Old Beer, Good Beer: Brewdog Abstrakt AB02: Aged 1 Year

Old Beer, Good Beer: Brewdog Abstrakt AB02: Aged 1 Year

As part of the continuing curiosity on the affects ageing has on beer I’ve been keeping a few back after tasting noting a bottle fresh.  The first notable bottle is this the AB:02 a massively hopped high alcohol Imperial Red.

This one should be especially interesting as it’s my first test with ageing a highly hopped beer.  Despite hops generally being viewed as a good way to keep a beer good for a long time, mainly off the reputation of the historical IPA being higher alcohol and hopped so to survive its journey, the current opinion is that high hop beers shouldn’t be kept too long as the hops become somewhat a detriment after too long.  Thus I kept a bottle for a short one year, with another bottle cracked open at the six month mark just to make sure all was going well.  Since high ABV beers tend to age well (and this is quite mentally high) it will be interesting to see if that off sets the hops reputation for not ageing well.

So, changes then.  Seems to pour a bit darker than I remember and a bit cloudier, probably more due to the shape of the glass than the colour of the beer. Aroma is still very bitter and hoppy, though the sweetness seems thicker.  There’s a toffee sweetness in with the grapefruit and as you get into the body it seems somewhat treacle tart like, a flavour that after a while seems much more dominant.

In fact the whole body seems a bit different, a lot smoother texture, but thicker and more chewy.  Unfortunately this seems to take a lot of the light hop flavours with it, while still leaving the bitter impact.  The finish is a bit liquorice and chocolate, again seeming to emphasise the heavier flavours.

I guess the opinion on hops not ageing well is starting to show.  The beers still got a lot of kick, but the hops are starting to get a bit sticky and a have lost a lot of the subtlety and some of the bitterness.   Also the extra thickness doesn’t suit the hoppiness, making it more wearing and less fresh.  I still enjoyed the beer but it was definitely at its best fresh.