Cellaring questions.

Most bottles don’t improve past ten years from my experience with the exception of Lambics. Most stouts, barley wines and quads won’t go the distance. There are exceptions of course, I’ve had 20 yr. old Bigfoot which showed well. Mostly it’s a matter of personal preference. For me bourbon barrel anything takes a few years to balance out.

 

Thoughts on leaving beers in beer fridge for aging?

 

TLDR - IMHO
Long Term Bottle Storage: Basement Cellar > Refrigerator > Room Temperature
Long Term Can Storage: Refrigerator > Basement Cellar > Room Temperature

I believe it's better than just leaving beers at room temps, and preferable for long term storage of cans. I still keep bottles in the basement cellar, and thankfully I'm down to 75 cellar bottles left (200 currently in the refrigerator, mostly cans).

For the majority of BA stouts, there is no ill refrigeration impact, though I have had a subset of beers turn chalky in the refrigerator too long (multiple years). Thankfully, my Revolution cans which make up the majority of refrigeration space have held up well. I believe a cellar is better for bottles to possibly improve over time, whereas a refrigerator is better suited to keep the beer stabilized for either format.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the information.

FWIW, I want to keep my Firestone Walker beers for 1 to 2 years before drinking them. They are all bottles and I have no real cellar so the alternative would be room temp.

 

As a long time FW drinker i don't recommend that at all. They drop off significantly after 6 months IML.

Those things are amazing after release and sitting on them does them a major disservice especiallyat room temp. They release everything (mostly) yearly so just buy another one in a year.

Sucaba and Anniversary beers are the exception i guess.

 

In theory it just slows the aging process. In styles like geuze you're going to actively slow the metabolism of the microbes left in the beer.

In more typical commercial beers you're just going to slow any oxidative reactions that make up the majority of the changes that happen in aging. For the FW beers you're wanting to keep I would store them in the fridge, I generally agree with @Resistance88 that Firestone releases their barrel aged stuff when it is pretty peak and it doesn't often gain much from extra time in the bottle. Some batches of Parabola have gotten better, to my palate, with a year or so and I know that many people like the anniversary beers with some age on them. But those are different recipes each year so obviously there's gonna be variety there.

I'd store them in a fridge if it's possible

 

Bigfoot needs at least 2-3 years to even be drinkable (IMHO). I buy 1-2 6 packs each Winter when it comes out and start drinking them a few years later. Get them for a few years in a row and you will have a nice vertical. Narwhal is also great for this (but can drink right away too). I've aged canned BA Narwhal for a year or so and really enjoyed it. Goose Island is good with BCS.

If it is an Imperial Stout, Barleywine, Old Ale, it should age well. Basically over 9% and not focused on late hops (no IIIPAs) or full of cake (pastry stouts) they tend to age well.

I would say the worst thing about cellaring is never knowing what it will be like once you drink it. If you only have 1-2 bottles of a particular beer, it is a crap shoot on whether it is going to drink like fine wine or cardboard and soy sauce. And even looking here for what others are drinking and enjoying doesn't always work as many of us are using a closet opposed to temp controlled wine fridges, so our temps and times andhumidity and light exposure vary. A power outage during a week of 100* temps has the potential to turn your cellar to shit.

TLDR: stock up on easy reliable standbies like Bigfoot & BCS, grab a couple bottles of rarer and pricier stuff, don't wait forever to drink them. One last piece of advise from me (not everyone would agree)... most breweries age their beers and package them at their prime, the longer you age, the higher the risk it could be a turd or a euphoric experience, total crap shoot. So if I'm paying big bucks for one bottle, I'll drink it within the year, and probably age it in my fridge instead of my cellar (closet).

 

As a fellow wine person I would treat your beers much like wine. I kept my beer and wine in my cool Minnesota basement for many years with no ill effects. Only bottles, corked wines on their side. Like wines the producer is very important. Large bottles age best. I opened a 25 year old Leifman’s Kriek at “ Where the Wild Beers Are” and it tasted wonderful. I’ve kept New Glarus Belgian Red for many years with good results. Actually better because it’s noticeably drier. Anything with fruit or barrel aging those characters will diminish over time. Lambics seem to hit a “sweet spot” at about 6 to 8 years. I don’t keep particularly good records so born on or best before are often a little guessing game. I had a Hanssens strawberry lambic at 20 years not long ago. Not much fruit, it tasted mostly like strawberry seeds. Be cautious about buying too much unless you do a lot of entertaining. A friend bought several cases of a Merlot only to get bored with it. Big bottles are for sharing.