Craft beers: Review and guides Guide to craft beers

How to age craft beer

invecchiare la birra e il Barley Wine - EFW
Written by EFW Staff

Is it really possible to age beers?

The preservation of craft beer

Craft beer doesn’t have industrial preservatives and have organoleptic properties pretty delicate, thus it has a careful code of conduct for its preservation. The first thing to do is pay attention to the expiring date, compulsorily printed on the label. Then, it is important to keep the bottles of beer sheltered from the direct light because it affects the bacteria that make the beer rancid. A fresh cellar or a pantry is the perfect place to stock beer. As we’ve already said, temperature plays an important role as well in the preservation of beer. In fact, more than 16 degrees can cause chemical reactions that alter irreparably the taste, making it less healthy.

Finally, it is advised to not preserve beer in humid cellars together with other food or substances with an intense smell. In fact, even if the keg or the bottles shelter the drink, the strong aromas can affect or ruin it. Another small advice that can make the difference in the preservation is the position of the bottles. There isn’t a universal rule, but it is proven that bottles with crown cork prefer staying vertically whereas the classic cork should be placed horizontally, slightly tilted upwards in order to not soak the cork in the beer.

Ageing is not possible for all of the type of beers, besides Barley Wine.

First of all it is necessary to establish that it is possible to age only some types of beer and that the chosen beer has to be crafty. It has no sense to age, in fact, industrial beer, it would be just an old beer and no more drinkable. The same is for wine and the other alcoholic substances. Ageing is a process that makes most precious something that is precious from the beginning.

Moreover, the ageing of the beer is an issue of the contained yeast that have to be natural, so that the content of sugar that have to be natural and not added artificially. Given these basic rules, let’s see how to age beer in detail.

Beers that get better though ageing are those beers with a higher alcoholic degree, strongly hopped, that become more balanced though the years. We recognize them because often they do not have the expiring date, but only the production one. In the world there is a beer ageing process really precious: it is called Barley wine method. We all know that the origin of beer is rooted in time unmemorable and that it was called like this from ancient times. Then, the English brew masters dug up the term to be in competition with the aged French wines that during XVIII century invaded the English market.

Beer aged with the Barley wine method reach a high alcoholic volume similar to the wine. For these reasons is also called meditation beer. The colour is unique and can vary from the brown to copper, without foam or not too much. The main characteristic is its body and the strong smell given by the ageing. It has characteristics that make the tasting of this beer a unique experience.

Beer aged with the Barley wine method reach a high alcoholic volume similar to the wine. For these reasons is also called meditation beer. The colour is unique and can vary from the brown to copper, without foam or not too much. The main characteristic is its body and the strong smell given by the ageing. It has characteristics that make the tasting of this beer a unique experience.

Fonti immagini: brewreport.blogspot.com, www.jimrush.net, www.drinkdrakes.com

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EFW Staff