Consumption questions

I have a lot of barrel aged stuff in the fridge right now, that if I didn't buy any other beers, would probably last a few months at least. It's just not something I can drink every day and really with some of the ABVs, needs to be shared. So, I end up buying 4 or 6 packs to have on hand for drinking days. And every so often, homebrew something to keep on tap. Usually drink 1 during the week and few more on the weekends. Finding I can't put them away like I used to, so enjoying the ones I do have more these days. Cheers.

 

I routinely have 8-12 cans/bottles of various beers in the fridge. I rarely finish a 6-pack of anything in a weekend. I drink one or two then something else. It is always a mix, an IPA or two, a hefeweizen, a seasonal (pumpkin and fest now) and a lager.

 

I'm more or less in this boat...but I haven't evolved to the second paragraph yet!

I have beers that I feel would be embarrassing to drink and virtually share "new beers" for the New Beer Weekend thread - how long has Pretty Things been out of business? I do have some relics where the quality will be questionable, that's for sure. We had been drinking down the inventory of late with no shopping, but the dark side is strong - this past Saturday, we bought me two new four packs, a 16 oz single, and a bomber (to share) and two new four packs for the missus...and two four packs we're not sure about but wanted to try because they are Allagash...and SWMBO is a very bad influence...and then Founder's drops this maple fudge KBS thing so stuff like that happens...and regular KBS is sitting unopened and never tried...and on it goes...

We don't drink a lot of volume, but we also like trying new things, so those two forces oppose one another - slow consumption, and a ridiculous variety of beers to choose from...

 

I do not have a beer cellar or beer collection. I stock my beer fridge with usually no more than 30 beers at a time, and generally don't restock it until it is just about empty. Then I make another trip to the store! I will only buy more at a time if I happen to be at a beloved brewery that I don't get to visit often (Fox Farm, Tree House, Trillium, Alchemist, etc.).

 

When I moved to Germany about 15 years ago, I knew very few of the beers here, so I set out exploring and finding new beers, always looking to discover the next “Wow” beer. Over the years, this habit rather grew to an addiction/hobby. Since Germany is rather bereft of great beer stores in my area, I would often drive to Belgium just to visit a beer store I’d read about online, stock up on 100+ beers I’d never seen before, and fill up my cellar. Now I can also just order online, which is easier (but less fun…). Regardless, I am always buying and trying new beers. I keep a list with my reviews and ratings (in Word) that is over 3000 beers now (I think…). I’m (very) slowly converting it to an Access database.

These habits led to a bit of a problem maintaining balance. All this ticking was meant to find great beers to drink. But continuously trying new beers got in the way of drinking those great beers I had already found. These days I tend to buy as many “known” beers as “new” beers, so I’ve regained a bit of balance (and kept the budget down). I tend to enjoy the beer itself now more than the adventure of finding the beer. That was not always the case.

Nowadays, I generally have about 80-100 beers in the “active” cellar after an order/trip. I tend to drink that down pretty quickly (2-3 beers a day). Once I get down towards the 10-20 range, I start planning my next order/trip. I also irregularly homebrew (1 gallon BIAB), so sometimes that also affects my purchasing habits.

For awhile, the search for “Wow” beers also led me to cellaring. But after 6-7 years, I decided that there were only a handful of beers that I thought were worth the trouble to age. I have a stockpile of about 30 of those beers (mainly St. Bernardus 12 and Westy 12) in my “inactive” cellar. When those get to the 3-4 year sweetspot (for me), I start drinking them.

I guess for me, it is part hobby and part love of beer generally. I love trying (ticking) new beers, but I also just enjoy drinking great beer.

 

This is an excellent point, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this. When I do decide to buy a new-to-me 4 or 6 pack, I like being able to just casually sit and drink one before sitting down and writing a detailed review.

This is why some beers start to pile up - because I want to review it when I can actually sit down and enjoy it for half-an-hour, and dive into it. I dint always have the time to, so naturally, beers stock up a bit. Very good point.

