Long term storage + ideal brew

[Fredbloke3]

Hi,

Couldn't find in search results - have a three part question(s).

What's the longest anyone has ever kept a bottled beer and drank it? Under ideal storage conditions, how long would a beer last?

I'm hoping to brew a beer for my first child on its way - has anyone dabbled in using long term cellared wine storage solutions for homebrewed beer? Some places advertise $1/bottle/year.... quite the deal. I'm hoping to withdraw 1-2 bottles for the wife and I until child is 18, then withdrawing 3 for us all to have one until the batch runs out (math tells me this is when they're about 24). Thoughts?

Also, what would the best beer to brew given all of the above? I'm assuming a darker, stronger beer?

Keen to hear any other thoughts or experiences on this if anyone wants to share.

Thanks everyone!

 

[manticle]

Longest for me is about 2 years bulk age and maybe another 12 months in the bottle. Similar recipe 12 months bulk age and 2 years in the bottle - both lovely.

Never used external storage. Beer will really need cold storage whereas wine can deal with cool. Beer does degrade due to certain reactions that can start back as far as malting and you may find the older they get, the more vegeitey or meaty they taste (at least after reaching a peak).

Still worth trying but look at dark and high alcohol (I'd aim for 9+ abv) and potentially highly hopped (the hoppiness will also fade with time but hops have a perservative effect*).

Styles that do age well include Barley Wines, Begian dark strong/quadrupel, Russian Imperial stouts, Wee heavy, maybe even eisbock.

*Although they also break down/oxidise

Bottle filled to brim, extreme care taken to avoid oxygen uptake during fermentation and packaging, dark glass stored upright in the dark.

 

[thumbsucker]

The longest I have heard about is Brett based beers and Rauch beers being still drinkable after 50 years, however they may not be to your taste.

The Brett scavenges oxygen and prevents oxidisation and the acid acts as a preservative.

I heard a case of Grodziskie (Polish Smoked Wheat Beer) that was dug out of the North African desert 50 years after WW2 and it was still good drinking.

Not to throw a damper on you idea, but your kid could hate beer or might turn into a born again teetotaleror.

I would be weary of any beer that had lots of caramel malt or hops in it over the space of 24 years. The caramel will oxidise the frack out of itself and the hops will skunk itself into god knows what.

As an extra measure of protection I would dunk the bottle top in a heavy coat of wax to keep oxygen out. Then place it in muddy silt deep down in dark black & cold ocean.

 

[Grott]

I have long necks of RIS, strong Dark Ales and a heap of various Stout styles that are coming on the 5 to 6 year mark, stored in milk crates in a spare room of the house and out of the light. Found to be excellent so far, good carbonation, good head and beautiful taste. I think I recall Bribie G having a wort some 20 years old that fermented into a nice drop. I suggest the stronger styles best stored. PET bottles lucky if a year, glass is best.