Aging Beer?

[Jbailey]

Originally Posted by s15driftking

does alcohol really "Age" in a glass bottle? I have heard it does not.

Liquor does not age once it's been bottled (scotch, whiskey, etc.). Wine will continue to age in bottles and so will some beers.

Originally Posted by Jbailey

Liquor does not age once it's been bottled (scotch, whiskey, etc.). Wine will continue to age in bottles and so will some beers.

Just thinking out loud here, but doesn't that depend upon how the alcohol is contained? Meaning a sealed bottle of scotch that is a 12 year scotch you bought in 2000 is not a 22 year old scotch now, however, if that bottle had been open the entire time, and oxygen had gotten into the liquor, then it undoubtedly would taste different from now and then, which is aging, kind of. That's the main reason that wine "ages" as it sits in your personal cellar and that scotch doesn't. Wine is closed with a cork, which allows air to travel in and out, which ages the wine as the oxygen breaks down the tannins. It's the basic theory behind why maturing wine in large format bottles is better long-term.

[Jbailey]

Originally Posted by Kwilkinson

Just thinking out loud here, but doesn't that depend upon how the alcohol is contained? Meaning a sealed bottle of scotch that is a 12 year scotch you bought in 2000 is not a 22 year old scotch now

When you have a 12 year old (scotch, bourbon etc.) that's from it siting in barrels/casks aging for 12 years. After you remove liquor from barrels, casks etc it stops aging. In 10 years that bottle is still a 12 year old bottle of X.

The bottle might be 22 years old but liquor inside the bottle is still 12 years old X.

I will have to find where I read this and post it.

Originally Posted by Jbailey

When you have a 12 year old (scotch, bourbon etc.) that's from it siting in barrels/casks aging for 12 years. After you remove liquor from barrels, casks etc it stops aging. In 10 years that bottle is still a 12 year old bottle of X.

The bottle might be 22 years old but liquor inside the bottle is still 12 years old X.

I will have to find where I read this and post it.

I know that's true. But to "age" alcohol means to mature it. So while the scotch stops aging as in an age that can be put on the label, the liquor itself, once upon, begins maturing and will over time taste different.

[LostAbbott]

Originally Posted by Kwilkinson

I know that's true. But to "age" alcohol means to mature it. So while the scotch stops aging as in an age that can be put on the label, the liquor itself, once upon, begins maturing and will over time taste different.

Not true. I have had bottles that have been open for 10,20, and 30 years and tasted them side by side with a fresh bottle and besides small differences in batches they all pretty much tasted the same, (Laphroaig 10yr)

Whiskey specifically stops aging after it leaves the oak. My grandfather was a huge Connoisseur and had hundreds of bottles of scotches.

Hmm....interesting. That just seems counterintuitive to me for some reason.
Oh well, thanks for clearing that up guys.

Originally Posted by Kwilkinson

Hmm....interesting. That just seems counterintuitive to me for some reason.
Oh well, thanks for clearing that up guys.

I'm not a science guy and don't know the technicalities, but I look at it like this:

Both wine and beer have things going on side the bottle, once they are bottled, that whiskey does not. Once distilled the "cooking" part of the process is over for whiskey, any changes that occur after that are a result of the contact between the whiskey itself and the wooden barrels it's stored in. Once removed from the barrel that process ends. So no more aging, or changing of the flavor, is going to occur. There's nothing for the whiskey to react with in a glass bottle.

Beer and wine are different. There is live yeast in both of these, along with other ingredients. Those things continue to develop over time even inside of a sealed glass bottle. In the case of beer that's what James was referring to in "bottle-conditioned beers". The hops in beer will fade over time as well changing the flavor. Same process is occurring in wine, in addition to the wine reacting with the wooden barrels it's stored in. Once the wine is removed from the barrel it continues to change, because the ingredients in the wine itself are still present and evolving (or degrading).

I think a good example is also barrel aged beers and their counterparts. Goose Island Bourbon County stout is aged in Jack Daniels barrels, it has a VERY strong bourbon, oaky, etc taste to it because of that. Goose Island Night Stalker is the exact same beer without the barrel aging, and tastes very different. The difference comes from the barrel, remove the barrel, remove the differnce.