barrel aged beer Archives | Short Brews

Does Beer Age Like Wine?

Thomas Short — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:21:34 +0000

Yes, beer can age like wine, but only some of it can, depending on the style. Most beer, from your lagers to your IPAs, is brewed to be enjoyed fresh, or as close to fresh as possible. Many flavors in beer break down over time, so older beer loses its balance of flavor and carbonation. But a few styles, mostly the boozy and funky ones, can actually improve in quality over several years, assuming they’re kept in the right conditions. Quick Reference: Beers that Age Like Wine (and Beers that Don’t) Style Ages Well? Why? Ideal Drinking Window Barleywines Yes High ABV and residual sugars keep it going 2–10 years Imperial Stouts Yes Alcohol and malt preserve the beer, while oxidation adds sherry and toffee notes 1–5 years Belgian Strong Ales and Quads Yes Malt-forward, low hop bitterness, so it holds up well 1–5 years Sours and Lambics Yes Brett and Lacto yeasts keep working in the bottle 1–10+ years IPAs and Hazy IPAs No Hop aroma fades within weeks Drink fresh Pilsners and Light Lagers No These are delicate, and they don’t preserve well Drink fresh Wheat Beers No Yeast-driven aromatics fade fast Drink fresh Why Some Beers Age Well Beers age well for different reasons, but the main factor is alcohol and sugar. Alcohol and sugar act as preservatives, and hops don’t. High-ABV beers and those with a lot of residual sugar have more substance for slow oxidation to gradually work with over time. Over the years, something with a bready, malty character can transform into something nuttier, then toffee-like, then eventually sherry-like. This is due to a slow chemical process that requires alcohol and sugar to work. Beers with active Brettanomyces or Lactobacillus (found in most sours and lambics) also age well, but for a different reason. Brett and Lacto are still active in the bottle after packaging, and they continue to change, and often improve, the flavor of the beer. Hops don’t work that way. The aromatic compounds found in hops are volatile and break down over a few weeks or months. If you want the most flavorful IPA, you should pick the freshest option. Beer Styles Worth Cellaring If you want to sit on a beer for a while, these styles tend to improve the most. I say “tend to” because quality is a huge factor, with lower-quality beers aging the wrong way. How to Cellar Beer If you have bottles that you want to age, here are a few tips: Does Cellaring Beer Actually Work? Yes, cellaring beer actually works. I have anywhere from 10-20 beers cellared at any time, and most of them are great once opened. However, not all beer ages well. If a beer wasn’t bottle-conditioned correctly, or if there was something off with the brew, an aged beer can go from ok to terrible.

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What’s the Strongest Beer in the World?

Thomas Short — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 02:17:06 +0000

Update on 2/19/2026: There‘s a new strongest beer! Before getting into this, here’s a quick question to ask yourself: what do you think the strongest beer in the world is? Better yet, what’s the strongest beer you’d be willing to sit and enjoy? Let’s start with a high ABV beer I love: barleywine. Barleywines vary, but you can expect somewhere in the 12-14% ABV range. Compared to IPAs in the 6-7% range and light beers closer to 4-5%, that’s pretty steep and hardly feels qualified to be counted as a “beer.” However, barleywine is a beloved beer style. But we’re not here to talk about beloved beer styles. No, we’re here to talk about the booziest beer ever created. Previously, the booziest beer in the world was Snake Venom by Brewmeister, which clocked in at a paltry 60% ABV. But Snake Venom’s time in the sun has passed, and we have a new strongest beer. Scottish Beithir Fire: The Strongest Beer in the World Scottish Beither Fire by 88 Brewery is a 75% ABV monster that comes with a warning label because, yes, it’s just that strong. The beer is a barley ale brewed over two months, presumably to pump up the ABV as much as possible. Oh, then it’s blended with Scottish spirit (read: Scottish everclear) to push it to a nice, rounded out 75% alcohol. You shouldn’t sit and drink an entire bottle of this; instead, you’re advised to enjoy just one shot. Because, you know, it’s got the ABV equivalent of two shots of vodka. No, you can’t reseal the bottle, but I have a suspicion that something made almost entirely of alcohol won’t go back if left open in the fridge for a few days. Heck, it says best before November 4, 2121, on the label, so it’ll probably be fine for longer. You can purchase a bottle for about $60. I’m not sure how badly I need to try a beer this strong, but if you’re so inclined, be my guest and let me know how it tastes. If it tastes like anything other than alcohol.

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What’s Peat In Beer?

