How long do you age beer?

[Tim Roettiger]

I have read much lately about US micros hurrying to ship "fresh" beer for festival entries.  However, many recipes I have call for long term ageing.

Since taste evolves with bottle conditioned products, I like to drink each batch over a span of six months to a year.  I would like to hear from some of the other Alchemists about their views on ageing.

Recently, I had the last of my New England Cream Lager.  It was six months old and excellent! (Details: www.belgianmare.blogspot.com).  I also found a beer I had brewed in 1991.  It tasted about like I remembered...amazing stability.

What are your beer ageing thoughts?

[Mark Hill]

On Christmas day of 2006, I tok a variety of beers, put them in a box, sealed it up and cellared it. This year I opened the box and have been trying the beers. My observations pretty much follow the rule of thumb that "the bigger the beer, the better it ages". For example, the hefe weizen didn't go bad, but it didn't improve either. The bigger beer such as a triple and a scotch ale, took on a mellowness and complexity of flavors. The barleywine aged the best and was very rich and full. At the same time, i also put back one of the Budweiser 1.5L "private Reserve" bottles from 2006. When I opened it, there was a slight sourness to the beer, giving me the impression it was "going bad". This was an 8% beer and the carbonation was good, so i'm sure the degradation of flavor was not from a bad seal.
More recently, i made a Pre Prohibition lager. While this beer was good initially, as is has been aging, I seem to notice more off flavors coming out. The fresh beer was definetly better.