Cellaring Tips for a Sour Nube...

Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide is the source of the info. It is a fantastic book with some of the best info on cellaring I have seen to date. The dark malts evolve in a way that they can turn acrid when in contact with increased amounts of yeast and sediment, especially because they affect the pH of the beer, which is already quite low in sour beers. For more info, I highly recommend the book because I am unaware of the exact science behind it, but according to Patrick Dawson, dark malts can turn into off flavors more readily in beers stored horizontally

 

Thank you for actually providing something! I'll have to look into that.

Also, maybe @PDawson can just answer this question directly???

 

Thanks for the shout out @BrotherDylan and @ASak10 . In regards to the relationship between dark malts and horizontal storage, it's not anything I've ever thought about specifically, but it's an intriguing point. It's been my experience that autolysis is accelerated when a bottle is stored horizontally (due to the increased amount of dead yeast in direct contact with beer), and autolysis flavors are particularly unpleasant in roasted beers (blood, rust, ink, etc), so it would make logical sense to be wary of storing horizontal roasted beers on their side. This obviously wouldn't apply to beers that doesn't have suspended yeast (due to filtration or long aging prior to bottling) that aren't susceptible to autolysis.

The question of bottle storage is not one with a really easy answer. Beers still undergoing bottle conditioning (first year in most sacch beers, but 3 or more in some sours) benefit from the increased trub exposure in a horizontal bottle, but after that I don't see any benefit in that regards and possible negative ones (as @BrotherDylan points out). There is the benefit however of maintaining cork moisture, but the necessity of it comes down to individual cellar conditions.

And while many like to point to the use of lambic producers use of horizontal storage, when I've had the chance to talk to them about why they do this, the reasons they cite are a) the beers are still conditioning, b) this is the most efficient use of their very limited storage space, and c) this is simply how they have always done it, and it's really not something they even think about. All very good reasons for them, but you have to determine whether they're applicable to your home cellar.

 

@PDawson thank you for the awesome response! Very informative.

 

As a general rule for ANY beer style not just sours if you want to throw something into a cellar, drink one bottle fresh first and foremost. You do this to get a baseline of what a beer tastes like fresh and if you think that aging it might benefit that specific beer. If you think that beer is great right now why age it? As the beer ages it might loose an element from the flavor profile that you really enjoyed when it was fresh. Not all beers will gain complexities as it sits in the bottle for an extended period of time. Always age with an intention in mind.

As for sour suggestions on what wild ale styles that seem to age really well, I would recommend these 3 styles for long term aging(in the order of my personal preference of what ages the best): Gueuze, Unblended lambic, and non-fruited American Wild Ales. Gueuze has been claimed to be a beer style that can age for 20 to 30 years. I also think that Unblended lambic can have that type of longevity under absolutely perfect cellar conditions. American Wilds probably have a 3 to 7 year window depending on the beer. I am sure that there are some deviations to this timeframe for American wilds though.

So take it on a case by case / beer by beer basis. As long as you put some though into aging beer and the more you age and experiment with cellaring the more you will understand some of the dynamics. Most important of all, its your beer so do what ever the hell you want to do with it and have fun with it!