{"id":4322,"date":"2017-09-28T16:25:58","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T16:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/?p=4322"},"modified":"2018-02-20T21:52:28","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T21:52:28","slug":"beer-syndicate-reviews-decade-old-african-beer-forgotten-hot-garage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/beer-syndicate-reviews-decade-old-african-beer-forgotten-hot-garage\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer Syndicate Reviews Decade-Old African Beer Forgotten in a Hot Garage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Up front, allow me to apologize for some inexactitudes in the title of this article:<\/span><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> We actually tasted THREE<\/u><\/strong> African beers of the same brand called \u201cTusker<\/u><\/strong>\u201d, which is a popular lager produced in Nairobi, Kenya. One of the beers was 12 years old<\/u><\/strong>, another was 7 years old<\/u><\/strong>, and the third one was recently purchased.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tusker<\/a><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> The older beers were first stored at room temperature, and then accidentally left unrefrigerated in a hot garage for the last four years. Of course the term \u201chot garage\u201d is relative. In this case, the garage would reach temperatures upwards of 117 \u00b0F (47 \u00b0C)<\/strong> during many months of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"117<\/a><\/p>\n

We figure there might be some questions about this tasting experiment, so here\u2019s a rough attempt to answer some of those:<\/span><\/p>\n

Q1. Did anyone get sick or die from drinking this old beer?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A1.<\/strong> Nope.\u00a0 No reports of stomach aches, headaches, dizziness, blindness, greyscale, herpes simplex 10, gender impermanence, partial or complete death, space-time fissures, ransomware, or explosive-D.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q2. Were these beers intended for aging like some sour beers or some high ABV beers?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A2:<\/strong>\u00a0 No, the beers in this tasting were ABSOLUTELY NOT<\/u><\/strong> designed for aging.\u00a0 The beers in question were your run-of-the-mill standard lager beers weighing in at 4.2% ABV.\u00a0 In fact, the brewery indicates \u201cTusker\u201d is best within one year of bottling, and these dates are listed on the bottle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Printed<\/a><\/p>\n

Q3: Wait, so you\u2019re telling me that a brewery from Africa has been clearly listing easy-to-understand <\/span>calendar<\/span>\u00a0bottling dates and \u201cbest by\u201d dates on their beer for at least the last twelve years?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t more breweries in the U.S. and the rest of the world do this?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A3:<\/strong> Fantastic question.\u00a0 We assume that the African brewery that produces Tusker is utilizing some ridiculously expensive advanced technology unavailable to most other breweries in the world.\u00a0 We can\u2019t think of any other possible explanation for why a brewery would not<\/em> want to let consumers know when their beer was bottled.\u00a0 Let\u2019s move on from this question quickly please.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q4: If you knew these beers weren\u2019t intended for aging, especially out in a hot garage, what possessed you do conduct this experiment?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A4:<\/strong> Three words: science<\/u>.\u00a0 (Well, \u201cthree words\u201d if you include the first two words of the previous statement; and now an additional twenty-nine words from this sentence used to explain the first statement.\u00a0 So, technically thirty words?<\/em>\u00a0 Well, now a total of fifty-one words.\u00a0 Or do the words \u201ctwenty-nine\u201d and \u201cfifty-one\u201d actually count as one single word or as two words?\u00a0 Sorry, let me get back to you on this question.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Q5: Why African beer?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A5:<\/strong> Great question.\u00a0 Why African beer?<\/em>\u00a0 No particular reason other than we intended to do a beer review on Tusker twelve years ago when we first bought it, but didn\u2019t get around to it.\u00a0 Then, five years after that, we bought a new bottle, and\u2026 you got it\u2026 didn\u2019t get around to it.\u00a0 We finally got around to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q6: Do you think the beers aging in the hot garage did anything weird to the beer?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A6:<\/strong> Not really.\u00a0 I could be wrong, but my impression is that heat generally accelerates the aging process, so perhaps the beer took on an increased aged character?\u00a0 But after twelve years, what\u2019s the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q7: I\u2019ve heard that after a few years, beer can develop \u201cfloaties\u201d, or little clumps of coagulated protein.\u00a0 That twelve-year-old beer must have looked like a snow globe, right?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0A7:<\/strong> Like you said, \u201cfloaties\u201d<\/span><\/a> in old beer can be pretty common. \u00a0They may look weird, but floaties aren\u2019t dangerous or taste like much of anything.\u00a0 Oddly enough, there were no floaties<\/u> in any of these beers.\u00a0 My guess is that floaties tend to develop in beer with more protein in suspension such as in beers that contain some portion of wheat like in the image of a seven-year-old Canadian wheat beer<\/span><\/a> below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Floaties<\/a><\/p>\n

We did, however, notice that all of these beers were bottle conditioned, and that layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottle was a darker shade of brown in the older beers. \u00a0Below is a rare image of yeast and sediment caked on to the bottom-inside of the 12-year-old bottle of Tusker, also known as a “Yeast Totality<\/strong><\/span>\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Yeast<\/a><\/p>\n

