I've got 3 Straight Jacket and 6 Central Waters Barrel Aged Barleywine. Are they gonna be ok if I leave them in the basement of my apartment building for a year with my Bourbon County, or should I reserve some precious fridge space?
IMHO they'll be fine in your basement. I would only worry about refrigerating hop-forward brews (like IPAs) and beers with adjuncts (e.g. BCBCS or Regal Rye).
If your basement temp is 50-55 degrees then that's ideal, although probably in the 60s isn't too bad either. However, if the storage area is close to a boiler room, etc. and not really a cool place, then finding room in your fridge is my recommendation. You want to check out the Cellaring forum to see what general recommendations are discussed there.
It took so much time in line just to find a single regal or rare outside Chicago, I wanna max out the flavor if I can. Already had two straight jacket anyway. #firstworldproblems
That Regal will still be fine down there IMO. Just make sure the basement doesn't have crazy temperature swings and doesn't stay above 70-75 for too long at a time.
Think someone beat me to it, but if you want to max out the flavor, you should drink them fresh. If you want the flavor to slowly mellow out (ie. go away), put them in your cellar for a couple years.
If you've never had it fresh drink it now. By the way the central waters barleywine is drinking great fresh, you may not want to age it.
On the CW BA Barleywine it depends on the if you are ok with bitterness. I did not like it fresh, but I don't like sharp hoppy-ness at all, so for me, I'd say age those at least a year. It's always good to try one fresh to see for yourself.
I thought the CW bourbon overwhelmed the beer. I couldn't hardly taste anything but bourbon and hops. I hope there's a great barleywine underneath, but it'lll take a few years to find out.
