YETI: To age or not to age that is the question.

Originally posted by drewbeerme
When answering an aging question it helps to know what you don’t care for in the beer when fresh.

This bears repeating. But of course I think aging beers is overrated, in general. There aren’t many beers that truly *improve* with bottle time, IMHO. Yeti will become less hoppy over time, but there’s something just a little bit off about the malt character in that beer...a smidge husky or vegetal...so the fresher bottles seem to be better since the brightness of the hops helps to divert some attention from the malt. I’ve attempted aging this one a few times in the past to quiet the hops down, but oddly it doesn’t seem to improve things.

Originally posted by HonkeyBra
This beer is filtered. Right? Why would someone aged a filtered beer?

all beer is filtered somewhat, but there is a difference between heavy and soft filtration and what that does to the long-term storage prospects of beer. I believe Yeti is filtered, but not as heavily as their paler beers. the folks at GD have said they filtered and force-carbonate Yeti both to "prolong its shelf life and ensure consistency in quality blah blah" and because they see the beer as ready to drink when it’s released (I agree).

so my advice is pretty standard here: other than a select few non-lambic beers that show improvement (which is completely subjective and therefore open to wide interpretation and therefore a pretty meaningless qualification), if you’re "saving" bottles because availability is spotty and you’d like to enjoy it year-round, you should put them in the fridge. if you’re putting them in the cellar or closet because you believe they might "improve" with age, you need to be aware of what you don’t like in the beer when it’s young and what you think will happen to it over time, and be honest with yourself when you finally open it. there’s a thing here on ratebeer where someone posts a thread like "How has Pliny the Elder 2007 aged?" and there’s a collection of all of the typical, expected replies, one of which undoubtedly is like "DRINKIN GREAT, JUST CRACKED ONE!" signed: "A PERSON THAT LIKES EVERYTHING EVER MADE EVER"

Originally posted by Ernest
I’ve attempted aging this one a few times in the past to quiet the hops down, but oddly it doesn’t seem to improve things.

yeah i think by the time the hops have faded enough to put it in perfect balance for me, oxidation has set in. only takes a couple of months.

Originally posted by HonkeyBra
This beer is filtered. Right? Why would someone aged a filtered beer?

My first thoughts are generally if you don’t like aggressive hoppiness, the booze is sharp, or a roasty character is atringent. Just because a beer is filtered doesn’t mean it won’t change or perhaps improve to a state that someone prefers. Of course a filtered forced carbonated beer isn’t common sense to be a good ager but I’d guess it has more to do with the beer/recipe itself and again, what you are looking to change. There’s no actual knowledge of why certain beers age better than others. In most cases a beer you think should improve won’t actually improve or even get to a level that is preferred.

There’s just a few reasons I age a beer - I want the hops (like expedition) or booze (like pre-’11 BCS) to mellow, it’s too simple and sweet and needs some oxidation to add some other dimension to it (generally in barleywines, like old guardian, but also in really huge imperial stouts), or I want wild yeast (mostly Brett) to take over.