The Brew Basement

Wine and brandy flavors are common additions to the flavor profiles of cellared beers. Though usually viewed as undesirable flavors by the brewing and scientific communities, they can often be quite pleasant in the right brew (and in the right amounts). These flavors are caused by a duo of compounds called isovalerate and 2-methyl butyrate. The [...]

Please check out my previous posts in the series giving you an overview of Brett in beer and a discussion of the flavor components of brett beers.
Brett has had a long history of use in many different beer types. Belgian lambic and gueuze beers, along with the sour red and brown Flanders ales, have all used Brett [...]

This is the second part of a series on the funky little yeast called Brettanomyces . Be sure to check out the first part of this series for a general overview of Brettanomyces in beer.
Brettanomyces yeast are survivors. Slow and steady is their motto. They don’t grow very quick, and are easily out-competed by other yeasts. [...]

If you like this article, please check out the second part - Brett Flavor Components in Beer

Barnyard. Band-aids. Bacon. Horse Stable. Not the typical flavors you would think of when pondering how your favorite beer tastes. You may be surprised to learn however, that some of the world’s best brewers actually cultivate these flavors in [...]

This is the sixth and last part of this series - please click on the links below to visit my previous posts. 
I’ve finally come to the end of my six part series on why beers high in abv% (alcohol by volume) tend to age well. In the process I’ve managed to establish something that we all pretty much [...]

Please be sure to check out my previous posts in this series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Welcome to the next-to-last post in my series on why high alcohol beers age so well. On Thursday I’ll wrap the series up by summarizing the conclusions of the previous five posts and adding some of [...]

 
Hello everyone! Today it’s time for the fourth part of my series examing why high alcohol beers age so well (Be sure to check out my previous posts on this subject: Part1 Part2 Part3). Today’s topic is:
4.  Compounds Produced Along With Ethanol - Brewing methods that are used to create these high alcohol “big beers” also create other compounds [...]

If you haven’t already, please feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series before reading on.
I’ll be covering two of the possible reasons (listed in Part 1 of the series) that beers high in ethanol content tend to age well. Let’s start with the more in-depth topic first:
3. Reactions Involving Ethanol [...]

Before reading on, make sure to check out the introduction to this series on the aging of high-alcohol beers.
1. Microbial Growth Inhibition- High ethanol levels inhibit the growth of micro-organisms that cause beer spoilage.
If you read enough of the literature (what little there is) on beer aging, you’ll eventually come across somebody mentioning that the [...]

One of the basic principles of beer cellaring is that beers with a high Alcohol by Volume % (or ABV%) tend to age better then beers with a low ABV%. This principal becomes especially relevant when considering the current trend towards bigger and more powerful craft beers here in America. The question rarely asked [...]