Blog Tracker
31-08-2012, 06:32
Visit the Beer. Bierra. Bier. site (http://www.beerbirrabier.com/2012/08/ageing-beer.html)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vGXAwRDug78/UEBP_ORyqcI/AAAAAAAABJQ/_1PW5mxl610/s320/cellar.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vGXAwRDug78/UEBP_ORyqcI/AAAAAAAABJQ/_1PW5mxl610/s1600/cellar.jpg)
What do we know about the ageing of beer?
Born unsure of itself in a spiky body, all knobbly knees and disobedient limbs; angles of rough bitterness and awkward disparity. Discrete sweetness and bitterness, torn apart by an empty mid-palate, kept at bay by angrily-hot alcohol.
A middle-aged calm where there’s nothing to prove, no reason to shout and nobody to impress. Flavours integrated and harmonious, points and spikes weathered blunt to bring equality and balance.
A peak, a fall, an irreversible slide into old age. Ghostly flavours of youth, masked by the wrinkles of sherry, oxidation and dried fruits.
Or so they so.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dZBkcTOZINs/UEBQ93oJtuI/AAAAAAAABJY/UPbivbZeXaA/s320/gd17.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dZBkcTOZINs/UEBQ93oJtuI/AAAAAAAABJY/UPbivbZeXaA/s1600/gd17.jpg)
Then I meet Dorian Gray, the oak-aged double IPA (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/great-divide-anniversary-wood-aged-double-ipa/104074/). A beer style full of volatile hop aroma and flavour, eager to be drunk young and in its prime; yet a beer clearly blessed with eternal life for the fact that, at 2 years, it still tastes vibrant and youthful and like it was kissed by the grassy, citrusy lips of dry-hop but yesterday.
Or a bottle of Rosé de Gambrinus (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/cantillon-rose-de-gambrinus/6014/), with its fuel tank full of residual sugar, yeast and relentless microbes. Clearly in it for the long haul; brewed for the patient among us with time and dedication enough to build a cellar of vintages. Yet at mere weeks in the bottle, it’s a revelation. Bright, bold, vibrant fruit flavours like none I’ve tasted in a beer before; backed by bright, assertive sourness that makes improvement with time seem impossible.
Beer that breaks the rules.
Bottles of Brewdog Tokyo* (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brewdog-tokyo/107203/) and Rogue XS Stout (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/rogue-imperial-stout/5266/). Juggernauts, powerhouses both. Beers with enough alcohol content to fend off the years like David Beckham. Yet at 18 months, the bottles I encounter taste tired and burnt-out, already well past their best, like they’d given all they could and were heading to the 27 club (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club).
Beers that break the rules.
What do we know about ageing beer? The consensus says that if it’s bottle-conditioned and strong, then it’s fit for the cellar. But, whilst that might be true a lot of the time, there are clearly exceptions to the rules. Beer will change with time, whether or not that’s a change for the best, well that’s something I’ll be thinking about more closely in future.
What's your approach to a beer cellar? Drink it all now, or save some for later?
Pictures from here (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-saiPW4efyR8/T3OKLLp6UwI/AAAAAAAAAAU/4G9DZ7Nnum0/s1600/cellar.jpg) and here (http://www.beergeeknation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/GD17box.jpg).
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7851750605430732694-1816859549194941144?l=www.beerbirrabier.com
More... (http://www.beerbirrabier.com/2012/08/ageing-beer.html)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vGXAwRDug78/UEBP_ORyqcI/AAAAAAAABJQ/_1PW5mxl610/s320/cellar.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vGXAwRDug78/UEBP_ORyqcI/AAAAAAAABJQ/_1PW5mxl610/s1600/cellar.jpg)
What do we know about the ageing of beer?
Born unsure of itself in a spiky body, all knobbly knees and disobedient limbs; angles of rough bitterness and awkward disparity. Discrete sweetness and bitterness, torn apart by an empty mid-palate, kept at bay by angrily-hot alcohol.
A middle-aged calm where there’s nothing to prove, no reason to shout and nobody to impress. Flavours integrated and harmonious, points and spikes weathered blunt to bring equality and balance.
A peak, a fall, an irreversible slide into old age. Ghostly flavours of youth, masked by the wrinkles of sherry, oxidation and dried fruits.
Or so they so.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dZBkcTOZINs/UEBQ93oJtuI/AAAAAAAABJY/UPbivbZeXaA/s320/gd17.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dZBkcTOZINs/UEBQ93oJtuI/AAAAAAAABJY/UPbivbZeXaA/s1600/gd17.jpg)
Then I meet Dorian Gray, the oak-aged double IPA (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/great-divide-anniversary-wood-aged-double-ipa/104074/). A beer style full of volatile hop aroma and flavour, eager to be drunk young and in its prime; yet a beer clearly blessed with eternal life for the fact that, at 2 years, it still tastes vibrant and youthful and like it was kissed by the grassy, citrusy lips of dry-hop but yesterday.
Or a bottle of Rosé de Gambrinus (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/cantillon-rose-de-gambrinus/6014/), with its fuel tank full of residual sugar, yeast and relentless microbes. Clearly in it for the long haul; brewed for the patient among us with time and dedication enough to build a cellar of vintages. Yet at mere weeks in the bottle, it’s a revelation. Bright, bold, vibrant fruit flavours like none I’ve tasted in a beer before; backed by bright, assertive sourness that makes improvement with time seem impossible.
Beer that breaks the rules.
Bottles of Brewdog Tokyo* (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brewdog-tokyo/107203/) and Rogue XS Stout (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/rogue-imperial-stout/5266/). Juggernauts, powerhouses both. Beers with enough alcohol content to fend off the years like David Beckham. Yet at 18 months, the bottles I encounter taste tired and burnt-out, already well past their best, like they’d given all they could and were heading to the 27 club (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club).
Beers that break the rules.
What do we know about ageing beer? The consensus says that if it’s bottle-conditioned and strong, then it’s fit for the cellar. But, whilst that might be true a lot of the time, there are clearly exceptions to the rules. Beer will change with time, whether or not that’s a change for the best, well that’s something I’ll be thinking about more closely in future.
What's your approach to a beer cellar? Drink it all now, or save some for later?
Pictures from here (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-saiPW4efyR8/T3OKLLp6UwI/AAAAAAAAAAU/4G9DZ7Nnum0/s1600/cellar.jpg) and here (http://www.beergeeknation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/GD17box.jpg).
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7851750605430732694-1816859549194941144?l=www.beerbirrabier.com
More... (http://www.beerbirrabier.com/2012/08/ageing-beer.html)