was going through my cellar looking for that pesky bottle I decided I wanted but totally couldn't find and I stumbled across two bottles of Fouders KBS that I didn't know were there. Anyone have a similar experience? What's been your best unexpected find?

squeaky wrote:Today I was going through my cellar looking for that pesky bottle I decided I wanted but totally couldn't find and I stumbled across two bottles of Fouders KBS that I didn't know were there. Anyone have a similar experience? What's been your best unexpected find?

Nice find. Being a compulsive beer collector does have its little rewards doesn't it?

Found a Great Lakes 25th Bourbon BA Impy I forgot I even bought.

A few times now I've found bottles of a batch of homebrew that I thought was long gone. my cellar is a bit nuts, so i often find beers i forgot about - not quite the same as being sure it wasn't there.

in my experience, KBS is best within a year of purchase. same with regular breakfast stout. i've completely stopped aging either as recent verticals show it goes downhill pretty quick.

grub wrote:A few times now I've found bottles of a batch of homebrew that I thought was long gone. my cellar is a bit nuts, so i often find beers i forgot about - not quite the same as being sure it wasn't there.

in my experience, KBS is best within a year of purchase. same with regular breakfast stout. i've completely stopped aging either as recent verticals show it goes downhill pretty quick.

I know, I'm going to drink them ASAP. Probably tonight.

I find that most beers with added flavours; coffee, vanilla, etc. tend not to age particularly well. Barrel flavours tend to stick around a little longer, in my experience.

yep, coffee in particular falls off pretty quick, which just leaves kbs felling a little 1-dimensional. still fun to experiment with as some turn out to be really good even as they change. just hate to see that tasty kbs at less than prime form, so i tend to pass that info along.

squeaky wrote:I find that most beers with added flavours; coffee, vanilla, etc. tend not to age particularly well. Barrel flavours tend to stick around a little longer, in my experience.

The '09 first edition of St Ambroise Stout Impériale Russe is doing very well! The bourbon oak wood flavors & tannins are persistent, but mellowing.

grub wrote:yep, coffee in particular falls off pretty quick, .

It does but sometimes it turns into something else that's cool. I quite like older bottles of Peche as the coffee is mellow and they seem to have this kind of port quality about it. But maybe that's just product of the bottle conditioning?

JeffPorter wrote:

grub wrote:yep, coffee in particular falls off pretty quick, .

It does but sometimes it turns into something else that's cool. I quite like older bottles of Peche as the coffee is mellow and they seem to have this kind of port quality about it. But maybe that's just product of the bottle conditioning?

If the underlying beer is a good one for aging, having coffee layered on top will still make for a great beer down the line. That's how I feel about Peche, anyway. It's amazing fresh because of the terrific coffee stout flavours. It's terrific old because the underlying stout ages so well and the coffee is muted but not unpleasant. Founders breakfast, on the other hand, I would only say the former of. I wish I knew what the difference was between the two to make that difference, but I really have no clue.

What I will say though, is I can't think of a beer with added flavours where the added flavours themselves are improved with age, outside of barrels or things derived from yeast. Even for barrels, the best I can think of is something mellowing out a little with a moderate amount of age. I can't think of any beers off the top of my head that are better more than a year after drinking that don't derive that benefit from the yeast.