Not So Famous…

I mentioned in my last post that the plan for a Baby Shower for Men was to all pitch in to brew a batch of high gravity beer that could be aged for 21 years.  When the time comes that my child is of age, they will be able to enjoy a tasty beer that was brewed before they were born.

This idea holds appeal for me for a couple reasons.

1. How cool is it to have your own beer, brewed with you in mind?  I mean, when I brew beer for myself, I do this, but I can’t say I’ve ever had a beer that was crafted with me in mind…without having to do the work.

2. How awesome would it be to drink a beer that was aged for 21 years and brewed before you were born???  There are wines out there that were created before I was born, sure, though I’ll not likely be able to try any of them.  But beer?

I know there are probably some of you out there that are wondering if aging beer is a desirable thing.  The answer is: it depends.  I hate to be vague, but there are definitely beers out there that do not age well.

• Mass-produced, forced-carbonated beers will never age well.  Part of the aging process is the continued conditioning of the beer by the residual yeast.  These are called live beers, and can be aged because technically the fermentation process is still actually occurring, albeit at a slow pace.  The longer these beers age, the more varied the flavor profile will be.  So any beer that is going to be aged needs to be live.
• Beers with a standard amount of alcohol will not age well. (8% or lower.)  Another part of the aging process is keeping the beer from going sour in the bottle. Alcohol is a preservative, and while it will not kill all the yeast, it will slow their processes.  Thus, any beer you intend to age needs to have an absurdly high abv%.

So, a style that is a candidate for aging must be high in alcohol, and somewhat under-primed.  (Priming, you might recall, is the process by which we add a little bit of sugar at bottle-time to create carbon dioxide that will stay in suspension in the beer.) We don’t want the beer to have TOO much CO2, so as to create a bottle-bomb.  So we under-prime the beer, and in 21 years, the beer has just the right amount of carbonation.

I have looked through many styles, and the beers that lend themselves well for aging are well-known in the brewing community.  The high-gravity belgian ales are great for aging.  High-gravity Scotch Ales age well.  The German doppelbock is a good candidate for aging.  A really high-gravity Imperial Stout will age superbly.  Finally, an Old Ale is commonly aged…hence the name. These are the descriptions of the styles per the American Homebrew Association.

Belgian Tripel – Tripels are often characterized by a complex, sometimes mild spicy character, but no clove like phenolic flavor. Yeast-generated fruity banana esters are also common, but not necessary. These pale/light-colored ales may finish sweet, though any sweet finish should be light. The beer is characteristically medium bodied with an equalizing hop/malt balance. Traditional Belgian Tripels are often well attenuated and bottle conditioned beers aged for a long period may be very well attenuated. Brewing sugar may be used to lighten the perception of body. Its sweetness will come from very pale malts. There should not be character from any roasted or dark malts. Very low hop flavor is okay. Alcohol strength and flavor should be perceived as evident. Head retention is dense and mousse like. Chill haze is acceptable at low serving temperatures. Traditional Tripels are bottle conditioned and may exhibit slight yeast haze.

English Barleywine – English style barley wines range from tawny copper to dark brown in color and have a full body and high residual malty sweetness. Complexity of alcohols and fruity-ester characters are often high and counterbalanced by the perception of low to medium bitterness and extraordinary alcohol content. Hop aroma and flavor may be minimal to medium. English type hops are often used but not necessary for this style. Low levels of diacetyl may be acceptable. Caramel and some characters indicating oxidation, such as vinous (sometimes sherry like) aromas and/or flavors, may be considered positive. Chill haze is allowable at cold temperatures.

Russian Imperial Stout – (Note: The AHA does not define Russian Imperial Stout as a style, so I will be using the American Imperial Stout description in its place. It sounded quite appropriate for a Russian-Style Imperial Stout.) Black to very black, American-style imperial stouts typically have a high alcohol content. Generally characterized as very robust. The extremely rich malty flavor and aroma are balanced with assertive hopping and fruity-ester characteristics. Bitterness should be moderately high to very high and balanced with full sweet malt character . Roasted malt astringency and bitterness can be moderately perceived but should not overwhelm the overall character. Hop aroma is usually moderately-high to overwhelmingly hop-floral, -citrus or -herbal. Diacetyl (butterscotch) levels should be absent.

