Reddit reviews Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide to Brews That Improve over Time

I've read Designing Great Beers and it's a great resource as a style guide, but it leans much more towards the empirical side when it comes to explaining things. If you're looking for something a little more scientific and data-driven there are some other really good options.

Suggestions:

• The Brewing Elements series: Water
  / Yeast
  / Malt
  / Hops - Very specific and science driven focus on each element.
  
• American Sour Beers - Mostly focused on sour beers, but gets really deep into the scientific aspects of it all (bonus: written by /u/oldsock).
  
• Vintage Beer - Data-driven resource on the science behind long-term aging.

I heard a guy speak about cellaring beer, and he even wrote a book on it (http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Beer-Tasters-Guide-Improve/dp/161212156X).

He spoke about how the best beers to age have one of the three S's - Smoked, Sour, or Strong. I typically go for Barleywine's or anything Barrel-Aged to cellar, and I always get two so I can drink one now and "compare" the other one later.

I picked up this book about 2 months ago. Nice little read that explains what 'fresh' flavors and flavor profiles can be expected to change into over time. Excellent read if this article didn't have enough detail for you.

http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Beer-Tasters-Guide-Improve/dp/161212156X

Cheers!

The book Vintage Beers covers some of the science behind aging beer. It approaches the topic from the collectors perspective, but there are some gems that can be applied to homebrewing as well.

If you're interested in starting to cellar beer there is a great book out called the Vintage Beer Taster's Guide. I've been cellaring for a year or so now, since reading it and everything I read has been helpful. I've also got a bottle of Epiphany that I'm going to save for a year or so, although I may be tempted to bring it out before if I get impatient as the bottle I've had already was wonderful.
http://www.amazon.ca/Vintage-Beer-Tasters-Guide-Improve/dp/161212156X

Sure.

https://www.amazon.com/Tasting-Beer-Insiders-Worlds-Greatest/dp/1603420894/

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Beer-Course-Tasting-Classes/dp/1402797672/

Also since you're talking about aging:

https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Beer-Tasters-Guide-Improve/dp/161212156X/

Much older but seminal:

https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Jacksons-Beer-Companion-Gastronomy/dp/0762402016/

edit: shorter links

A great book for info on aging beer, best practices and what to expect at different stages of in the aging process, is "Vintage Beer" (Amazon) by Patrick Dawson. He has a section on classic beers to age and when it's best to open them. There's not specific info on DFH 120 but there is a section on Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine, which is a pretty intensely hoppy interpretation of the style, similar to 120. The tasting panel in the book says bottles as old as 4-5 years are optimal while bottles up to 8-10 years are good but less complex. So, I'd expect good things with your 5-year old 120.

I agree with u/TheyCallMeJDR, chill for 24 hours and set it out for a bit before you serve.

Cheers

I would recommend beer books:

• Vintage Beer Taster's Guide
  
• Tasting Beer
  
• The Brewmaster's Table
  
• Pretty much anything by Ronald Patterson or Michael Jackson
  
• Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide Belgium (7th ed)
  
  I know there are several good homebrewing focused ones as well if you think he'll be into that, but I don't remember those off hand and would have to dig some more.

I figure you guys and gals should be reading more than the ABV content on your beer labels and your latest ticket for public intoxication, so I am sharing three downloadable and free ebooks about beer.

I have linked Amazon's page for each of the shared books.

Beer Tasting Quick Reference Guide

Beerology: Everything You Need to Enjoy Beer...Even More

Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide to Brews That Improve over Time

If you are unable to download from Dropbox folder, please let me know, so I can fix it.

This isn't an exact fit but the closest thing I am aware of is Vintage Beer .

I have some problems with this book, but it's certainly the best thing I've found if you're interested in the subject of aging beer: http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Beer-Tasters-Guide-Improve/dp/161212156X

Has anyone read Vintage beer: A taster's guide to brews that improve over time by Patrick Dawson or Wood & Beer: A Brewer's Guide by Dick Cantwell and can share their opinions on those books?

anything bottle conditioned, a high final gravity, or high abv are usually worthy of cellaring. anything with forward notes such as coffee, hops, or fruit should not be cellared.

i picked up this book recently: http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Beer-Tasters-Guide-Improve/dp/161212156X

its worth a read

This book has some charts for how major flavors in a few commonly-aged beers evolve over time. Your own sensitivities to some of these flavors may be different and the older they get the more bottle-to-bottle variability there will be (neglecting differences in storage conditions as well), but it can serve as a general guide as to what to expect.