addicted to buying beer...

Holy smokes - i should edit my post to say I have like 20 barrel aged porters/stouts instead of "a lot of"...I now feel like I not be addicted enough...

 

I think I might be.
I go to the store and stand and stare at what I can buy, take forever to choose and make my purchase.
I take it home and into the beer fridge and stand there and stare at the beers in my fridge, take forever to choose and make my selection for consumption.
I'm a hamster on a beer wheel, not an addict

 

I concur with what alot of BA's here have already said - for me personally it was a process. When I first "discovered" craft beer, I became curious about what else might be out there. I came across this website/blog completely on accident when I was looking up a particular beer online, and I signed up and created a profile. My use of this site opened me up to so many ways to identify beers I wanted to try, and so for awhile there I went sorta bonkers - buying mixed 6xers and limited releases every chance I got, and I had alot of beer on hand, all the time, always 100+ bottles... and what was actually happening during this time of trying so many beers is that I was maturing my palate, honing in on the styles that I enjoyed most. My purchasing began to slow, as I realized that my favorite styles were IPA's, DIPA's, and Imperial Stouts and Strong/Old Ales.... and then the opposite began to happen, as I identified specific brands that were reasonably priced, and consistently available in my area. And so here I am today - I typically have about 2 cases or so around - and what you'll ALWAYS find at my home are a few sixers of New Belgium Rampant and Lagunita's Sucks, and a few fours/sixers of BCBS, FIS, and Expedition Stout, and an occasional Third Coast Old Ale or a BigFoot to change things up once in awhile. I will still chase down something new or rare every once in awhile, but I'm extremely content with the few brands I've chosen that I know I will completely enjoy. And with all of that said, the journey was necessary, and fun - and can get (like the poster indicates) a bit overwhelming, but I suspect that your journey will end in your finding a few brews that will always be in your fridge, and that you'll be able to enjoy for a lifetime. So enjoy the journey my fellow BA's - Cheers!

 

Started cataloging the other day and counted 72 and that is about a third of the total count, so yes I find myself in the same boat as you, Cheers

 

I have a full sized fridge in my garage solely dedicated to beer. It's full, so yes, I have a problem with buying. I literally get urges to shop for beer.,

 

Keep it up man, just start shipping it out. Want my address?

 

Goddamn, people!

I think right now I have two duvel, two kellerweis, a six pack of DBA, two anchor steam, three 2013 old stock and my last bottle of Sucaba.....

I've gotten into multiple fights with my girl over how much I spend.....you guys must be spending quite a few nights on the couch lol cheers

 

if i have beer in my fridge that i bought 4 months ago as a "gotta have", and it's still si

This continues to be one of the most interesting threads to read on this site. I think i am still going through the same process you did. And i believe i am settling on pretty much the same favorite styles as you. I would probably throw in that i like to have a trappist or two in the fridge too (westmalle tripel, mmmmmmm....?). I have a store about 30 min from me where basically everything is sold by the bottle including breaking up all 4s and 6s. So I can build a 6 of 6 different beers of anything they have, and the selection is significant, which will help me also be able to try new things without filling up the fridge too bad.

 

I WANT THAT!!

 

I started buy a bottle here a bottle there . but it just went all out of hand.

 

I keep seeing this in here, and no offense to you as this seems to be common, but damn yall need to get them females in check. As long as you are treating your significant other right, they should say nothing about what you choose to spend your money on as far as I'm concerned.

 

How long have you been married?

I mean, I pretty much spend what I want on beer within reason, but I do remember a certain line from my vows that went something like, "with all my worldly goods I thee endow."

"My money" doesn't generally fly in most marriages, and that is why so many people argue/divorce over money.

I somewhat agree with your point, as hamfisted as it may have been made. As long as she has what she needs/wants, you should be able to justify your spending.


On topic: drink more or buy less.

 

Even better, stay off of Beer Advocate! I had the same issue and I realized that it was largely related to wanting the latest, greatest, rarest beer out there according to...all of you. I took a break from here, threw a party to drink through the stockpile and soon managed my compulsion. Collect baseball cards. Drink beer.

 

If I see a beer that ages well I will snatch it up when I see it regardless of when I plan on drinking it. With IPAs and other beers that need to be drank fresh I will buy and usually give some to my brother in law so he can try them. I probably have 40 bottles of beer in my "cellar" at the moment.

 

I semi-relate in that I buy it faster than I can drink the stuff, though I do take out at least a couple a day. But, the good bottle shops and beer stores are around an hour away from me, so when I go, I stock up. And, due to freshness issues, IPA's get offed first. Not a problem to me, IPA's are my favorite.

Inevitably, through trying so many different brews, some are going to stand out as favorites. So now, you're (I'm) buying those old favorites in addition to new ones to try.

Where I don't see a problem is that whenever I do have friends over, or a special occasion, or just want to crack a sour after a day's work, I have access to that, or just an amplitude of good choices available, at my easy disposal. I still pick up new stuff that I'm interested in if I see it out, and sometimes in multiples in the idea to trade them off or share them.

The access, to me -- again, because it isn't 'easy' access otherwise -- is worth a lot, in my eyes. If money's not the issue, as you mentioned it's not, then, to me, I see no issue. But, as others have stated, no way can we ever try them all, but, dammit, we can give it our best effort.

This isn't to say you should pick up daily drinking if you choose not to, or anything regarding changing your intended habits. This is to say enjoy the beer, it's what it's there for, and it can be a lot of fun trying new stuff and ticking away.

 

I like buying beer. I also like drinking beer.

 

Don't be ashamed. You are not alone and at the end of the day, even if you don't consume the beer, you are a job creator. Just think of all of the brewers, wholesalers, beer store clerks, truck drivers, etc. you are providing job security through your habit. :-)

 

Lol, love the support group! My wife and I love most of the same brews so that's the good thing. The bad thing is spending. Over the last year a few weeks ago we both realized that we were spending huge amounts of money on beer. Since we have put strict budgets on it and so far things have been good and our savings has gone up. Then again not a whole lot of releases have hit or we missed some so maybe that's it. I do find that most of the beer we have is for aging so we always have to get a couple of new bottles to drink. Beer is like my cigar collection, ever growing and I never want to calculate how much I've spent.

 

quote="mj81, post: 1785119, member: 753440"]Consumption aside, who here finds themselves buying more beer than they can possibly consume in a reasonable amount of time? I know a vast majority will end up aging beers too but I find myself even buying way too many beers that run the risk of losing freshness before I will be able to drink them. With all the constant new limited runs/seasonals, it seems that I'm always buying something new coming out and some older things get pushed aside. Surely I can't be the only one. I did a beer inventory today and I have about 200 beer bottles currently on hand![/quote]
Let me know when you get 200 cases son!
I couldn't walk out of a store without spending $60.
Now I just try to find the proper box to age them in<

 

i try to keep several styles on hand at all times. a lager or hefe and a PA/IPA and a porter/brown ale. it's nice to mix it up with two different styles in a night. i only drink 1-2 beers a day so they tend to pile up when you buy six packs of different styles. however, i only have probably 12-15 beers on hand at any given time. seems like a lot until there is a party and the goons bring over several 24 packs of PBR to swill on.