The Brew Basement

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 […]

One of the papers I’ve been relying on heavily here at the Brew Basement is called “Aging characteristics of different beer types”, which was accepted into the Journal of Food Chemistry on July 17th 2006. It’s an absolute treasure trove of info for a cellaring enthusiast. Today I’d thought I’d share with you a few off […]

If you haven’t already, please check out part 1 and part 2 of this series before continuing below.
BigD’s research remains an important benchmark in our understanding of the changing flavors of aging beer. Many, if not all of his findings have been the subject of further research in the field. The declining intensity of hop […]

Recently I’ve been reading a book called “The Home Brewer’s Answer Book” by brewer extraordinaire Ashton Lewis. This book is aimed at homebrewers and provides a resource for them to consult when things start to go wrong with their beer. I’m finding it to be a great source of info on beer in general, and […]