Drinking your cellar.

You and I sound similar.

5 was incredibly sour almost undrinkable young, threw 3 bottles in the cellar after a year had one and oh boy its so good right now.
6 was undrinkable for me, it burned and tingled as well as threw my senses for a tizzy trying to make sense of the incredible crushing oak and malt, I hope it calms with 6ish months or I get to trade/give away 3 more bottles of it.
HOTD/Deschuttes, I got 2 am tempted to have one now just cause.

The rest of my cellar is mostly because I have a problem trying os many beers I forget I have stuff down there, heh so I've been making sure to crack one whenever friends come over from the cellar.

 

jtmartino:
Beer drops off, no question. Most beers people cellars for long periods of time will actually taste worse with 3 years on the shelf than 6 months.

Drink your damn cellars. Hoarding is a sickness. ​

THIS (with minor exceptions of course)

 

I am currently in the process of draining my cellar and it tastes good. Of course, that's more of an economics issue but it's still rewarding!

 

I'm in the anti-cellaring camp, even with stuff that is better cellared.

Stone IRS for instance, ya it's better with age on it once the hops fade, but it's just not worth it to sit on it for 2+ years when I can buy a just as good beer right off the shelf. Old Rasputin fresh would work to satisfy any 2 year aged Stone IRS cravings that I might have.
And I'm just not into sours enough to cellar those.

 

yeah i have a little of that going on too. benefits being that, not only are that you are able to experiement with certain beers and some age on them, but at any given moment you have an inventory of gems from which to chose.

 

81% of the beer in my cellar is there only because I'm curious how it will age
12% of the beer in my cellar is there to save for a special occasion
6% of the beer in my cellar is there because I'm afraid of how it might taste at this point
1% of the beer in my cellar is only there for dick waiving

 

I agree with this and I probably have way too many beers in my beer cellar. Most of which are just to good to drink by myself. Maybe we should plan some sort of gathering so we can drink some of these beers. Is anyone from around Pittsburgh that might be interested?

 

This just isn't true. People have always been aging stupid shit like DIPAs, they still are today. It wasn't a trend two years ago.

Cellaring barleywines isn't frowned upon... In fact, I'd argue barleywines age better than imperial stouts do.

The growing number of people speaking out about not collaring too much beer is simply the natural reaction to a growing number of people aging lots of beer in the hopes of reaching some nigh-mythical peak flavor only to find that more often than not the beer was better fresh. This is of course exacerbated by people storing beers in suboptimal conditions.

None of that is necessarily a war on cellaring beer. People derive a great deal of pleasure from having collections, even if it means that they drink beer past prime. And then the are the beers that do improve, and the people aging beer more close to optimal.

But this isn't a cycle or a trend. You're not going to find that a year from now it's suddenly in vogue to age your beer too long. But you will always find people convinced that they need to taste what a Pliny tastes like with a couple years on it because aren't hops a preservative or think that Celebration is meant for aging because it's totally got a vintage date on it and as long as there are human beings they will enjoy collecting things that are collectible so there will be well-intentioned beer geeks cellaring vast quantities of beer, much of which is limited, rare or hard to find, and aging it until it's a shell of it's former self.

Just the way it's going to be.

 

I hate when people justify something stupid they've said or are about to say with credentials, it's the worst kind of argumentative grasping-at-straws. My attack was only meant to fend off the tendency toward generalizations on this site, as tewaris has (correctly, I believe) pointed out. Of course, after someone calls bullshit there is the fair amount of backing out of an originally stronger statement *I didn't say all I said most...I didn't say most I said a slight majority...I said some, not most* etc. etc.

MOST beer (all styles included) falls off, granted, but it is also true that MOST beers whose characteristics are conducive to a responsible and correctly executed aging process do not fall off, SOME even get better. Imagine that! There are multiple levels at which this conversation can and must be had, if we are not to sound (excuse me for being so utterly abrasive) ignorant.

To stupac2: The people I know must just be more sophisticated than the people you know. Or maybe there is another explanation for why you think 1/10 people who take the time, spend the money, and have the patience to wait a few years to drink a beer don't have any idea what they're doing?

 

I said "most" in my first comment too. You're wrong, you don't know how to read, and you're an asshole to complete strangers. Congratulations.

 

I hate to disappoint you guys, but that "extra" 2007 SN Harvest Ale I opened the other day drank like a nice barleywine.

EDIT: By "extra" I didn't mean one someone threw in as part of a trade, I mean I'm doing a vertical of aged SN Harvest Ales "just to see what happens," and I somehow managed to put (2) of that year away, so I figured why not get a sneak peak before we do the vertical in March. . .

 

The waxed bottle can have that effect on people.

 

And I can vouch for you sir...you know very well what you are doing, with the exception of that whole Raider thing.

 

Funny you should ask...

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/pittsburgh-bottle-share.42389/

 

Typically I don't let more than 2 years get on any beer. Some need more though. Stone's Vertical Epic was supposedly made for length so I have 07-11 stored. I also have a few stouts I am saving til they hit the 4-6 year mark (my 30th birthday in 2015). These are

2011 Avery Mephistopheles
2010 Bell's Expedition
2009 DFH WWS

I may also open a 2010 and/or 2011 DFH WWS just to compare with the 2009. I only have one 2009 and one 2010 but three 2011's.

Other than those few heavy stouts though I pretty much aim for 1-2 years maximum. Don't hoard, enjoy.

 

I'm interested. If you set something up, let me know. I don't have anything too amazing in my cellar, but I like to share.

 

This is really what being a beer advocate is all about right here! You are a wise man in the world of beer! Cheers!

 

Just cracked a Stone El Camino, its drinking well right now.

 

Can you elaborate on this point please?

 

I am really fortunate to have some great friends who showed me the way. Cheers back at ya!