Thomas Short — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 01:42:03 +0000

Beer nerds, I just got my hands on a bottle of Fremont Brew 2000 with peat. It’s basically the tastiest barleywine ever created with peat. It’s like a combination of barleywine, Scotch and all happy thoughts. So, obligatory post coming: what’s peat? Most of the time when someone says, “wow, this Scotch is peaty!” I would say something like, “yes.” I knew the flavor and I get it, but that’s about as far as it went. For those unaware, peat is that smoky flavor that you find in some Scotches and whiskeys. But now, dear readers, now that I have a BEER with peat, I’m inclined to learn more. Why not share this adventure with you? From the Bogs of Scotland Peat is basically dirt and dead plants. In Scotland, there are bogs that are made up of decaying vegetation. These bogs are specific to areas like Scotland and Ireland, and they’re affectionately called peatlands. I don’t know why or how, but someone out realized that these peaty bogs were an excellent source of fuel. At some point, the Scottish began chopping peat into bricks. These bricks could then be burned, sort of like one might burn coal. However, there were a few differences with peat. First, peat burns fast and hot. Second, peat has an incredibly unique smell. So, some Scotch distilleries (Scotcheries?) will use peat in the Scotch process. Scotch is always aged in barrels, as is tradition – but these barrels take on the flavor of what’s inside them. The malts in whiskey (one of the key ingredients) need to be smoked, and for some Scotches they’re smoked with peat. Then the peaty blend goes into the barrel, as is tradition. And now we go to beer. Bog Beer (aka Peat Beer) From now on I think peated beers should be called Bog Beers. One popular trend among brewers is to age beer in old, used barrels. For example, I recently had an excellent saison that was aged in old gin barrels for six months. During those six months, the saison absorbed the flavors of the wood and gin, and the result was a tasty treat for Thomas. This is how barrel aging works – the beer not only takes in the flavor of the alcohol, but it also takes in the flavor barrels. So, what happens when you put a barleywine in a peated keg? Peated barleywine. Ok, I get that peated beers aren’t common, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn more about them! Especially since peat is being harvested at industrial rates. The flavor is in high demand year-round, and as more people start drinking Scotch, the demand for peat is only going to grow. This poses a threat to peat. Like any resource, peat is scarce – and it’s not something that we can just go out and make more of. Peat is sort of like oil, taking years and years to break apart and become what it is today. It’s sad knowing that, someday, real peat will be gone. Sure, the flavor could be artificially recreated in some way, but it’s not the same. If you’re curious to know what a peated beer tastes like, I recommend spending the money to find out…because they won’t be around forever. The more you know.

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Barrel-Aged: All The Rage?

Kevin Short — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 18:33:18 +0000

To answer my own question, yes. Barrel-aged is “all the rage.” Even the most conservative breweries—by which I mean “not-very-inclined-to-start-experimenting-with-new-beer-menus breweries,” are starting to hop on the barrel train. Following the call of the “Barrel Herald,” if you will (no, you don’t have to). Barrel-aged tend to leave most of the flavor in the backend of the beer. But it all depends, really, on the brew—and on the barrel. A natural oak barrel—one that hasn’t had anything specific aged in it—will give beer a woody backend. Plus, the time spent in the barrel allows the beer to develop certain flavors that might otherwise have fallen by the wayside. But no two barrels are made the same. Bourb-On the Street Is… A cursory peek into the world of barrel-aging beer will reveal, even to the most un-discerning observer, the popularity of aging in bourbon barrels. Bourbon barrels impart a unique, bourbon-y flavor on beers, which has been described as “figgy,” by those who know what “figgy” means, and a nose that is uncannily like a sniff of the sweet, Kentucky liquor. The flavor of a bourbon barrel tends to come off pretty strong in a beer, so the brews therein will tend to be malty: beers that have enough flavor to compete with the figginess. If a one-way ticket to Flavortown is what you’re looking for, a bourbon barrel-aged beer may just satisfy your desire. The world of barrel-aging is a lot like the wild west: there are no rules (and a lot of whiskey). Bourbon is probably the most common: syrupy and smelly as it is, it gives brewers a uniquely American way of kicking their beers into overdrive. But all kinds of whiskey barrels make all kinds of whiskey-beers! Scotch barrels, for instance, tend to be peated, and thus yield peaty beers. Other whiskey barrels make other whiskey-tasting beers—usually less…noticeable…than their bourbon counterparts. Beer, Barrels & BEYOND Whiskey barrels are popular, but not exhaustive. They’re also not my favorite (not by a longshot). All kinds of wine barrels can be used for barrel-aging beer, too—which is good, because there are all kinds of wine barrels available. The two kinds of wine barrels that I see most used in aging beers are chard and cab. Chardonnay barrels tend to give beers the butt-end of the chardonnay flavor: that dry-sour sting on your tongue. In fact, one of my favorite local breweries in Reno uses that characteristic sting to make sour beer. If you ask them, they’ll tell you it’s little worms in the barrels: like fraternity pledges, they eat the beer and then, also like pledges, they “spit” out acid that makes the beer sour. Sounds suspicious, tastes delicious! Red wine barrels, like those from cabs or pinot noirs, give beer an unsurprising taste of wine. They also stick in your mouth like red wine is wont to do, leaving a layer of tart, fruity beerness with it. So, are barrel-aged beers for you? Well, do you like beer? Do you like non-beer? If the answer to either was “no,” then I wouldn’t suggest it, and I wonder why you bothered reading this at all. If you answered “yes” to either, then I would suggest it. In general, if you like whatever the barrel originally had in it, you’ll like the flavors that it imparts in the beer. If you haven’t hit up your local barrel-aging brewery, go ahead and do it: there’s something for everyone.

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