Why did you start your cellar?

I can't believe no one has answered with the most obvious reason yet...

For the chicks.

 

I truly love having side by side tastings. I have only been a BA since 4/2010, so I only have 3 or 4 years of verticals. It is amazing to see the difference a few years can make on some beers. I did a 09,10,11, and 12 Bigfoot tasting this year and wow time changes them big time. They were all good, but 09 was heavenly. Plus I love going into the cellar and pulling out a beer that may be calling my name. It is fun.

 

I actually started a cellar after lurking on this site for a little more than a year and reading about how people were storing beers for something called a "vertical"...or that taking something barrel aged that was a hot mess and holding onto it tended to tame it a bit. I thought that might be worth trying. I then decided to try it with just about every beer I could find that fit into the "correct" style categories for aging.

Then I'd of course leave something down there too long and find out things like Devil Dancer with a year on it is terrible, whereas Hopslam with a year on it is still enjoyable. Or that Tripels and Saisons really can get some time under their respective belts and still be delicious. So I began experimenting with other "non-traditional" styles.

And then with a couple breaks from any beer consumption (consumption, not buying), I found that I had a pretty well appointed cellar, replete with just about anything I'd be in the mood for at any given time. And it didn't hurt that I came across a huge cache of vintage beer in a local store's wine attic. But there's a cost associated with all of this cellaring too....tracking a cellar with 650+ different brews, multiple vintages, etc is a real pain in the ass.

So, I've started to pare down the number of different brews by not replacing them after drinking them (unless they were incredible), and focusing on maintaining verticals for about 50-55 different beers. Though I still buy as much Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, Girardin, De Cam, Tilquin and Upland as I can get my hands on.

Cellaring is a great hobby, a well designed cellar is an awesome conversation piece when entertaining, and it provides for some incredible brews along the way.

 

First wanted to taste the different tastes of the same beers a year later found out that some aged really well. The cellar started to grow because tons of breweries always started to put out amazing beers and started to buy more and more. Now i am at a point where i know i have way to much beer and just get items that i feel will trade well for beers i like to drink that i can't get over here.

 

My eyes are hungrier than my liver...that's why.

 

Im on probation ha ha ha. Im cellaring for when I am off, to have things I would have missed. it's small right now. but we will see in 18 months.

 

I started mine and continue it for one reason, to try to improve the tastes of beers I enjoy. So far this hasn't gone swimmingly, I have found with some of them that I preferred them fresh, or that they have started downhill after only a couple of years. Jubel 2010 comes to mind as most recent found to be sliding. Others, such as IRS, just seem to get better and better. Hard to know which will improve, but it is a fun experiment just the same, and certainly has contributed to some amazing tastings with my group. I have big stouts, big barleywines, and gueuzes mostly.

Plus, always something great to drink in the house.

 

I started because there are a couple things I wanted to with try with age or in verticals (expedition, Bigfoot, DL, KBS) but aside from that I always like to have special occasion beers readily available. Plus it gives me an awesome excuse if I bring home an expensive looking bottle and my wife yells at me. "baby I didn't just buy this, it was in my cellar!"

 

When I show chicks my cellar, they know it's on.

I have Barry White playing in my cellar at all times.

 

I total agree with InebriatedJoker. I like the fact I can go into the crawl space and grab something good. My problem is that I have it all stashed in box's and not really orgainized except for a spread sheet. But it is fun to open a box and grab something I forgot about!!

 

I started my cellar because I happened upon some beers (CBS, BCBCS, etc) that I didn't want to drink alone. So I kept them in my basement fridge for a special occasion and now I have a cellar.

 

Guess mine "started" when I went on a diet for 3 months & kept buying so I wouldnt miss out on things. Diet has since ended about a month ago & this is what I've accumulated.









Recently I've gotten into trading & it just keeps getting bigger & bigger. Obviously I've started with the IPA's but I throw a lil something different in.

 

Gehrig: Impressive collection (and I hope you let the baby out every so often to get some fresh air )
There's a lot of stuff you have there that's definitely age- and cellar- worthy, but I hope I don't have to tell you that the hoppy stuff does not (in general) age well. Fer instance, I have a 6-er of the Nugget Nectar that made it down to my basement somehow I just found, and I can say for certain that it is well past it's prime.

 

I simply love the taste and curiosity.

 

Baby gets plenty of air & food . The Nugget Nectar & other IPA's were the first things I've been drinking, early last month.

 

Definitely for the convenience of not having to leave home to get a beer that will knock your socks off. Now there is 50+ bottles and 5 gallon keg on the side

 

I bought way too much early on. Rarely tap into my cellar these days, as it's a pain to dig through the boxes and I try to watch what I drink. Also being a fan of spirits, cocktails, wine, etc., when I switch around what I'm drinking, I get into my cellar even less. Not sure how many bottles I'm at, probably 800? Not including wine and liquor, which is probably a few hundred. And my work revolves around drinking, which makes me drink even less at home.

However, grabbed a bottle of beer out of the cellar today, which is chilling down, a 2009 Pelican Perfect Storm to enjoy up in Yountville.