 

5 years ago when I had better health and a lot more friends I was a very active homebrewer, with 2 kegerators that each held 6 5 gallon kegs. So I kept 12 different beers(including mead and cider) on tap in my garage because at the end of the workday I never knew what kind of beer I felt like drinking. And I kept a wide variety of domestic and imported commercial beers on hand also because i just love beer. And my sole rationale for buying a new beer was that it was something I was unfamiliar with-I love the suspense of finding something delicious or trash.

 

When you have a big beer cellar full of beer of various styles, ages, etc, are you a proud collector or a "look at what I have" type? Is it for a reason, or compulsion? FOMO? To impress? As a self proclaimed Hedonistic Nihilist/Nihilistic Hedonist (depending on the day), I don't tend to "collect" anything so I'm also curious about those habits/benefits/values. If I come off flippant, it's because I generally don't get it but I'm willing to listen to those who do.

 

For me, personally, I don't give a damn what others think about my beers. Years ago, I penned a "100 Bucket List Beers To Drink Before I Die" list. Much of my cellar has been comprised of those. I don't show it off to others, and it's sole purpose is for me to enjoy drinking, and to share with anyone else who's interested.

Yeah, sometimes when I see it, I think, "Man, I'm one lucky bastard", but I'm humble and grateful for it, not proud in a "look at all my awesome bottles" way.

I wouldn't say it's compulsion or FOMO. I don't chase the newest hot releases or flavour-of-the-month beers. I just go after what I think I'll enjoy. It's not even a "collection" in that sense. I just tend to get them faster than I drink them, so they add up over time. It's more of a stock. Some I do save for special occasions, which are few and fsr between.

I am proud of it, because I've worked my ass off to get these longtime beer wants, but I'm also extremely grateful to have them, and don't go around flaunting it. Never in a million years did i think I'd be so lucky to have what I do.

 

I like that you drink them, at least, instead of merely displaying them. Saving them for beer shares would be awesome too because then you're sharing the wealth and having wealth shared. Just seems like a fun time.

 

I fail to see the point of collecting beers with no intention to drink them. It pisses me off a bit, because there are people who would give a limb to try those beers.

It isn't very often I'm able to find others who'll appreciate the beers (or I wouldn't have nearly as many bottles) but it's a blast when I do. If one beer can bring joy to multiple people, then that's a good deal. I actually got to share a really nice bottle with another awesome BA the other night, and it was so much more fun than just drinking it alone in my yard. Definitely prefer to share that experience with good company.

 

It's fun to collect. I used to have a beer cellar, and I actively collect bottle caps. I used to collect bottles and glassware, but no more for either of them, although I have not rid myself of what I have because the display of each in my man cave is enjoyable.

I think 50% of the need to collect hyped beer is the anticipation and success of the 'kill' in finding the target, the enjoyment of possession in the 'cellar' is another 25% and the enjoyment of consumption finishes off the thrill.

For non-consumable collectibles it's 10/90 finding/having. There is not so much searching and anticipating for this group because they are more like souvenirs that you buy as gifts to yourself. The exception is when you're a kid collecting baseball/football cards or the myriad of other cards or trinkets in recent years, the mix is more like 50/50.

 

For me there is no better way to describe the difference than between myself and a friend of mine. I was the main guy who traded and cellared beers for my tasting group during its heyday. always on the lookout, always acquiring. I am very much interested in aging beers. While uncommon, there is a state of bliss to be experienced when a big stout or barley wine is aged well and mellows/changes to the point that it turns to liquid heaven that can be experienced no other way. I had no problem pulling beers from the cellar to share with friends, or the group, or to see how they compare to past openings. When I realized that I had taken cellaring/aging as far as it could go, I stopped doing it, and started downsizing. So my cellar was out of control, but active, changing, a work in progress, and never had more beers in it than I could drink myself in a reasonable amount of time. It did get out of hand when even the group of us couldn't keep up, but I am not a collector mentality. In fact, if I can be honest about it, the idea of getting satisfaction from ownership and from numbers of acquisitions is kind of repellent to me. I have dear friends who tick beers and count Dead/Phish shows, but I am not one.

