Your "aging" collection/method.

My method's pretty simple. I buy more beer than I can drink.

But once I realized this "problem," I set up an Excel database to track all my beer, so at least I don't have a bunch of IPAs going bad. I move beer from the cellar into the beer fridge based on a complex algorithm combining age and ABV, so the newest, strongest beers are theoretically always in the cellar. Through slow attrition (that is, drinking), I hope to be able to fit all my beer in the fridge within another year or so.

I haven't found that aging beer helps most of them at all. So I'm buying a lot less now.

 

there is a subforum dedicated just for questions like this http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/cellaring-aging-beer.41/

 

Same situation here. Most don't really improve, just change. Fun to try older stuff. I am also buying much less to age.

 

I've found that barrel aged beers - especially bourbon barrel beers - can really improve with age. Some wild ales also age quite well. The darker end of the spectrum (and higher ABV) can cellar for a years. Just recently, I had a 7 year old Stone Russian Imperial Stout that was amazing.

I keep a spreadsheet as well, with brewer info, bottling dates, ABV, brief description and 'best by date'.

 

Yep. That's my "method" as well, the accidental cellaring thing. The only beers I currently purchase for the sole purpose of cellaring is Samichlaus, Old Guardian and Stone RIS (although I tend to drink odd years straight away....that being said, I still have an Espresso....).

I do have a little stockpile of stuff I buy for trading / giveaways. Mostly Hardywood releases though...

 

Gnarleywine is one of the hoppiest American barleywines out there. With very few exceptions, hoppy beers (especially American ones that use hops that are high in alpha acids) should not be aged.

@MadeInTheMitten If you're really serious about starting a cellar, buy and read this book: http://allaboutbeer.com/article/vintage-beer-book/

It's a short and easy read but loaded with info about what beer styles age well and why. He also gives tips on how to keep a cellar and tasting notes on 10-year verticals.

 

Go out and get some Expedition before it's gone. The 2012s I've drank over the winter are amazing.

 

Because everyone's palate is different, it's an experience you have to learn by doing.

I started about eight years ago & through trial & error, found out that there are certain beers I actually like more aged than fresh (Central Waters BBBW, Abyss, Mother of All Storms, BCS, among others) & others that I gave up on because I loved them fresh & thought they disintegrated with age (Expedition Stout, the Eclipse variants, etc.)

Many people love Expedition aged. I don't. It's such a personal thing it's tough to make generalizations.

 

It's crazy to me that Bells is something like the 7th largest brewery in the country, but it doesn't come to Massachusetts. That being said, I had the Third Coast this fall and it was amazing. Do you all like it aged? Really kicking myself for not bringing any home (I was in Buffalo for a wedding and left for the airport at 5:00 am and forgot to take a couple bottles because I went to bed at 4:58). Also, ISO: Expedition. Hard to get?

Cellar collections? Idk. 25 bottles, mostly barleywines, and barrel aged stuff. Add to it every now and again. Drink when someone comes to town and says, "oh, bourbon county barleywine? Let's get into that." And we do.

 

I've been trying to drink down my cellar but have been unsuccessful. Most beers I have are single bottles of something I have been wanting to try but haven't gotten around to drinking yet.

 

Car, sun, heat, time, trade!

 

I did this the other day - yay for Bell's in California!

To OP: I have a separate mini-fridge where I keep all of my beer. It's set to 45 degrees. If I find beer that I like a lot and think will age well, I buy a few more, wrap the caps in parafilm to avoid opening on accident, and stick them to the back of the mini-fridge. It's easy. I have verticals going of BCBS/BW, Bigfoot, Sucaba, Parabola, Rasputin, Stone IRS, and (now that Bells distributes to CA) Expedition. I have yet to try a vertical, but I'll be sure to properly respond to you with how alpha I feel after

That being said, you may experience more alpha by waiting long enough to open your Saturn (or the next beer you put in the cellar) side by side with the next year's version.

 

While true in most aspects, Gnarlywine is far less hoppy than Bigfoot, Hog Heaven, and a slew of others, and does better over time than most. Avery's Maharaja, a big Imperial IPA, does very well too with two years. All depends on the hops used and how much dryhopping vs. wethopping is done.

 

My method is I was lucky to buy a house with a root cellar perfect for aging beers Bells Expedition ages amazingly for anyone getting into aging beers

 

I never meant to have more than 50ish beers in my 'cellar,' that quickly turned into about 600. I very rarely drink more than one beer a day, and I buy a lot more than one beer a day.

 

Gnarlywine with one year on it I could see not being that great, but I have had bottles (and kegs) in the 5-10 year range that were fantastic. I think with that beer if you are going to age it, you have to let the main hop components fall out and take a major back seat to the malt before it gets good again.

 

I'd say for you it's more likely: Car, Subzero temps, overnight, thaw beer, trade!
Haha my bro lives in Minneapolis and I always hear about how GD cold it is there in the winter.

 

Fellow Michigan guy here. I built out a fancy cellar this year. There are pictures in this forum somewhere.

Try to focus on living ales as they're like wine and more akin to develop new flavors over time. This means primarily Belgians, but there are others too of course. Non-living-ales can develop flavors too. There are no real rules.

I buy by the case now exclusively for my aging stock. It allows for me to drink over a +/-10 year period depending on the beer- some shorter, some much longer, and also leave two behind for the "trophy case" (i.e. beers I may never drink and probably will pass down). I look for sales and have now committed to pick up one case a month from now on. Meijer had Rochefort 8 for $4.99 a bottle through May 2nd and I snagged a case.