The big beers stored, for good reason, in your cellar

Mary Earl
·5 min read

Under the proper conditions, certain beers will age successfully. Alcohol, acidity and/or sugar are the main ingredients for successful aging, whether it be wine, beer, pickles or jam. And how long to age has been the focus of many studies.

Like wine, there are beers that can and do age successfully. Beers that emphasize malt will make better candidates. For an age-worthy beer, the higher the ABV, or alcohol by volume, the more likely it will age gracefully. Higher ABV is the result of lots and lots of malt in the mash.

These big beers rarely have an overabundance of hops. However, there are exceptions to that rule. At 11.2% ABV, Rogue 1998 Old Crustacean – the first commercial barleywine to be brewed with 100 IBUs – springs to mind. Today, it’s an impressive 25-year-old brew!

You can learn more about the suitable beers to age, brewing techniques and different beer-styles from a couple of local brew clubs: GrainPiece Brewers and the West Sound Brew Club. In addition, there’s occasionally brewing equipment for sale or trade if you’re looking to get started or upgrade.

In the south end of the Kitsap Peninsula, GrainPiece has been around since 1981. This club, which merged with Gig Harbor/Tacoma based Muggers and Mashers, welcomes brewers of all skill levels with the goal of sharing brewing techniques, both those that worked brilliantly and those that didn’t. They generally meet the second Saturday of the month for a potluck with homebrews. You can catch up on their activities on Facebook.

In the north and central part of Kitsap, the West Sound Brew Club formed in 1992. For 30-some years this group has collaborated, brewed, bottled, kegged, tasted, and brewed some more.

The list of the many medals won at homebrew competitions is long. Many brewers even went on to brew commercially for local breweries such as Thomas Kemper, SilverCity, Hood Canal, Slippery Pig, Rainy Daze and Echoes.

This beer appreciation club welcomes members like myself who appreciate a well-crafted brew by talented home brewers but don’t actually brew. They’re also, on Facebook and at WestSoundBrewers.com

The monthly social meetings are themed such as January’s Big Beers, Febrewary’s Strange Brew Competition and March’s Wood Fest Competition. There is also a Teach a Friend to Brew Day in the fall.

This month’s social meeting was held at Dog Days Brewing in downtown Bremerton. On tap were homemade root beer, various flavors of hard seltzer, blueberry sour, pilsner, Irish stout, and a pale ale called Duke of Earl (made with Earl Grey tea) that I just had to try. Dog Days is open Thursday and Friday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.

But the day’s theme was "Big Beers," and the two brew clubs shared and talked about the lineup of homebrews and commercial brews that included old ale, quad, holiday ale, industrial IPA, Imperial stouts and a bunch of barleywines.

The "Oxford Companion to Beer" says the term “Imperial” was first used by Catherine the Great’s Russian court, hence the Imperial moniker. This 8% ABV Imperial Stout eventually became a widely brewed style.

Imperial Stouts reemerged in a big way during the American craft beer boom of the 1980s. It was inspired by Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout of Tadcaster, England. Although this beer weighed in under today’s usual 9%+ ABV, it was inspirational to the budding craft beer industry.

Today, “Imperial” just means it’s a big beer, both in flavor and alcohol. The term is used interchangeably with “quad”, “triple”, “old” or “strong” styles of beer that are brewed with a bigger grain bill to produce more malt sugars and the resulting high ABV. The reason is that when the yeast eats the malt sugars, it produces alcohol. More sugars fermented results in a higher ABV.

Bottle-conditioned beers with an ABV of 9 percent or higher will be just fine when aged and will also continue to develop and grow in complexity over time - as they undergo a second fermentation in the bottle.

Barrel aging a beer further impacts an aged beer due to both evaporation and oxidation. The porous wood of the barrel allows a small amount of liquid to evaporate and oxygen to enter into the space evaporated.

Oxidation in some beers isn’t always the kiss of death. Take barleywines and tripels, for instance. As the liquid oxidizes, compounds break down the flavors that were once bready and morph into chocolate, dried fruit, toffee and toasted nut characteristics.

Big beers like stouts and barleywines can take a fair amount of ageing in the cellar. However, stouts lose their head over time, as enzymes break down the proteins that form the head.

Always store capped beer candidates upright in your cool, dark cellar. Sediment is also common in aged beers. When you’re ready to pop the top, stand the bottle upright for a few hours to allow sediment to settle into the bottom of the bottle, and then gently pour. Avoid setting the bottle down and pouring again as this shakes the sediment into the beer.

Tasting big beers requires a designated driver or considerable restraint. Check out the following list, admittedly only a partial compilation, of age-worthy brews worth your time to track down.

  • Big Time Old Wooley 2009 Barleywine Ale

  • Deschutes Mirror Mirror 2009 Reserve, aged in wine barrels (11.2% ABV)

  • Dogfish Head 120-minute IPA (16% ABV)

  • Firestone Walker 2013 XVII barrel-aged Anniversary Ale (13% ABV)

  • Firestone Walker 2016 XX Anniversary Ale (13% ABV)

  • Glenn’s 2020 Belgian-style Quad (14% ABV)

  • Glenn’s Holiday Ale, made with spices and ginger (9.7% ABV)

  • Goose Island Bourbon Brand Stout (14.7% ABV)

  • Icicle Creek Darkest Persuasion (9.9% ABV)

  • Kamimura Imperial Stout Double Oaked Imperial Stout (15% ABV)

  • Moment Brewing Oaked Old Rye Ale (9.9% ABV)

  • Silver City 2016 Time Traveler Imperial Stout, aged in bourbon barrels (9.2% ABV)

Mary Earl has been educating Kitsap wine lovers for a couple of decades, is a longtime member of the West Sound Brew Club and can pair a beer or wine dinner in a flash. She volunteers for the Clear Creek Trail and is a longtime supporter of Silverdale. Contact her at cheerstoyoukitsap@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: The big beers stored, for good reason, in your cellar