Cellaring epiphany

Had an '09 120min a while back, made me realize why I won't be doing that anymore. Had a 3 yr old 60min recently, that was pretty good.

TL;DR: Currently learning the long and hard way that most beer doesn't really age well IMO.

 

Weyerbacher Rapture is from 2011. Did you mean Riserva?

 

Several. Firestone Walker verticals (been a part of several, with many years) KBS verticals, Abyss Verticals, Cantillion Lou Pepe verticals (10 year) even just had a He'brew Jewbelation vertical this past Friday (13-16).

Some beers aged better then others, some vintages vary, but from attending tastings, and hosting my own, the biggest factor I'm noticing, imho of course, is personally, that "cellar conditions" have a HUGE impact on beers.

One such example, Wooden Hell. At one tasting, it was probably stored in a closet, (our guess) while another either a wine fridge, or actually basement/cellar (also guess, but something has to explain the disparity) The "Closet bottle", (as we now refer to it as) consensus was "way past it's prime, aged too long" then a few weeks later, the "fridge" bottle with several that had attended the previous tasting, consenus...top 3 at the tasting, "amazing, wow", etc.

Also did an Abyss vertical a few months ago, all bottles purchased upon release, stored personally, in 55 degree cellar conditions, and 60% or so relative humidity. ( I pay a comerical service for my cellar) Having attended tasting with Abyss verticals before, not only did I expect my 08' to be past prime, but that the 09" would be infected, (while I have had non-infected 09' before, they were showing up less and less). Anyhow, at other tasting, I don't know what the cellar conditions were, could have been on the shelf some where, non-chilled, for months, or stored in car trunk! For mine, I knew conditions were ideal. Result, not only was the 09" delicious, and not infected, but the 08" was the best of the bunch.

Anyhow, long enough post already, but enjoy the journey, your in for a ride. Cheers.

 

So let me ask you, do you feel the closet storage simply accelerated the aging process or that aging at that higher temperature had negative effects? My understanding is that the colder something is cellared, the slower it ages (e.g. not much happens in the fridge), and that the hotter, the faster. I have no place to store except a dark bottom cabinet at room temperature at my place. So I'm wondering if I'm just going to be ruining beers regardless or if I should simply age things for some particular fraction of the time one would normally age them.

 

Yes, both actually, your assesment is correct as I understand it as well. Tempature slows the aging, or "ages gracefully" at lower temps, will yield better results in my experience. Not to mention, consistent temps are preferred, as opposed to possible 20+ degree tempature swings, which over the long term, can negatively impact the flavor imo. Also, for bottle conditioned ales, the yeast is alive, so too cold, it can go dormant, too hot, and it will die off. The yeast continuing to feed on the sugars can affect the flavors, most often for the better, so keeping the temps of the beer in the optimal range will help this process, or keep the yeast active an alive. (this is a simplification, but thats it in a nut shell)

If your only aging for say, 6 months to a year, the beers should be fine, assuming the tempature isn't getting over say 75-80+ degrees. Longer term, say a year or more years, I would recomend investing in something more robust. There are lots of options in that regard too. Wine Fridges, old converted fridges, thermostat controls at home ( that kick the power off when the temps are in range, or on when they are not) as well as paid off site storage (my option at the moment).

 

A recent Abyss vert ('07-'12; the '07 was far and away the best), Stone IRS (I've had '08-12 recently, though not all side by side-'10 is drinking really nice right now), and HotD Adam (I've only had up to 3 y/o Adam, but holy hell it was amazing) are my big three. I'm paring down my cellar now and will be filling it mostly with these beers, as they age so well and are readily available around here for a reasonable price (except Abyss on the last point, but oh well).

 

I just talked to Eric at the Derb and he was talking about what a great time he had at this. He said he was blown away by the Weyerbacher as well.

If it happens again, I'd love to throw some stuff into the mix.

 

Half the fun of cellaring is walking into my basement knowing that at any point I can drink a world-class beer without having to leave my house.