Most beer is made to be consumed fresh, but some are built to last or even improve over time like a fine wine. North Coast’s "Old Stock Ale" is inspired by one such style, the ‘olde ales’ of England designed for long-term aging. This huge beer is loaded with everything that helps ales mature gracefully; massive amounts of malt, hops and alcohol. Dessert-like in flavor and richness, this beer is like a liquid bread pudding. Laden with flavors of drunken fruits, like rum-soaked raisins and brandied cherries, it nonetheless finishes drier than it starts, like a dusting of bittersweet cocoa. At over twelve percent alcohol, a party of four could reasonably share a standard bottle of "Old Stock Ale" as a nightcap after dinner, savored slowly from snifters. If you’d like to sock it away, store it upright in cool dark conditions for up to five years.
While beer is associated more with cooling, winter beers are fuller in body and maltier than standard styles, giving imbibers that warm, fuzzy feeling.