Ha! I thought I was the only one that had any Great Lakes Christmas Ale left from last year! I've got 2 six packs left. That is probably my favorite beer in the winter, but I tend to ration it throughout the year. I last had one about three weeks ago, and it seemed fine. I'm also interested in comparing the aged stuff with fresh. Sounds like a good project for some snowy Saturday evening in front of the fire.
So I did what I said - a taste test between the fresh 2014 christams ale, and last years that has been stored in my cellar.
New bottle on the left, old on the right. I'm certainly no pro taste tester but I was very surprised they tasted nearly identical. A tiny bit less carbonation in the aged ale, and a tiny bit less sharpness in taste. The new ale had a bit of bitterness, probably from the fresher hops. For an IPA I'd say this is a good thing, but for the Christmas Ale I actually preferred the slightly smoother aged one.
FWIW: The aged one had a "For freshest taste use by 2/25/14" - I disagree
In the dead of winter as I recall my basement get down in the upper 40's/50ish. In the heat of summer it will get up in the upper 60's.
If anything I proved that I can at least store beer down there for long periods, even ones of medium alcohol content (7.5%)
While I am on the subject... I finally opened another bottle I had in the basement tonight (the Christmas ale shot above was from a week ago). I didn't mean to age this one, I'm just not really a fan of stouts. But I make it a point to try everything I see from Ommegang (besides 4 of their common ones I rarely see any others, and everything I have had from them has been great). So one day I was in the grocery store and saw this Stout. It was made for The Game of Thrones. I think that’s a TV show but I have never seen it. Anyhow, per self imposed rule I had to buy it. So it sat in my basement forever, I was just never in the mood for a stout. I don't remember when I bought it, early this year or last year. It has a packaged on date of 8/8/13 and a best by date of 8/15. Most of Ommegangs stuff has a long life, I suppose that might be because its bottle conditioned, if that’s the right term. And I've found the Belgian yeasts they use really spice up a lot of brews that I'd otherwise not be to thrilled about. And this was no exception.
Ommegang's Game of Thrones, Take the Black Stout. 7% Ale brewed with star anise and licorice root. BA score 83/85. Good but not super. Probably because of the added spices and the TV show name. But I really enjoyed it! Oh and if your wondering about that light behind the glass, I was just checking to make sure this was a real stout... so thick and black that not one bit of light from my 200 lumen flashlight can be seen through it (the same light which can easily go through your hand and you can see your blood veins and such!). Might not be a classic stout, but the extra spices and Belgian yeasts sure do make this something I enjoyed. Almost wish I had bought 2, since this was a single batch release from Ommegang and I'll likely never have another.