Q8: So I\u2019m assuming the older beers were disgusting.\u00a0 The 12-year-old beer must have been awful, a drain-pourer for sure, right?\u00a0 How did it not make you guys sick?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0A8:<\/strong>\u00a0 No, they weren\u2019t disgusting.\u00a0 I get that some people have this natural fear of old food because we know that many kinds of food spoil after a certain time and can make humans sick.\u00a0 Of course, there are some well-known \u201cshelf stable\u201d exceptions like honey and bottled spirits like vodka that basically have an infinite shelf life.\u00a0 And although most beer certainly isn\u2019t intended for aging, I would suggest that a properly bottled beer never \u201cgoes bad\u201d and spoils in the way chicken or milk might.\u00a0 Instead, most bottled beer tends to be \u201cbest\u201d by a certain date, but likely never gets to the point where it is undrinkable or would make somebody sick.\u00a0 This is because the alcohol and, in many cases, the hops in beer act to preserve the beer, preventing harmful organisms from growing in the beer.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Q9: So I\u2019ve heard that old beer tastes a certain way because of oxidation.\u00a0 They say beer will start to taste like cardboard.\u00a0 Is that would happened here?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A9:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cCardboard\u201d is a commonly quoted descriptor for old or oxidized beer.\u00a0 But that\u2019s a generalization because not all styles of beer will age in such a way that they necessarily smell or taste like cardboard.\u00a0 But, yeah, a faint cardboard or papery<\/em> character was slightly noticeable in these aged beers, though the more unmistakably obvious descriptor in this case was cooked squash<\/u>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q10: I like the elephant on the label of this beer.\u00a0 I assume the name \u201cTusker\u201d is in reference to the elephant on the label and that image was chosen because the elephant is a popular image associated with Africa?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A10: <\/strong>Sort of.\u00a0 The beer is named in memory of the company\u2019s founder, George Hurst, who was killed during an elephant hunting accident in 1923.\u00a0 \u201cTusker\u201d is a nickname for a male elephant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q11: A little morbid, but okay. Any other elephant facts while you\u2019re at it?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A11:<\/strong> Sure.\u00a0 Here are five: (1)<\/strong> In 1956, a contestant on the game show\u00a0\u201cThe Price is Right\u201d<\/span><\/a> won a live elephant.\u00a0(2)<\/strong> Elephants are one of the few species that can recognize themselves in the mirror. \u00a0(3)<\/strong> Elephants are not scared of mice as some myths suggest, but they are<\/em> scared of ants and bees.\u00a0(4)<\/strong> African elephants can distinguish different human languages, genders and ages associated with danger.<\/span><\/a><\/span> \u00a0(5)<\/strong> Female elephants go through the longest gestation period of all mammals, with pregnancy lasting 22 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q12: Okay, enough with the elephant factoids.\u00a0 Twelfth and final question: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What were the beers like?<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A12:<\/strong> Here are some descriptions, starting with the freshest one and ending with the 12-year-old beer:<\/span><\/p>\n

Tusker Finest Quality Lager (Fresh Bottle)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, Tusker is a bit on the honey-sweet side, particularly for a lightly flavored Pilsner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tusker<\/a>A hard pour into the center of a snifter glass barely managed to muster up a mere three millimeters of quickly fading off-white head over a clear pale apple juice-colored body. \u00a0Aromatics include a hint of dry Kix cereal, faint tupelo honey, golden corn syrup, subtle malt, a note of flour, a touch of calcium and uncooked biscuit.\u00a0 Honey-forward flavor with a note of cream corn in a generally watery, but thirst-quenching, light-bodied Pilsner. Medium-high carbonation, medium-low sweetness and bitterness although absent of actual hop flavor, with an aftertaste of tupelo honey.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tusker (Seven-Year-Old Bottle), a.k.a. \u201cThe Abused\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A touch darker in color compared to the fresh Tusker, with clearly oxidized squash-like character present throughout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a>Pours a slightly hazy pale amber body forming about 1\/8 inch of off-white frog-eyed head that fades in less than ten seconds.\u00a0 The aroma is reminiscent of cold but cooked butternut squash with a touch of maple syrup and a pad of butter, light brown sugar, no hops and no alcohol. \u00a0Cooked squash is the main player in the flavor along with medium-sweet honey suckle nectar, watery Port wine, medium-low carbonation, no hop character, sweet graham cracker paste, Honey Smacks cereal, watery prunes, and wax paper with an aftertaste of white raisin and Port.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tusker (Twelve-Year-Old Bottle), a.k.a. \u201cThe Crypt Keeper\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Compared to the seven-year-old Tusker, the twelve-year-old version was more complex and mellow, slightly darker in color with more cedar, honey and tobacco character and less squash.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a>The lightly dusty bottle of twelve-year-old Tusker pours a slightly hazy deep gold body with an off-white film of head that fizzles out in under ten seconds.\u00a0 The aroma is suggestive of baklava, light raw squash with salt, cedar-aged cream soda, cold Lipton iced tea, honey, a hint of chlorine, peeled sweet potato, and cedar cigar box inside a humidor.\u00a0 Flavor impressions include honey, mild squash, light brown sugar, vanilla cream soda aged in cedar wood, medium-sweet cane sugar, inhaling an unlit honey-dipped cigarillo, Lipton \u201cBrisk\u201d iced tea with a light lemon tanginess, no hop character, and a touch of brown paper bag leaving behind an aftertaste of loose tobacco, subtle prune and white raisin.<\/span><\/p>\n

So there you have it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what some old beer that was stored in a hot garage was like.\u00a0 No one died.\u00a0 No one hated it.\u00a0 In fact, dare I say, the old beer was actually enjoyable, with the 12-year-old version scoring an 85\/100… as far as aged-Tusker goes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Hi, I\u2019m Dan<\/strong>: Co-Founder and Beer Editor for\u00a0BeerSyndicate.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>, Beer and Drinking Writer, BJCP\u00a0Beer Judge, Gold Medal-Winning Homebrewer, Beer Reviewer, AHA Member, Beer Traveler, and Shameless Beer Promoter.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Up front, allow me to apologize for some inexactitudes in the title of this article: 1. We actually tasted THREE African beers of the same brand called \u201cTusker\u201d, which is a popular lager produced in Nairobi, Kenya. 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