I have a friend who has so many beers he hasn't the room to store them all and a space at his mom's is all shelves of his beer. Likely he could tell you the exact number and show you a complete list. He not only collected a stupid number himself, he was given a collection by someone. He has great pride of ownership, but of these 6,000+ bottles many are over the hill, and how many of them will never be consumed by anyone? Yet my unnamed friend has great pride in their ownership, and he is a wonderful person in every way that counts. I look at it as kind of a strange collection addiction. I think most tickers are some degree of this, but I'm speaking as an enthusiast, not a collector, so....

 

I used to be big into wine and maintained a cellar of 80-90 bottles at various points of aging. I had my "drink soon" "drink in a few years" and "don't touch" sections and would rotate bottles regularly. I took that approach into beer when I made the "switch," wanting to see how certain beers evolved over time. All that stuff was kept in an unfinished part of the basement because it had relatively stable temps year-round, but it was a "get out the flashlight and watch your step" kind of place. The only reaction I cared about was what happened when friends took the first sip. I would often keep the bottle on the counter and just bring glasses to the table. Tell me what you think, and when we're all done drinking, then I'll tell you what it is. Providing something that people enjoy is so much more important to me than saying "Oh, look what I have here!"
I stopped intentionally cellaring because some beers declined, and most were different but not necessarily more enjoyable. It was interesting but not worth the effort of keeping track and invariably i'd wind up waiting too long to open something. There were definitely a few that were just sublime at the 3-5 year mark, so much so that I can understand why someone would try to achieve that repeatedly.

 

I'm.very new to intentionally aging beers. Right now I'm exploring various big beers that I like and that are accessible (narwhal, parabola, bcbs, Bigfoot) to see what my personal sweet spot is with them. Once I know that, its just a matter of stashing some away and patiently letting them reach that sweet spot.

Like @cavedave said, there really are few things I enjoy in beerlandia as much as that sublime encounter with a beer you know well that has reached a new plateau of deliciousness. Most beers don't get better with age but some definitely do (and all of this is of course subjective and I can only ever tell you what beers I think improve and what I think the improvements are). My "cellar" is a storage unit right now and I do look at it lovingly anytime I have to go to the unit for something and will usually grab a bottle or two that is close to being ready for sampling.

I do notice the seed of the hoarder urge though as some of the older bottles I have (pretty sure nothing is older than 2018 vintage, which for SN beers means bottled very late 2017 often) get down to only one or two samples left and I start to hesitate to grab them. I could see how it could get out of hand if I had infinite funds and a more enabling wife

 

Every container of alcoholic beverage I buy, whether it's beer, wine or whiskey is for consumption in it's appropriate time frame. I have some old Bigfoots that I discovered when we moved, they will go soon. I have wine that I buy to cellar for up to 20 years, but most of my wine doesn't last a month.
I've never chased whales, I drink what I like, and I've never bought a beer (or wine) just so I could show it off to friends. I had a roommate in college who bought exotic herbal medicines to show off but not share, it pissed me off.

 

I used to collect bottles, but I would have had to buy the house next door to save them so then I turned to bottle caps and labels, they take up a lot more space but I can still look at a label and remember th setting where I discovered that particular beer.

 

I don’t have a big beer cellar, but a fair one. It is never show off, most of my friends have no idea what’s in the cellar.

Mine comes more from my wine collecting. I collect wine and beer to be enjoyed. I have never sold wine or beer from my collection but I do share among friends. For example, just a couple weeks ago we opened a bottle of 1970 La Tour Sauternes. All of us were older than the bottle, some by months, some were teenagers when it was made. In any event it was a great way to reminisce about what were doing in 1970.

Now I doubt I will ever drink a 50 year old beer, but the idea is the same. There is something special about sitting down with friends and enjoying a 2-10+ year old beer and talking about it. Maybe it’s better or worse, but it’s a moment in time that you will otherwise not get.