Cardinal Rules of Cellaring

Also invest in a temperature controller.

 

Thanks for posting those rules. I'm guilty of buying too much beer and not having a plan to drink it down. I also hang onto great beers when they should be being drank. I do have a dedicated beer fridge!

Zacky, do you really think a temperature controller is worth it, or that much better? Just interested in your opinion and experience, not making a challenge. Thanks

 

Be selective about which beers you age.
For example, North Coast Old Stock. While it's a good beer I have limited capacity. I'd rather store 4 Avery demons than 4 NC OS.
I just have to be more thoughtful about which beers I'll really care about keeping for years.

 

1. The overwhelming majority of beers get worse with age. A select few will change in an interesting manner. that makes hanging onto a few worth it, but does not improve. A very small percentage of beers actually improve with age.

2. Have a plan. Before you cellar any beer, answer the following questions. Why are you aging this beer? What are you hoping to gain from aging this beer? What qualities in this beer lead you to believe that this beer is worth aging? If you cannot answer these questions in a convincing manner, you may want to consider rethinking aging.

3. Experimentation has value in terms of gaining knowledge, you don't know until you try. With that said, don't go crazy and waste a bunch of money and beer on experiments.

3. Bell's Expedition and Third Coast Old Ale. As much as possible. As long as possible.

 

Nice post - do not be tempted to age bourbon barrel aged beers.

 

5) Don't over-think the cellaring parameters, such as on their side vs. upright, 55F vs. 60F, etc. Just make sure they stay cool and fairly stable.

And for #2, I think it's important to calculate what your cellar size ought to be and try to stick near it. Just take the number of times per month you want to drink from your cellar and multiply it by the number of months you want the average bottle to stay in there.

It's pretty rough since you'll have some you want to store one year and others ten years, but let's say you plan to have a cellared beer twice a week and the average age be 3 years, your cellar size should be: (9 beers per month) x (36 months) = 324 beers in the cellar.

 

I'm not on board with this. I think it really goes back to an earlier post about knowing what you want to accomplish. BCBS for example I think is a definite ager....but that's for me. Others who want that bourbon slap in the face will drink it fresh. BUT you should not age without having had it fresh and making that conscious decision as others have said.

 

agreed. after drinking a 2010-2013 bcbs vertical, i will be aging bcbs for sure.

 

I'd put together a totally different set of rules, but that's just me. Something along the lines of:

1) Make sure you know why you're cellaring each beer (regardless of what other people think of your reasons)
2) Your reasons should involve eventually drinking and enjoying the beer.

I'll never get the "it's dumb to cellar it before you try it" mentality. If it's a year-round or seasonal release, get a fresh one when you crack your aged one; it's fun to try them side by side. On the other hand, if it's a one time release, comparing a beer in my cellar to when I had it fresh, many moons ago, in a different environment, when my tastes were different, on a day when I had eaten different foods, provides no meaningful basis for comparison. For me, if I can only get one of a beer, I'll consider personal tastes, my experience with the style, and what others have said about it. If I think the odds are in favour of me enjoying the beer more in a couple of years, it's going in the cellar regardless of what anyone else thinks. If I think I'll enjoy it more now, then down the hatch it goes. Sure it's a gamble, but it's a gamble either way. Just go with what you think you'll enjoy most and don't stress out about it.

 

I also don't understand aging a beer you've never had, If I only have one of something it goes into my face.

 

You can google anything these days but I strongly recommend reading this book if you decided to get into cellaring for the long haul and actually build some kind of cellar.
http://www.amazon.com/Build-Wine-Cellar-Fourth-Edition/dp/1891267000

How to keep things cool, organizing, tastings, humidity etc.