[thymolu]

I have a starter that is about 40 years old now. Recently before the pandemic I was given a new starter by someone who didn't realize I had one (or did and thought I'd want to try a different one).

The flavors are pretty surprisingly similar but not exactly the same. The older one is a little more complex or something but I'm not sure most people would know the difference, especially if you didn't tell them.

Once a levain/starter gets going it's usually pretty stable I think. Maybe older cultures are more resistant to prolonged shocks, but I think it depends on the case. In general I have a theory that older cultures are an opportunity to evolve them to different conditions, like time between changes in storage conditions (which might affect things like rising time), alcohol levels (useful for sugar levels in breads), temperature, etc.