Cellar Essentials

Backwoods Bastard is a great one that I haven't seen mentioned yet. Always try to buy up as much as possible each year and sit on it. It's always available on draft at the same time so I don't feel the need to crack my bottles right away.

 

The essentials I currently am aiming to have a few cases "cellar'd" to help last me through the year is some Narwhal, Breakfast stout, and TenFidy. I know coffee fades overtime, but I've had a year aged founders breakfast stout and still found it pretty amazing.

 

I have always tried to have a few options of RR sours stocked and available, but I suck at not drinking them.... which I guess is what I am supposed to do with the bottles. So the collection doesn't usually last as long as I want, typically around a year instead of 2 haha. Luckily I am headed up north next week and will try to get my hands on whatever they let me.

 

Stone has some easy to get beers that age wonderfully. I really love IRS, OG and Double Bastard with a few years on them.

 

Lot of great things mentioned already, I will add third coast old ale and cw bbbw

 

Not sure if it's been mentioned but what's the word on Great Divide Hibernation with a few years on it?

 

Some of my favorite beers to age. I always try to grab some when they come out to keep verticals going, though the sours are getting harder to keep tracking down some from each vintage year:

3F Oude Gueuze
Bells Expedition
Bells Third Coast Old
Boulevard Saison Brett
Cantillon Classic Gueuze & Iris
Central Waters BBBW
DFH Olde School BW
Founders Old Curmudgeon
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
HOTD Adam & Doggie Claws
JW Lees Harvest & barrel variants
Kuhnhenn 4D / BA 4D
North Coast Old Stock
Pelican MOAS
SN Bigfoot

 

Its really good after one year and even better after two. I did not care for it at years three four or five.

 

Another vote for Old Stock Ale. Definitely Abyss as well.

Chimay Blue deserves a mention.
Pannepot and all its variants.
Great Divide Yeti.
Dupont Avec Les Bon Voeux.
Fantome Saisons.

 

I think of saisons and sours as something not to let sit too, too long, but I'll have to try it. I have a few from Fantome and Blaugies that have some years on them only for not getting around to cracking them on the requisite summer's evening with a group. Now I'm wondering about edging them toward the back of the shelf. I could consider the same for some Rodenbach CR under cork. Otherwise, I have managed through blessed proximity and even of buying to be able to keep a stock of gueuzes or other lambic variants around for the long haul, and I have accidentally over the years banked a few cases of various quads and imperial this-and-thats. The strange one that I've been talked into is Orval. As the go-to crowd pleaser, it has decently rapid traffic through my house, but, I've gotten into the habit of buying a case a year or so and give it a year's novitiate before bringing it out. So now I see a circle coming together, as the brett character has obviously contributed in some way to that, so why not the saisons?

 

Not sure what the question is. If you are implying that saisons have brett, I would venture a guess and say that less than half do. So they probably don't age that well.

I have extremely limited experience aging sours, but "I started out aging everything and now only age gueuze" is a not uncommon saying here. It's usually just gueuze though and some Lou Pepe fruit stuff. A lot of the Flemish reds/oud bruins are pasteurized and won't get any more sour or funky, so those tend to be seen as iffy in the cellar.

 

I'm adding one more essential I forgot in my first post: Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van de Kaizer Blue.

 

Rhetorical question. I was just saying that I was inspired to throw aside a few extra things and see what happens. Beer is actually somewhat cheap compared to cellaring wine, booze, other comestibles (cheese)... Don't tell anyone I said that!

 

I like to keep a few around:

Stone IRS
Stone Double Bastard
BCBS
Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast and Brunch
Alesmith Speedway Stout

 

I'm usually an advocate for aging ten fidy, but last years batch evolved into an oxidized raisin bomb. Had the last of my 2012 with the first of my 2013, and the 2013 knocks its socks off. Look into avery'sdemons of ale series, and their uncle jacobs stout also ages well. They aren't as available as others, but I do see the demons turding up shelves.

 

I thought Black Butte was a porter...

 

an 11% porter is no different than a RIS