Back in 2006, I decided to make a monster of a beer – Ithurtzwhen IPA.
The thing ended up being around 12 to 13% booze and had nearly 9 oz of various hops. It was more of a "Can I do this?" kind of beer than anything, and it was fun to make.
When I bottled it, the yeast had a very difficult time reactivating due to the alcohol, and most of the bottles were flat and required force carbonation. Because of this, I never really drank much of it and it ended up just sitting in my closet for 4 years or so.
The other day, I finally got off my ass and dumped out the dozen plus bottles that were still left over to clear out some space in my closet. Interestingly, some of the bottles happened to have carbonated quite well.
I poured one out for a posterity photo and even took a good sip out of it. It was just like I remembered – It tasted like ass (the hops did NOT, I repeat NOT play well together). However, one sip and my tongue went numb. It was still quite boozy.
Pretty crazy that homebrew can sit around for years and still be drinkable to an extent.