Comparison of aged draft beer versus cellared bottled beer

[JulianB1]

Mainly looking for personal experiences here but any sort of scientific or more thorough analysis such as what stupac2 has been providing would be great. Basic question is:

In your experience, how does drinking an aged keg/barrel of a beer on draft compare to drinking an aged bottle of the same vintage?

Also, what are the most significant factors (in your estimation) that account for differences? (beyond something stupid like bad cellaring conditions).

 

[stupac2]

The only one I've had multiple experiences with both is Beatification B3, and bottle was way, way better.

 

[MordorMongo]

Soonish I think BB9K will make a good one for comparing this idea with.

Seems lots of kegs still making the rounds, and the bottles are in cellars, closets and bathtubs aging as we speak.

Personally I thought the bottled version blew the draft away, but haven't had draft (or bottle) often enough to make a sabeermetrics, definitive call on it.

 

[Snarf1]

I think with so many factors that contribute to the baseline variation between bottled and draft beers, it will be difficult to make meaningful generalizations about differences between aged bottled and draft.

 

[claaark13]

Well, in many cases, beer meant for aging has been bottle conditioned. I'm not sure if this happens nearly as much with kegs.

 

[stupac2]

Well, in many cases, beer meant for aging has been bottle conditioned. I'm not sure if this happens nearly as much with kegs.

I think that's the difference with the RR kegs, which are nearly universally regarded as worse than the bottles for aging. The Beat from a keg just really wasn't up to snuff, while the bottle is fantastic. It's a huge difference. Deviation from the keg is good, but I always hear that it's worse than the bottle (I've never had a bottle so can't say). Even T-25 wasn't nearly as good from the keg as from the bottle, and I don't think kegs will age well at all.

I guess their stuff just really needs that conditioning.

 

[Impax]

I have had Gale's Conquest Ale Master Brew (2000) on draft and in bottle, and the drat version was a lot better. That was about a year and half ago.

 

[vonnegut21]

The only recent experience that comes to mind is 2011 BCBS about a couple months ago. Both had nicely mellowed their alcohol heat and developed a nice chocolate character, however the draft version seemed to have retained much more bourbon and vanilla presence than the bottled version. So much so that it was hard to believe they were the same vintage. It's hard to say if it was aging conditions that caused it or if the keg really does lead to significantly different cellaring results. (Small sample size + the guy with the bottle could have been aging it in the back window of his '84 Camaro for all I know) x drunk logic multiplier = take my experience with a grain of salt.

 

[Bill2]

Bottled Fou Foune is as good or better than kegged fou foune. I haven't had an auction bottle of DH, but it was unreal from the keg. In general, more volume = beer staying in sweet spot for longer.

Not cellaring, but I still maintain that bottled ZD tastes better than kegged ZD (kegs last WAYYYY longer than bottles at FFF, so it could just be an unfair comparison).