Get the Most Out of those Black Friday BA Stouts
Lessons learned from years of samples and chatting with experts
Thanksgiving is next week which means we all are looking forward to the real reason for the season, Black Friday barrel aged stouts! And while I think fresh hop IPAs are better and should be celebrated more, these are the most sought after beers on the market.
I was also really tempted to call this “5 ways you’re drinking your beer wrong!” but, while funny, it goes against everything I stand for in craft beer blogging. Most notably:
The only “wrong” way to drink a beer is the way you don’t enjoy.
Clickbait
That said, you might not be getting the most out of your barrel aged stouts, Black Friday or standard. And there’s one big trick to it.
Don’t cellar the beer!
This is probably the most controversial thing I will say here. And I was relived that my thoughts on this were confirmed when talking with Anello Mollica, Co-Owner and brewer of Central Waters Brewery, who runs one of the best barrel programs in Wisconsin at my local homebrew club Beer Barons of Milwaukee.
There are many, minor reasons for this, but the big two are
The brewers package the beer when it’s ready
We’re no longer in the FA age of craft beer of the 90s and early 2000s, we have entire degrees dedicated to individual aspects of making beer, including courses just in how to better taste it! So these beers you buy are at their best the closest to when you buy them.
The brewers also know the conditions of their barrels and the environment they’re staying at. They are keeping these areas in perfect conditions to sit happily, tucked into their toasted oak beds, absorbing all the flavors and minimizing the risks of contamination. And they’re in there, checking on it daily. They’re doing this because it’s their craft and their joy, and you should trust these people over the random person who stood in line because…
The average beer drinker doesn’t know how to cellar
POP QUIZ!
If you answered any of those confidently, you’re wrong. The actual correct answer is “What is my goal for storing?”
While cellar temp is what we keep beer at to continue the aging process and consumption for the warmer beers (English ales, stouts, porters), the beer will keep developing over time and can “over” develop. That is why cicerones suggest storing beer under 40°F (4.5C), it slows the aging process and keeps it fresher, longer.
However, aging certain beers can be beneficial, especially if you want the flavor to change. The big flavor changes are:
reduced hop characteristics
increased perceived sweetness
darker malt flavors
muted spices
But to do this right, you need to keep it cool, out of light and know what you’re looking for in the aging process without opening the cans or bottles for when it is ready. And if you’ve been to more than 2 verticals, you know what what a badly aged beer tastes like.
What you should be on the lookout for
Okay, so what are the tell tale signs of a badly aged beer?
Oxidation
This is the most common problem when it comes to aged beers. While some oxidation helps develop the malt flavors and mute the hops, too much is bad. How you can tell this has happened is the malt flavors go from bready to honey or caramel (good oxidation), and then from those to wet cardboard or stale raisins (bad oxidation). The color will also darken. So if your yellow beer becomes reddish-brown and smells like a shipping warehouse after it rained, you might not have a good time.
Light struck
Also referred to as “skunking” because it smells and tastes like skunk spray.
The reason we want to keep beer out of the light isn’t just because it can warm it too much, but because the UV in there can skunk your beer. This is caused by the light cleaving the iso-alpha acids from boiled hops, creating 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (MBT) which is sulphury and very noticeable by humans. This is why beers were preferred to be in brown bottles (and now cans), but even brown bottles let in some light. And if we’re aging these beers for a year or more, it adds up.
Infection
Barrels are living things which also contain living things, and no matter how much you clean, sanitize, and mitigate, as time goes to infinity the chances go to 100%.
Some of these beers will get infected and, thankfully, have been self recalled to keep quality of the brewery up, but also because it’s dangerous to have uncontrolled, active fermentation in packaged beer.
The first thing you should be on the lookout for is a bulging can. This is a sure sign that the pressure inside is too much for the can to handle and liable to give way. If you’re using bottles, ruh-ro.
When opening (assuming the container didn’t fail) it can be explosive, like above, or if you’re used to more wild ferments you will recognize the classic steady, foamy pour that trickles out of the top.
Besides over carbonation, you should look for less head retention than normal and a light sheen on the top of your beer. That and the noticeable sour flavor from the lactic acid, produced by some wild lactobacilli bacterium that got into the beer at some point in the process.
Good news, though, all of these (outside of the physical danger of failing containers) are perfectly safe. Skunked, oxidized or sour stouts won’t physically hurt you, but you just won’t enjoy them as much as if you drank them before those faults took hold.
Last words
Just like I say with homebrewing: there’s no WRONG way to do it as long as you’re having fun with it, and being safe while doing so.
Standing in line at 6am with other beer nerds and having a bottle share while waiting for the doors to open is fun. Sitting around with other beer nerds drinking old beer that was improperly stored and comparing to to not as old beer, also fun. Anticipating an event that is “good enough” to open a special bottle can be fun.
I have just swung in the other direction where my “special occasion” is simply having said bottle and feeling a little thirsty. But you do you!