Should I drink it or wait?

As someone still fairly new to craft beer my approach is to try each beer fresh. If you have an extra and the room to cellar, I would go ahead and put one aside, but at least try one fresh. No crime in drinking them sooner. Besides, I would think having something in the cellar for a year or two that I hadn't yet tried, would drive me nuts.

 

since (as you say) you're new to craft beer I would enjoy these great beers as fresh as possible. i cellar some beers as well but personally i prefer them fresh, even the boozy strong stouts and barleywines.

aging is good to mellow out some brews but as a new aficionado i strongly recommend them fresh. cellar some beers if you enjoy a beer but find the booze burn too much. i have a bunch of shit in my cellar but 120 Minute and World Wide Stout are 2 different beasts fresh vs cellared. I enjoy them fresh and cellared but they're different based on age.

try fresh and if too strong of booze try to cellar. IPAs 100% go fresh or don't go at all, 120 Minute is the only exception because it turns into a new beast with age due to it's 18% abv

 

Speedway drops off around 2 years to me massively. Drink it somewhat fresh.

 

Big beers that tend to sweet, I'd probably drink them fresher Vs sitting for a few years. Speedway is definately better fresher IMO. I'm thinking it's the odd beer that gets better with age, beers are made and brewed to be consumed fresh for the most part.

 

Very subjective question and hard to answer for yourself, being so new to craft. I'm about 2 years into drinking craft and I'm just now starting to drink beers I've aged. I had a hard time picking out more than some minor differences between the year-old Ten Fidys and Expedition stouts I consumed recently compared to a year ago when I bought them.

Drink them now. It will do you more good to taste them and develop your understanding of craft beer than to hold on to them and see how they age. After all, when you taste them in 6 months/a year, what would you have to compare it to?

 

Drink 'em

 

I would try and get a few of each style (excluding IPA due to fresh only) and age one and drink one. Then you get the fresh side and can re-visit the same beer down the road and evaluate your perception of it at that point. I have found that I really enjoy a lot fresh but some just get some dam good aged. I tend to keep a mental list of my fav items with some time on them and toss to side and drink other stuff then when the mood hits I go for some older items time to time. Bottom line is just have fun with it, sample and try new stuff and soon you will have your own list.

 

Drink em and decide if you'd want to pick up another to cellar. As a personal rule, I never age anything before I try it fresh. If you feel the alcohol is too "hot" or the flavors too unbalanced, then I suggest grabbing another to age and try it a year or two later.

But, shit, id suggest picking up seconds of most of those beers regardless. Have fun drinking em.

 

Drink them. No point in aging something if you don't know what it's like fresh.

 

go buy some more of each !

 

Personally, if I have just one of anything, I drink it fresh. If I get multiple, I'll usually drink one fresh, take some notes, and drink the others 1-2 years later. I really enjoy seeing how beers evolve as they age/mature.

(A habit I've adopted from many years of drinking wine)

 

You can drink them now, no problem. You can aged them as well. What you could also do, is try to get another bottle each, and then drink one now, aged one for later. Some of these brews do very well aged, some do not.

Cheers!

 

Drink them. Best part about getting into beer is trying all the new stuff. Sitting on it ain't any fun.

Only way I'd say otherwise is if the big stouts are too boozy for you. In my experience aging will mellow the alcohol "flavor" but also mellows most other flavors a little bit, too.

Age some stuff you get multiples of if you want. I used to do that with Bourbon County when you could get a couple four packs without chasing trucks around town on black Friday. If you only got one, I'd drink it within a month or two.

 

In my experience, added flavors tend to fade pretty quickly in most beers. When you cellar a beer with those great added flavors, you kinda miss out on how the beer is intended to taste. Having said that, it is fun to see how big stouts, barleywines, and sours develop over the years. Just wouldn't recommend it with anything that gets its uniqueness from adjuncts.

 

Buy several of each and experiment! There is no right answer.

 

Unless you're a straight BALLER and can cellar cases from breweries at a time I suggest...

Drink at will. Really...it's beer.

Unless it's some crazy Pomerol wine vintage...just drink it. As a wine club member for a worldwide 100 top vintner, I can say I no longer "buy" the hype. What I buy is good...but sometimes you have to plan ahead. Hindsight is always 20/20. With beer however, you have fewer tannins and at the most age 1-2 years... Beer is not usually like "futures" as you see with wine. Otherwise, just drink it. I've often found some beers drink better young when some "connoisseur" says cellar for 3-5 years. Beers like KBS and Parabola drink nicely within a year or so. BCBS can be aged a little longer...

Hoss, your mileage may vary! Drink up!

 

I prefer Black Tuesday with a couple of years on it, but it's also pretty great fresh. I say drink them now, would be shame for them to break, go bad for some reason and so on. If you are newer to beer, you may want to try cellaring some less rare beers to figure out the best cellaring options in your place. I age beer all the time, sometimes it doesn't work out even with beers that should age well.

 

If you have never had them knock them out fresh, then work on getting more if one sparks your interest to cellar. I like Speedway fresh not aged and Black Tueday is great how ever you want to drink it hahaha same with White Chocolate. Cheers brotha

 

Drink them.

And keep drinking everything ASAP, but pay attention to which ones are super boozy.

Next time around, age those ...