Im new to cellaring beer, looking for tips/advice.

PLENTY of info on this already, both here and on the intraweb. Plus everyone is going to give you varied opinions, so you're not going to get any concrete facts no matter what you ask.

 

Beer is a consumable, it's made for drinking. That's what I hate about the beer trading culture.

My advice would be to always have drank the beer fresh before aging it. Only age it for a reason you think will improve the flavor. Based on my experiments, really only happens with beers that are "hot" with alcohol heat, or have a lot of strong, sharp flavors that need time to meld and smooth out.

Also, start off will beers that you can buy off the shelf.

 

As jmdrpi said, beer is made for drinking, so don't go overboard on cellaring. I am not an expert on this, but from spending a lot of time on this site I can offer the following:

Drink the Mexican Cake so the spices don't fade.
Stone RIS is a great beer to age

 

Well that's good then.

I have stopped buying extras of Imperial Stouts to age. Anything bourbon barrel or coffee added I prefer fresh, since those flavors are the whole point of the beer. As for "regular" stouts, most have changed slightly, but not necessarily "better", just different.

The largest improvements I've seen have been with barleywines, old ales, and Belgian-style strong dark ales.

 

Mephistopheles and World Wide Stoust are definitely in need of aging, and both improve a ton. I would say Black Ops got a good bit better too. Just most of the others I've aged haven't done that much, tasting them typically at like 2, 3 ,4 years.

 

Bomb! is delicious at 6 months old, drank at cellar temp... BA Narwhal was tough to drink fresh, but it was a lot better at 6 months and 8 months.

Let me know if you want to trade away any World Wide Stouts when they the shelves. I'd like to get a few of them for the cellar.

 

To me, it sounds like you are well on your way to knowing what to cellar. It is really dependent on your tastes.

Like said above, if you liked the habanero heat on Mexican Cake, it will only fade over time, but it is fine to age. The BA Narwhal I would suggest aging, mainly because regular Narwhal is a little too bitter for me, but that is my preference to a mellowed out stout.

And the one thing everyone (probably) will agree on is Stone IRS. Great fresh, great after 1 year, great after 2 years, and I can't speak past that because I can never hold off that long.

 

Pick up the book vintage beer, it's really cheap on amazon and definitely worth the read.

 

^^^^What he said.

And I'll echo what another poster said concerning the ones with coffee: drink them sooner or later because coffee certainly fades. Other than that, the rest of what you have are all good candidates for cellaring, just make sure you know what they taste like fresh so you can actually see what the impact of aging has done to the beer.

 

However, as some flavors like coffee, spice and hops fade other flavors open up and are sometimes very enjoyable. Just drank a 2012 Palo Santo the other night. The woody notes were lessened and it was sweeter and more complex.

The bottom line is you have to experiment and keep track of what you aged, how long, and how you liked it. I also recommend drinking every beer you cellar fresh and keeping notes. You will find some that you enjoy fresh and do not want to aged.

Aging beer is a very subjective hobby. Every person has their own tastes and likes. Yes, there are a few rules you can follow but it's really up to your personal preferences. Experiment, enjoy and let us know how it turned out.

 

I'm with Buckeye. That's why I really enjoy some Breakfast Stout with a year or so on it. The coffee retreats just enough to create a whole new flavor profile that is really up my alley. Being willing to experiment a bit might lead you to enjoying some beers with a little time on them that most others prefer fresh only.

 

You'll definitely want to log everything on a spreadsheet so you can keep up with it all. And then you'll start to realize that you've probably gone too far, but you just can't stop yourself!