14 Jan
2003
14 Jan
'03
8:20 a.m.
At our December meeting, people brought a number of vintages of Anchor
Christmas. Your 1998 would be about as good as its going to get right
now, though you could continue to hold it until a special occasion at
Christmas 2003 without much deterioration. (i.e. You don't have to drink
it this week, or even this month. But definitely this year.)
The bigger bottle helps - less exposure to oxygen per unit volume of
beer.
Roger Deschner rogerd(a)uic.edu
On Mon, 13 Jan 2003, Roger Falk wrote:
Kevin, there are differing opinions on this subject. I
personally don't like
to age beers (other than lambics, and a select few beers) longer than 3 or 4
years. This is mainly due to the oxidation that occurs in the beer (a very
nasty taste on my palate). The main difference that you will notice in the
particular beer you have if you continue to age it, will be a decreasing hop
character and the spruce will fall more to the background. I would drink the
beer you have right now. Should you decide to continue aging it, that would
be fine, because the alcohol content in Anchor Christmas allows it to be aged
for a long time. Hope that helps!
Roger J. Falk