Strong Scotch Ale – Scotch ales are overwhelmingly malty and full-bodied. Perception of hop bitterness is very low. Hop flavor and aroma are very low or nonexistent. Color ranges from deep copper to brown. The clean alcohol flavor balances the rich and dominant sweet maltiness in flavor and aroma. A caramel character is often a part of the profile. Dark roasted malt flavors and aroma may be evident at low levels. If present, fruity esters are generally at low aromatic and flavor levels. Low diacetyl levels are acceptable. Chill haze is allowable at cold temperatures. Though there is little evidence suggesting that traditionally made strong Scotch ales exhibited peat smoke character, the current marketplace offers many Scotch Ales with peat or smoke character present at low to medium levels. Thus a peaty/smoky character may be evident at low levels (ales with medium or higher smoke character would be considered a smoke flavored beer and considered in another category). Strong Scotch Ales may be split into two subcategories: Traditional (no smoke character) and Peated (low level of peat smoke character).

German Doppelbock – Malty sweetness is dominant but should not be cloying. Malt character is more is reminiscent of fresh and lightly toasted Munichstyle malt; more so than caramel or toffee malt character. Some elements of caramel and toffee can be evident and contribute to complexity, but the predominant malt character is an expression of toasted barley malt. Doppelbocks are full bodied and deep amber to dark brown in color. Astringency from roast malts is absent. Alcoholic strength is high, and hop rates increase with gravity. Hop bitterness and flavor should be low and hop aroma absent. Fruity esters are commonly perceived but at low to moderate levels.

Old Ale – Dark amber to brown in color, old ales are medium- to full-bodied with a malty sweetness. Hop aroma should be minimal and flavor can vary from none to medium in character intensity. Fruity-ester flavors and aromas can contribute to the character of this ale. Bitterness should be minimal but evident and balanced with malt and/or caramel like sweetness. Alcohol types can be varied and complex. A distinctive quality of these ales is that they undergo an aging process (often for years) on their yeast either in bulk storage or through conditioning in the bottle, which contributes to a rich and often sweet oxidation character. Complex estery characters may also emerge. Some diacetyl character may be evident and acceptable. Wood aged characters such as vanillin and other woody characters are acceptable. Horsey, goaty, leathery and phenolic character evolved from Brettanomyces organisms and acidity may be present but should be at low levels and balanced with other flavors Residual flavors that come from liquids previously aged in a barrel such as bourbon or sherry should not be present. Chill haze is acceptable at low temperatures. (This style may often be split into two categories, strong and very strong. Brettanomyces organisms and acidic characters reflect historical character. Competition organizers may choose to distinguish these types of old ale from modern versions.)

——————————-

So, now I put it to you, my readership, to help me determine what beer my child will drink in approximately 21 years! I have listed the styles, and provided descriptions, so let me know what you think.  Discussion may take place before or after your vote in the blog comments below.  I am also open to an option I hadn’t yet considered, which is why I allow you to vote “Other” in the poll below.  Please note that any “Other” votes ought to meet the conditions as described above.  It needs to be HIGH in alcohol.  Some of the styles I listed above aren’t even high enough in their normal states, so I’m going to be kicking them up a notch.  13% or higher will be desirable, and the higher, the better, IMO.  In addition the brewing process can’t consist of weird procedures that are going to be difficult or impossible for me to do.  (For example, the German Eisbock is often considered to be excellent for aging.  However, it is an Iced beer, which means that a Doppelbock is frozen, and the ice is removed, to create a higher-gravity beer than would otherwise have been created.  However, there’s no good way for me to freeze 5 gallons of wort, so I removed the Eisbock from the running.)  If you’re considering a style, but aren’t sure if it’ll be feasible, please post a comment, and we can talk about it!

(Voting closes at 11:59pm, August 31st, 2008.  Please vote before then!!)

Trackback URI | Comments RSS