The beers from the Monolith come with a recommendation that they can be cellared for 10 years. It’s fair to say that we were conservative when we made that estimate and based on the evaluation of the 5 year old beers in our cellar at the time of this writing it’s looking really good they will last much longer. A little known secret is that we’ve kept and faithfully cellared hundreds of bottles of every one of our prior releases for eventual release. This will be taking place at the 5 year point, which is just around the corner for the 2019 releases. We’ve been tasting these and they’re progressing really well; we can’t wait until those of you that missed our original releases years ago get a chance to try these special beers.
So why do our beers last so long in the cellar? There are a few factors that come into play that promote successful long term cellaring, and some of these are quite similar to fine wines. In terms of wine, people talk about the “structure” of the wine being suitable for aging. These are things like levels of fruit, acidity, and tannin – all of these contribute to success when cellaring, Funny enough our beer has many of the same elements – fruit, acid, tannin and we’ve also got a live microbial culture in the bottle. Over time these microbes go into suspended animation but they’re still there and available to grab and oxygen or other interesting chemicals that might serve as food. The processes in the bottle over time are both biological and chemical, with reactions of various types taking place over time to slowly alter the beer.
Our beer’s suitability for long term cellaring also dictates our choice in vessel to hold our beer – we use a crown cap and a cork (like the Belgian Lambic beers) to provide two methods for closure during long term cellaring. If one type fails the other is a backup.
Also, glass is proven inert and acidic liquid like wine and our beers can last for decades in glass, but that’s not the case for cans. Research has shown that the plastic lining of cans deteriorate over time with acidic sources, like beer.
We’re trying to create a special experience with our beers and the ability to successfully cellar them for years is something we aspire to do for your long term enjoyment of everything we make.
Bottle conditioning is the act of adding a source of sugar to a beer before it’s bottled in order to have it develop carbonation in the bottle. Some people add additional yeast to the bottle along with the sugar to ensure carbonation but we only add sugar as our already existing microorganisms are happy, healthy, and looking for more sugar to create alcohol and CO2. The actual carbonation doesn’t take all that long (a couple months) but because of the complex range of microorganisms in our beer another full fermentation is triggered when we add the sugar.
Greg Zeschuk
Author
Greg’s career has ranged from physician, to videogame developer as founder of BioWare, and now trainee brewer. Greg is the prime enthusiast behind the Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company.