Problem? My beer cellar is growing.

I got into cellaring big time about 2.5 years ago. I have been unhappy overall with the taste of aged beers. I do not like the oxidized "wet cardboard" flavors that some beers develop. I am quite disappointed that I have spent so much money and time and really don't enjoy most of them. I have had some success with big, high ABV stouts and a few sour beers, however.

I am going to slow way down on how many and what kinds of beers I cellar from now on.

 

I bet that would be frustrating. I haven't aged anything that's 2.5 years yet. what
what kinds of beers didn't age well, BA styles?

 

I think this is pretty typical; most of us over-committed amidst the excitement of a new toy & ended up with a lot of stuff that we weren't crazy about.

If there are specific beers you don't enjoy & others do, there's always the option of trading them....even if you don't want the hassle of shipping beer, you can trade in-person locally, even if it's just for shelf stuff that you want. I did this with a LOT of aged Expedition Stout years ago after I figured out I really, really don't like that stone fruit/cherry taste that develops in Expo after a year or two - & there are lots of people who do!

 

I finally bought a shelf for my cellar. I loads all four shelves up (18"x36"). I don't think you're the only with the problem of an ever growing cellar.

My biggest issue, besides the usual saving bottles of special days, is that I pick up some stuff in case I'm hosting people; however, I never host guests. Let alone some who would want to crack open a bottle of 2015 La Folie, or split a bottle or two of some local barleywines.

 

We have times at our house where we have a 'no new beer in' rule. Works pretty well actually. I've never had anyone complain when we say: "Don't bring beer. We have hundreds of cellared beers, and they need to be culled."

 

Most barleywines that were not barrel-aged are misses for me. I guess it is the hops oxidizing and creating the off-flavors that I don't enjoy. Old Stock from North Coast is one exception, I actually like the 2014's I have now. However, Bigfoot, Anniversary from Uinta, a few local ones from Dominion, Duclaw and Flying Dog just aren't what I like.

Burton Baton from Dogfish is frequently aged and offered at their brewpub but it is horrible to me after a year. I have 12 of them downstairs that I am heartbroken over. And it is one of my favorite beers ever fresh. The Double Bastards were quite oxidized, as well. As were the barrel-aged versions of double bastard, southern charred and bastard in the rye.

Oh well. Live and learn. Now I can stop spending money on extra beer and can stop specifically looking for beers to age. With the exception of some big, barrel-aged stouts and brett sours. they have actually been pleasing.

 

I thought pretty much all sours age well? That's what I gather from folks comments.

 

I think most do but then again "well" is subjective to your tastes, I guess. Some sours will lose their fruit flavors and can become overly acidic. Guess it all depends on your preferences. I haven't messed around with too many sours because they are usually very expensive and I didn't want to risk not liking them later. I have enjoyed Matilda and Sophie from Goose Island (not hard core sours but still). I also like Jolly Pumpkins sours aged, as well.

 

I'm starting to get into the same boat. My gf and I love hazy IPAs and so I trade for them. Problem arises when she does grad school stuff and I'm swamped at work so we can't afford to drink 2-3 pp a night ha. Slowly remedying by trading up for bigger bottles which is something you might look into if you've already had a lot of what's in your cellar.

 

Are you buying three to four of each bottle so you can taste every six months or so? It's the best way to ensure you like where the beer is headed. If you can't afford to at least buy three I don't think it's worth aging (in my opinion), unless you know from others something ages gracefully. I include dates of last bottle opened on all remaining bottles — as soon as something starts to go downhill you can open the rest in reasonable time.

 

We need to switch friends. We have a common theme of, "don't bring any beer. We're drinking my beer this time." They show up with way too much beer anyway...

I can't complain, I've done it too. The problem is we all have beer we want to share and needs drank. We usually end up still drinking some of each after picking the stuff people want the most.

 

I

typically would buy at least 3. I would drink one fresh and then wait on others. But I eventually got to the point where I had over 600 bottles and it was overwhelming. I started using The Beer Cellar website to keep track of tastings and my selections. But then it became too much of a chore and I enjoyed it less and less, and then factor in I wasn't happy with the aged flavors, major disappointment.

 

Yeah, it's a good point. I think anything over 300 bottles begins to get all-consuming. I find 300 or below and I can keep a pretty good mental idea of what needs to be consumed, but once I go full hoarder style, it gets out of control. I'm currently at around 250, and I think it's just about perfect (but let's admit it, we all have those days when we find a liquor store at just the right time, and you return home with three cases and >$300 worth of new/cellarable beer)!

I also think things really changed for me when I moved to a new house where I could really store/display all the bottles in a way that nothing could be forgotten. I've seen some peoples' (disorganized) cellars, and it's no wonder they constantly find bottles they didn't know they had...now I have all styles in their own places, and each has a pile in front of it 'Drink Me.'

 

Yep. I'm also guilty of being 'that guy.' Bringing some bottle that I just had to bring (when the rule was bring nothing). Hey, it's beer, when you get excited about something, you want to share it!

 

I agree. Having them on display is a much better way to keep them organized. That is why I built these shelves in my basement a few years ago. This is a pic from about 6 months ago.

 

Great advice in this tread!

I started hoarding myself 2 years ago, the great part is that I have a very large 2 room cellar with old brick shelves (200 year old house) all around. Ideal temps and dark

Summer in Vt : buy and drink as much as I can and enjoy the easy acces to great IPA's and ales

I visit the local drinkshop once a week in Belgium for supplies including soda/water and always buy 3-6 bottles of Geuze. I try to visit Cantillon once a month for a few bottles and visit other local drinkshops every month and hope to find some good stuff. Lately I've been buying up any Timmermans 2010-2012 Oude Geuze as they are delicious.

Basically I have a full blown Geuze obsession and I keep adding more bottles every week. The good part is that I have at least 20 years to finish them! Right now I'm around 175 750ml bottles not counting all the other stuff. The only other beers I'm aging for more then 3 years are Orval, Trappist Rochefort and a couple others

 

Can I have your life.

 

I really am a fan of that shelving with the OCD organization. I have shelves in my basement which would allow me to do something similar to that, but I inherited a chest freezer with my house, as well as an upright fridge recently...so now most of my beer is split up between the chest freezer and fridge. I'm trying to get the "drink me sooner" beer to the fridge, but right now it's all split up with no real logic.

Anyway, back to why this thread was started - I started bringing more beer to family functions (surprisingly, my mom will try anything) and that's been a good way to thin the cellar of anything that isn't a truly focused vertical. I did a personal 3 year Narwhal vertical a few months back and found that I actually liked the beer with more age than fresh, so that was cool to know that I'm not going to have beer hitting its prime before I drink it.

So that's my new advice: start drinking verticals once you've got about 2-4 years of something. I don't find a year having much affect on the beer, but once it's around 3 years, that's when I noticed changes really start to show up.

 

For me there is no doubt that using something to track and know when you want/need to drink beers from your cellar is essential. As was mentioned in a couple of previous posts The Beer Cellar (beercellar.me) has been really helpful for me as it allows you to not only keep track but also put in "drink by" dates so you don't forget and let something go to long. Someone also mentioned that less than 300 was good for them. It depends how much you drink, how often you buy, and what kind of beers/how long you age them, but there is some equilibrium that makes sense for each person. It seems for me, so far, that about 250 is that sweet spot.