The 2013 version of Coopers Extra Vintage was a beer I loved. I loved. I loved. I loved. It came with some fantastic tropical fruit aromas and flavours from the Citra, Centennial and Chinook hops.
I loved it so much I followed the recipe on the Coopers website and made myself a homebrewed version. Which, sadly didn’t taste like the original.
I even went out and bought a few six packs with the intent of ageing them. It’s brewed with ageing in mind, right? And I thought, if it tastes this good now, imagine how much better it will get in a year or two.
Yes, the older me can see the rather obvious flaw here.
What I liked in the beer when it was fresh was the flavours created by the hops. And what happens to hop flavour when you age a beer? Yep, it fades. It doesn’t get stronger. It doesn’t stay the same. It goes away.
The very thing I loved about this beer. The very reason I was cellaring it would not be there within a year.
Yeah, I can be so stupid sometimes.
What I got a year and a half later was sultana notes. Lots of sultana notes. That’d be the sweetness of the malt, which has moved to centre stage now all those lovely hop flavours have gone away.
It’s all a bit of a disappointment really. And I’ve got 10 more bottles of this at home.
Categories: Drink It You Idiot
BEER IS YOUR FRIEND 
This beer is why I stopped aging beers, since what I mostly cellared was Coopers Vintage, and now they make a beer that is best fresh.
I like the sultana notes. But then I like the 2014 right now as well, still reasonably hoppy but starting to go to the malt side. Haven’t got the 2015 yet.
Tried the 13, 14 and 15 side by side, in draught form, at Young and Jacksons on Sunday. I did get the dried fruit flavour in the 13, 14 was a more demure than fresh, but the hoppy freshness of the 15 stood out.
I returned my case to Dan Murphys once the hops had gone.. they refunded me even though nobody knew what dead hops meant. Then a week later the case was re-sent to my place again. So not even Coopers wanted the 13 vintage back.
I figure it will be worth something in 100 years, so put “OPEN IN 2113′