We’ve been conditioned to believe that ‘aged’ is a synonym for ‘better.’ We pay a premium for 12-year-old scotch and hunt for vintage wines, so it’s natural to assume that the six-pack in the back of your pantry is only getting more complex with time.
The reality is less romantic. For 99.9% of the beer on store shelves, ‘aging’ isn’t a maturation process, it’s a slow decline into staleness. While a handful of specific brews can evolve into something magnificent, most beer is at its absolute peak the moment it leaves the brewery. Here is the forensic breakdown of why your beer has a shelf life, and which rare bottles actually belong in a cellar.
When you think about “aging wine” you are thinking of something that is done on purpose to enhance the flavor of the wine. And, as you know, some wines are aged for many, many years. But the same myth applies to both wine and beer.
While most beers decline, IPAs are in a league of their own when it comes to a ticking clock. Find out why hoppy beers are the most time-sensitive brews in the cooler.
The Vintage Wine Fallacy
It is a myth that all wine is meant to be aged for years and years and that all wine will be better the longer it is aged. Many wines, and the vast majority of the wine we buy today, is meant to be consumed very soon after it is bottled, and will not age well in the bottle at all. It will become stale and undrinkable.
Any aging is done before the wine leaves the winery, and this may only be for a short period. Do not think you can buy a $15 bottle of wine and age it for ten years to end up with a $200 bottle of wine.
Wondering whether liquors like whiskey get better with age?
Bottle Maturation
Newly brewed beer put into a bottle is green beer. It is not quite ready to drink. So, most bottled beers need a relatively short period of bottle aging or a maturation period. This may be one to two weeks, and sometimes up to a few months. Anything longer than this, and the beer starts to go stale. Some beers may hold up well for up to a year.
Here is where the myth within the myth comes in, however. People sometimes think that beer gets better with age, and this is generally not true. Yet, other people think that aging is never appropriate for beer and no beer can benefit from it. This is also myth!
There do exist beers that can improve their flavor when appropriately aged. Like fine wine, their flavors become more complex and…more awesome.
Beers That Improve with Age
An example of beers that improve with age is Belgium’s Lambic beers, something I enjoy often and would highly recommend you try. These beers are aged in oak barrels for up to two years. After this, certain bottled styles of Lambic can continue aging in the bottle for many years.
Aging always has to do with oxidation. But while oxidation is responsible for off-flavors and bad aromas in stale beer or wine, it is also responsible for the complex compounds that lead to the flavor of wine and beer that benefits from it.
Another example of aged beers is barrel-aged beers. However, they do not necessarily age well in the bottle.
Most beer is at its highest quality and the peak of its flavor the moment it leaves the brewery. After this, if it is not exposed to excessive heat, light, or oxygen it will have a shelf life of a few months.
Light is Beer’s Worst Enemy
As revealed in this article about rewarming beer, light is by far the worst enemy of beer. Many beer enthusiasts hate popular beers like Corona or Heineken. Well, Corona is bottled in clear bottles and Heineken in light-green ones. Both let through UV rays, responsible for that skunky taste.
Beyond light and heat, the very ingredients that give beer its character—specifically the volatile oils in hops, are the first to degrade. This is why a hop-heavy beer is a ticking clock, while a malty, high-alcohol brew has a bit more staying power.
This doesn’t mean that either is guaranteed to be bad, but the beer has no protection! This is why many large brands, and most small craft beers, use darkly colored and light-opaque brown glass bottles. Some have also turned to high-sided beer cartons.
While most beers decline, IPAs are in a league of their own when it comes to a ticking clock. Find out why hoppy beers are the most time-sensitive brews in the cooler.
The Can Revolution: Why Aluminum Wins
You also may be noticing that the beer world is experiencing a can revolution. Bottles used to be the uber-coolest, but many craft beer breweries are turning to cans once again, and some use cans exclusively.
Today’s cans have many advantages over bottles, not the least of which is the lighter weight and cheaper shipping costs. Cans let in absolutely no light and they have an inner-liner that never allows the beer to come into contact with the metal of the can. Cans may be a superior vessel for beer!
So, if in your beer-craftiness you have been avoiding cans, you may want to rethink the situation. Cans are becoming more widely available in the craft beer market and will continue to do so. The price, as well, will probably continue to drop below the price of bottled beer as the market develops.
More Forensic Beer Science:
- The IBU Arms Race: If you think more hops mean a longer shelf life, find out why “1,000 IBU” beers are a scientific impossibility.
- Is Beer More Relaxing Than Other Alcohol?: It’s not just the ABV. We look at the science of hops and hordenine to see if beer has a biological “chill” factor.
- Bottles vs. Cans: We take a deep dive into whether that “metallic” taste is real or just a psychological leftover from the 1970s.