How long can I cellar barleywine?

[blkery]

Long story short, I have a bottle of Rogue's Old Crustacean that I purchased somewhere between 2001 and 2003. Is it worth opening at this point, or am I going to kill someone?

[Shaggy]

I've had Chimay from '95 that wasn't too bad, and barleywine should hold up better than Chimay. Definitely worth a shot.

[MrFacto]

Absolutely not. The beer will be severely oxidized, but is perfectly safe to drink.

[JessKidden]

"...or am I going to kill someone?"

C'mon, it's one little seven ounce bottle* of an 11.5% beer- you'd really get that out of control as to commit murder?

jk

(* Or is yours 12 oz? I forget when they switched or if they did both back then. )

[ted]

I think I may still have a bottle or two in the '95 to '98 vintage. There's some stuff that kind of got forgotten in the beer pantry/cellar.

[Josh]

It's probably pretty good. That beer usually ages pretty well. May have some oxidized flavors.