History shows us that we have often aged beers before drinking them. Flavours  change as beer ages but provided it is well brewed, strong, filled so that there is little oxygen left in the bottle and is kept somewhere cool, aged beers can be a true delight. The beer becomes more complex. The hop character softens, bitterness reduces and the malty character develops, sometimes honey and sometimes, with darker beers, rich black treacle and  fruit. The fruitiness can be of raisins and sultanas but marmalade notes are not unknown. Long term aging, and a beer can develop tart notes, becoming more wine like.

So for how long should you store a beer? Well, it really does depend on the beer. It can go through stages of being drinkable, then undrinkable and then drinkable again.

If this intrigues you, courtesy of CAMRA's Games & Collectables, we will be hosting a tasting featuring beers up to 40 years old and everyone will get a chance to try around 10 beers from a selection of 40. They could be great, or they could be less than great; it will be a one off voyage of discovery! But we will begin the tasting with two modern day stored beers from Sambrook's, produced to commemorate their 5th and 10th anniversary plus we'll have Gale's Festival Mild, dating from 2006.