Vintage Ale

[Fast Eddy]

I'm new here, brewed for a while in the early eighties.

 

 

 

I visited my sister in Sydney and happened upon a Coopers Premium Light at the Wooloomooloo Pub, it stired my memories of home brews of old. :) I dragged out the old gear and brewed a Draught.

 

 

 

Wow. It just got better and better as the weeks went on.

 

 

 

Now I have my own brewing room with stuff bubbling away as often as possible.

 

 

 

Even designed and built a digital thermostat to control the temperature. Well, my technician designed and built it, it works a treat.

 

 

 

To get a good collection of bottles I started looking for long necks at the local bottle shop. Found Pale Ale and Sparkling Ale. Hadn't tried these before. Got lot's of bottles now.

 

 

 

Then I decided to find a few more stubbies.

 

 

 

Stumbled upon Vintage Ale, costs a lot but WOW, it's got to be the best commercial beer I have ever tried.

 

 

 

So, has anyone come close tor replicating Vintage Ale.

 

 

 

Paul, any suggestions?

 

 

 

Thanks in anticipation

[PB2]

G'day FE,

 

do a quick search on "vintage" in the Home Brew Happenings forum.

 

If the search results don't give you the answer let me know.

[Tricky]

The following is part of a Coopers press release -

 

"Vintage Beer Discovery Opens New Debate

 

"Connoisseurs who store bottles of quality wine for future consumption should consider devoting a corner of their cellar to beer. The discovery in Britain of a cache of ales brewed in 1869 has sparked debate about how long beers can be stored and develop. The ancient beers, including bottles of Ratcliffe Ale brewed in December 1869 to mark the birth of a son into the Ratcliffe brewing family, were found this year in a vault under the streets of Burton on Trent by the Worthington White Shield brewery, now owned by Coors. When opened, the oldest ales were found to be nothing like modern beers, but instead had developed into a drink which was more like port, sherry or Madeira with intense flavours.

 

"Coopers Operations Manager, Mr Nick Sterenberg, said it was well known that ales with high alcohol and hops levels had excellent aging potential. \u201cLagers have a shelf life of about nine months and are best consumed fresh because they oxidise,\u201d he said. \u201cAles which undergo secondary fermentation, like Coopers ales, are bottled with live yeast that converts sugar to alcohol and mops up dissolved oxygen, extending the shelf life to around two years. \u201cHowever, for an ale to last almost 140 years is extraordinary.\u201d "

 

 

 

Now that is really vintage ale!

 

Who could wait that long to have drink?

 

 

 

I assume the lagers he was talking about are commercial lagers. Does anyone know how long you could expect a bottle conditioned lager to be drinkable?

[PB2]

Same principals with bottle conditioned lagers as with ales.

 

 

 

Well made bottle conditioned beers with higher Alcohol, Bitterness, Colour and Gravity tend to age gracefully.