# Aging Coopers Beers



## benny_bjc (4/6/08)

Hi,

Was thinking of aging a few commercial coopers beers including:

* Coopers Stout
* Vintage Ale 
* Sparkling Ale
* Pale Ale

Has anyone tried aging any of these beers and what should I expect from these aged beers?

How long and what temperatures should you store each of these beers?

thanks


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## barls (4/6/08)

ive got about half a carton of the sparkling thats about a year old now and its great


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## benny_bjc (4/6/08)

barls said:


> ive got about half a carton of the sparkling thats about a year old now and its great



how does it differ from the fresh sparkling ale?


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## barls (4/6/08)

its a little more smoother imho


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## benny_bjc (4/6/08)

barls said:


> its a little more smoother imho



Out of interest do you now what the peak ageing time for this beer would be???

I know the vintage ale is meant to be very good at 2-5 years.


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## Muggus (4/6/08)

beer007 said:


> Has anyone tried aging any of these beers and what should I expect from these aged beers?
> 
> How long and what temperatures should you store each of these beers?
> 
> thanks


Got stuck into one of the '06 Coopers Vintages i've been cellaring away a couple of weeks back. Very nice, certainly a bit different, some 'oxidised' flavour to it (dried fruit/sherry undertones), though I daresay a bit watery in comparison to a fresh one.

As far as conditions go, make sure you have it somewhere devoid of light, thats reasonable dry and stays a constant lowish temperature...somewhere around 12-16 degrees is apparently good.
For Coopers beers, and most crown seals for that matter, its best to store them upright.
The length of aging is entirely up to you, and your patience. I can imagine the Sparkling and PA may tend to develop a bit faster because they're not as dark or as high in alcohol. 
Within 6 months there should be some sort of change... 12-24 months oxidisation should start becoming apparent...anything after 2 years you may either be rewarded or shat upon, but from what i've found alot of beers will noticably get more and more watery after this point, and oxidisation may ruin the flavour before too long...a dirty/rusty flavour is quite common.
Then again, it all depends on the beer and the conditions its in.


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## drsmurto (5/6/08)

I've been sampling my 1999 Vintage Ale recently and am planning on busting open the carton 2000 this weekend.

The stout should age well too, i recall they used to sell a 'Special Old Stout' a few years back.

As for aged sparkling, i agree, much smoother. The Austral Hotel, Rundle St in Adelaide has aged sparkling on tap :chug:


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## Interloper (5/6/08)

A client gave me two stubbies of the Coopers Vintage Extra Strong Ale this week as a Thank You gift. :beer: 
They were from...wait for it....wait for it..... 1998! They are just shy of 10 years old.

I tried one last night as I had the fear that it might not have been stored well and it might be off as a decade is a long time for a beer to sit in a bottle.

It was smoooooooooth as silk! Honey undertones almost, but very subtle. The strong alcohol aroma that I associate with this beer wasn't present either. 

The yeast had really clumped and darkened a lot compared to recent CVA that I have had but I am going to let the other one sit until October when it will officially have been in the bottle for 10 years.


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## nickmez (13/2/20)

Hi Interloper. I have some Oct. 1999 vintage ale. Tried some last Oct. 2019 and it still holds your description well. Have a cartoon of 2013 but won't open it yet. Cheers Big Nick


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## Tangentile (11/8/20)

benny_bjc said:


> Out of interest do you now what the peak ageing time for this beer would be???
> 
> I know the vintage ale is meant to be very good at 2-5 years.


There was a 2016 Vintage keg on tap at the Petersham Bowlo a week or so ago and it was outstanding. Long malt flavours and super smooth.


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