Addicted to buying

Great cellar ! IMO drink those Peche Mortel now and enjoy the coffee

 

buying collecting drinking....all of the above?

 

There has simply never been a better time in human history to be a fan of beer. That's what's so difficult; we're smack in the midst of a beer renaissance.

 

These days I more or less just buy what I need for the weekend. Gives me a reason to go to the store on a weekly basis. I may cellar 3-4 beers at a time, that's it.

 

I am ICMTM and I'm a beer buyingAholic.

I've stopped buying things locally. Since I travel up and down the West Coast I'll buy a bunch of bottles at each stop. I'll be in SoCal in two weeks then Portland the following. I'll probably spend a few hundred on bottles. I don't even know what I'm buying yet?

 

I LOVE hunting for beer, it's probably my favorite part of the hobby tbh. Yesterday, I purchased a 15pk of founders all day, a 6 of grapefruit sculpin cans and 3 aprihops that were clearanced for my wife. I didn't need beer, my fridge had:

1 bottle of lunch
1 bottle of mean old tom
1 bottle of king titus
1 can of heady topper
1 bottle of arrogant bastard
1 bottle of stone saison
1 bottle of stone pa 2.0
1 bottle of stone go to
2 bottles of SN torpedo
3 cans of wb gose
3 cans of sixpoint abigale

But I was off from work, and I always go shopping when I am off. Found good deals, so I made a purchase. Hell, I'll probably drop by another shop on my way home from work tonight

 

This is my mindset, though I have far, far less inventory on hand. It's getting harder and harder to find things I want, at all. I need to either take a trip to Europe, or somewhere in the US where the distribution will never reach NWNJ.

 

Yeah for sure, but the government stores got them at 5 months old, so the coffee is mostly faded now. At this point, age can only help it!

 

At some point mid-last year, I had around 500 bombers in my cellar.

It was at that point, I decided I was stupid and not just enjoying beer.

I generally have stopped buying and trading for beer. I actually find myself buying more local lagers and pilsners and actually just enjoying basic beers.

I also go to a weekly bottle share on Monday nights (benefits of not working until 1PM weekdays). I tend to bring 2 bottles to each share. Then there are the weekends where I bring a bomber every time I go to someones house or certain breweries where I know people.

Down to maybe 250. I want it down to less than 100 and actually rotate beers in my cellar.

I have stopped buying new beers except for my guilty pleasure of Jester King. But, I used to get around 6 of each release, and down to just 2-3.

I kept two people as trade partners - but it usually is once ever 3 months and we don't even care about the beers sent - we just send beer that we like that is local, nothing more is needed to be said.

I have enjoyed it a lot more. It has saved me money. And I have actually enjoyed much more of the local beer that I was ignoring.

 

It is important for me to buy the shelf beer I like at bottle shops now, because if I don't they will view me as a "cherry-picker". The truth is, most of the beer they have I have already tried and do not want to purchase again. I feel like I get tossed aside for people newer to the beer community who come in and spend $200 because they are still trying all the stuff they have on shelves. Not sure if that post makes sense but I really do feel that way in some bottle shops.

There was a time not too long ago that I would spend at least $100 a week at local bottle shops. It was fun.

 

I also have consumed about 2/3 of my cellar in the past 9 months but have left most of the one-offs and really valuable stuff for special occasions.

 

It is making it harder and harder to share some of my bottles unless it is a small share due to this reason.

 

This is me, except for the putting the beer back part. I feel the need to stop in to any of my go to stores when I happen to be in the area for whatever reason. Just to see if they have anything new. Swearing I am not going to buy anything. Then I see a 4-pack of Backwoods Bastard, and how can I NOT buy it? Or a limited release bottle I always wanted to try and never expected to try? Inevitably, I walk out with 2 bombers and a 4-pack. Every time.

I just started cellaring beers 2 or 3 years ago, and only a handful of bottles. In the past year I went from 5 or 6 bottles to about 40. Right now, my beer closet has about 25 bottles I am trying to age, and another 20+ I keep buying faster than I can drink. Almost all are single bottles, bombers or 750ml bottles that are "special" beers. The other day I wanted an "every day beer," maybe an IPA, a Belgian or a non-BA stout or porter. I had nothing fitting the bill. I settled on a Backwoods Bastard as the lightest 12 oz bottle.

I was starting to worry I had a problem, but you kind people made me feel better about myself. Thanks, group of enablers!

 

You are on the start of a downward spiral.

We may make you feel good now, but in a year or two, you will be posting about your recovery.

 

I don't think it's an inclination to age beers that causes most people to have what they think of as a cellar. It's an inclination to own.

 

for me if i pass a store i know id pretty good usually stop, ad at the least pick up a bomber of somethig

 

I keep an excel spreadsheet that is also my cellar list, but I include everything on there (ipas and such too)

I have a column for Price per bottle as well, which I keep added up so I can see the total im spending. That actually really helped me put it in perspective how much I was buying (especially the first time I hit enter to calculate the total )

Now I try and limit myself, just becuase something is good, or limited, doesnt mean I HAVE to buy it. But still there is a good chance.

Oh and i work for a beer wholesaler, So im in and out of package stores literally 5 days a week.. .that doesnt help...

 

this

 

There's no such thing as having "too much" beer

 

For awhile I always had 30-40 beers in my fridge no matter what. Despite the fact that I only drank 5 or so a week. However i've cut back substantially to the point where I only buy enough beer to last me the week. The problem that i've encountered is that upon drinking predominantly "world class" beer, there is no going back. I can't buy "very good" or "great" beer anymore. My palate won't let me enjoy them. This has helped me considerably in avoiding the addiction to keep buying more and more. Perhaps others can relate?