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n a recent trip to Bruges I was lucky enough to pick up some Westvleteren, and put 10 bottles aside to age. As I now have 14 empty spaces in the crate I was planning on filling them with various, mostly trappist, bottles to age. I have a few Rocheforts, one each Achel bruin and blonde and a few Westmalle tripel. I have two quick questions:
1) Is aging blonde tripels a none starter? I gather dark+strong=good ageing so I’m not sure about tripels.
2) I can get hold of the 500ml La Trappe Blonde and La Trappe Double croques (sort of ceramic jugs with a cork). Would it be worth ageing these, will the ceramic have a positive or negative effect?
Thanks!
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Not quite an answer to your specific questions, but a worthwhile read:
http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer-News/Article-79.htm
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the ceramic bottles are much better for aging than glass, absolutely no light gets in. However, my experience with the Dubbel tells me its not worth aging as compared to the other Trappist beers. If you want to age a lighter Trappist brew, I wont be the only one to tell you that Orval is magic.
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Tripels benefit from aging in my opinion. I have had some experience with bottles in the 4-6 year old range and I think depending on your tastes they improve with age. They become sweet, less dry, and the flavors more intense. I had a 4 year old bottle of de dolle mad bitch that tasted like liquid cracker jacks UNTIL I pours the dead yeast on the bottom into the beer. Which was odd because it instantly zapped the flavor.
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You’re solid with the Westmalle Tripel. I’m down to one bottle in my cellar that was "best before 2004." The last one I had from that batch was excellent - that was a couple months ago. I have no experience with aging LaTrappe on my own. I did have a 1996 Dubbel (is that right Schroppfy?) a couple years from the ceramic looking bottle and it was well beyond it’s prime.
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Ok so it all sounds good, I’ll have a go at the tripels and if it’s a disaster then hey it’s only a bottle of beer  - plenty more where they came from.
Unfortunately I can only get the lighter La Trappes in the croques, I have one glass bottle of the ABT that I’ll keep.
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Man you have a good memory. Indeed that’s what the crock was; old bierprovers logo and all. It was really oxidized...
I can also vouch for Westmalle triple aging well.
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I think dubbels and lighter trappists can be good with a couple years on their back. I remember some particularly awesome St Bernardus 8 and 6 doing very well after 2-3 years.
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I had a 10 year old bottle of Westy8 recently that was not good. Very oxidized. It might have just been the handling so YMMV
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La Trappe Quad ages really well for a few years, had a 4 year old on my birthday last year and it was a vast improvement.
Rochefort 10 is very hardy and a must if you are sticking some monkish stuff away for aging.
I love aged Westy, some do, some don’t.
Incidentally, if ever you get one that you feel is too old it really works well to blend old and new. Two thirds old, one third new usually does it for me.
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Most of the benefit of bottle fermentation is realized in the first 6-10 weeks. Stronger ones may be stable or continue to improve but the gains tend to be less & the risks may increase over time.
Long-aged beers seem to taste better if agitated a little a few days before drinking. Dissolved solids that taste good will often settle out too much due to the slow effect of gravity.
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