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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> revisiting my Christmas beer from last year

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homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Last year, I brewed an old ale with a Belgian yeast, then added spices to it. It ended up pretty good, but I felt like the Belgian character detracted more than added to the beer (wish I had gone with an English strain). I also wish I had added more spices than I did, as I thought they were more subtle than I had wanted. To be fair, people gave me a lot of positive feedback on the beer... but I wonder if they waxed caps had more to do with that. :)

This weekend, I came across a few leftover bottles of this beer, so I stuck one in the fridge, and last night, I opened it.

I did so carefully over my sink, as I had ended up with a few gushers in that batch. This bottle, however, was perfectly fine. It poured a solid two plus fingers of foam, with a cap that stayed forever.

Interestingly, I got way more cinnamon on the nose than I recalled last year - and also noticeable vanilla, which surprised me; I thought that vanilla faded pretty badly with time?

All in all, the year was good to this beer. The caramel was very prominent, but the flavors overall had blended and mellowed pretty darned well. I still wish that I didn't have that Belgian character in it, but only because the beer ended up differently than I had envisioned.

Both the cinnamon and vanilla were nicely present. As the beer warmed, it got noticeably tastier - I wish that I had let it warm more before opening.

All in all, it was enjoyable, and a fun little follow up.




Posted 34 days ago.

Chal
Wenham, MA
45 Posts


It does seem that all beers benefit from aging and the time-frame may be longer than we think. :-)
Is it also possible that there is a change in the taster? Does beer taste better and are the flavors more obvious when we drink less?
I realize that in this forum it might be blasphemy, but I thought I'd just throw it out there to see what other's think?




Posted 34 days ago.

Matt
Charter Member
Normal, IL
341 Posts


That's not blasphemy at all, its spot on. Palates change over time, and even rapidly based on conditions.

I wouldn't say all beers benefit from having though.





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


I'm sure that my palate has changed - I used to really dislike bitter beers, but of late, I'm all about MOAR HOPS.

That said, I do believe that some beers benefit from long aging.




Posted 34 days ago.

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