What's your bottle count and why?

About 48 bottles aging/waiting to be consumed (BA and other high gravity stuff) and probably a little over 50 cans/bottles of beer that needs to be drunk ASAP. Why? Why not?

 

Why not indeed, the question is rhetorical, of course we must.

 

Amen! My cellar number fluctuates by +/- 100 bottles each month, depending on trades coming in/going out, and who has been over drinking with me. Right now I'm sitting at roughly 315 stouts, lambics, and gueuzes being cellared (not counting regular drinkers). I prefer to stay down around 285 because it's more manageable in the space I have allotted for it, but I often experience swells to well above 400.

 

Reined it in a bit after quite a few cellar experiences that were very underwhelming. No bad per se, just not better than the fresh version. 100+ down to 20 or less, with a full size fridge half empty. Drink, recycle, repeat is the new norm!

 

Following a series of moves I've reigned in my 'cellar' to whatever fits in an oversized box that once held a dozen wine bottles. It keeps me honest, and makes sure that I find time and reason to share and enjoy what I've acquired over time.

 

Excluding a couple cases worth of home brew, I've got 77. That includes my last couple of stock-up purchases (71), plus some holdovers I'm cellaring until Fall/Winter (6). This is more than I usually have at any one time, and my modest storage space ("pump room" under the stairs) is pretty much maxed out. Of course quite a few of those bottles and cans are now empty. But I have enough left to last me well into August, maybe even September.

Oh yeah, optimal count would be ≤50

 

I've got 370 bottles on hand. Most are suitable for aging, a few are not. In the past I wasn't always great about getting to the hop-forward stuff quickly enough, but I'm better about that now. So there are some items that get consumed quickly, and many that get held for years. As to the impetus for having so many bottles, it is a mix of impulse buying, FOMO, extras from past trades, and periodic slow downs in consumption.

The number goes down sometimes, but not all that often because of what I tend to acquire. For example, today I traded away one beer, and bought/received 18 new beers. 17 of them are beers that will cellar well, so I'm in no rush to drink. The other, Flesh & Blood (the new Dogfish Head IPA), will be gone before the weekend.

 

You should open a store front.
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To the OP, I'm sitting at (265) right now and some of those are multiple bottles of the same vintage/bottles of the same beer with different vintages. The biggest challenge is trying to enjoy any and all of these bottles in their sweet spot. I keep a spreadsheet of everything I have and alot of these bottles have no "Best By" stamp and there's been some "hit or miss" moments. Where is the line drawn between manageability vs. hoarding?

(My cellar was bigger but because of job changes which impacted business travel and income ... my cellar count has been going down.)

 

13-25

I think I have 17. Mostly stouts/barrel-aged stuff with a couple abbey ales. All of them are in the fridge.

What I have now is about optimum for me. I don't trade and collecting doesn't make sense to me -- I mean, at some point I have to drink this stuff, right? And isn't fresher better for most beer styles? Add in that my craft beer-drinking circle of friends is very small, and it means my "cellar" needs to be kept manageable.

With all that said, I get why some of you good BAs have massive cellars. I often have to use a lot of restraint to keep from growing mine to the point of needing a second fridge.

 

To be honest I have never really counted. when I feel i'm running low I buy, when I see something I want I buy. when I'm broke I don't buy, when the beer fridge flows more than 1 shelf into the kitchen fridge I don't buy for a while. I don't collect to have trophys or an impressive collection.
That being said. +- 2 cases of stouts aging (usually drink 1- 2 a week). +- 1 case in the fridge (daily drinkers and what I offer to guests). +- 5 cases in the beer fridge of finds, recent trades and back up dailys. at 12 per case I suppose that adds up to around 100. I don't think anyone needs more, and can probably get by with far less. If anything I should step up my stout game and cut down my ipa trading. pictured is a portion of last months haul.

 

Usually now a days, probably under 10 or so.

Cheers!

 

At this point I am floating between 35-50 on hand. I like rotating in and out new stuff especially this time of year with all the seasonal stuff and others I enjoy. I used to stock more but honestly have switched to "drink as I go" just because I find fresh tasting better and better verse aged (To Me) and I am running this route now.

 

I will buy 4-5 cases at a time. Most are drink now IPA pale ale etc. almost always grab a case of something to sit on. I just bought a case of Narwal and gave many other stouts sitting. Need to be better about drinking them. I still have a bunch of old 120 and other stuff.

Large bottles are at around 20 si car I really stopped buying them based on value. These get opened when friends come over.

I guess overall 300-350 beers and that's going down each day. I would like to be at a few cases of everyday drinkers and a box or two of agers

Enjoy

 

I firmly believe in always maintaining an adequate selection of brews in my beer fridge. I do my best to practice the "first in, first out" method, however, exceptions to this rule are definitely an option.

Cheers!

JohnnyP, Beer first (in)...everything else can wait

 

I have 5 New Holland Poets left...

 

It was interesting to look back at my answer in July, which was 73 bottles when I added the my cellared collection with my "drink soon" stash.

Today, I now have 83 cellared bottles alone with an additional 11 in the "drink soon" category. I hate to think that I am turning into a beer hoarder but the evidence is telling.

 

I can't imagine having over 75 and I've got about 30 bottles just hanging and waiting for the right special occaison. I prefer enjoying my beer asap for the most part but I let certain beers age or pop open rarer stuff with friends or a good occasion.

Though, once I get a house I imagine my collection will swell.

 

When you make $0 per month and are in school, you have no cellar.

 

I have several series/verticals/things-that-go-together that have to wait until 5 or 6 people can join in. Foe example, barrel aged Old Rasputin from 13 thru 19. You almoat HAVE TO drink them as a vertical. Plus I have 30 barrel aged Clown Shoes beers and really don't know what the hell to do about that!