Just because a beer CAN be cellared, doesn't mean it SHOULD be cellared.

I agree to some extent. I usually won't age a beer until I have tried it fresh once before.

 

This is why you must buy two+ of everything. If its a big BA barleywine/stout/sour/etc i drink one when i get it and save the next one for down the road. I do have to say I love how these beers change and its not that it gets better but takes you down a different journey. you get different flavors that were not there when it was fresh or maybe the bourbon was to hot and you wanted the beer to calm down a little. people do what they want, this is my $.02

 

ok.

 

As with many things in life... to each their own.

 

The only way to get people there is for them to experience it. After enough crappy aged beer they'll get it and stick to what works. That's why I've been advising experimentation along with the results of my experience.

And besides, they might be one of those few people who actually does like old beer. You never know.

 

Personally I think the whole "gotta try it first" mentality is almost as reactionary as the "gotta cellar beer" mindset. Sometimes you can't get two bottles of something and you want to drink the one you have at the optimal time, coming here and asking questions can help figure out when that time might be.

And dude, American Barleywine does taste better with some cellar time.

That being said I do agree with the title of the thread, most of the people that cellar beer are just fulfilling some kind of collector/hoarder mentality that has little to do with taste. You guys should see my record collection.

 

I don't understand why so many people have an aversion to other people cellaring their beers. I cellar beer because I like the flavours it often produces. You acknowledge that a beer will taste different with age, and those differences will likely be more appealing to some, and less to others. I personally like the nutty, raisiny, sherry like character that some beers produce when aged. If you're like me, you'll probably want to age some beer. If you don't like these flavours, you probably won't want to age beer. Same goes for the other effects aging has (dialing back hops, barrel character, adjuncts, etc)

As for aging beers that you haven't had fresh-my personal preference is to age beers that I can get successive vintages of, as I love comparing. If I can only get one, though, it depends on the style. Say I get a one off American barleywine, and, due to price, bottle limits, availability, etc, I can only get one. Now I've had enough fresh and aged American BWs to know that nine times out of ten, I'll enjoy this most somewhere in the 2-5 year range. Why should I feel a need to crack it open right away? Either way, it's a gamble. Maybe I'd like it best fresh, maybe I'd like it best at 3.5 years. Even once I open it, I'll never know, but I know the odds are in my favour if I wait a couple of years. Now, if it's a beer I've never had fresh, and I'm inclined to age it, it's not like I label it with a "best after" date and force myself through sheer willpower to wait on it. If I get a bug up my ass to open it after a week, I'll do so, but barring that, I'll probably wait on it for a while. What's wrong with that?

 

I think it's reasonable to preference trying a beer fresh over trying it aged if you have only one bottle. When you age a beer, you're trading between the possibilities that it may get a bit better and that it may get a lot worse (esp. if you don't maintain good cellar conditions).

 

See, here's the problem, I don't think American Barleywines improve. Aging is deeply personal, since aging is primarily about oxidation, which is among the most divisive flavor types in beer (I'd say chili and sourness are the only ones more divisive). So it's completely impossible to predict how someone will react to it, even if you DO know the aging profile on a beer (which you almost never do, in practice).

That's why I will always recommend trying one first, then thinking about what flavors in it you want to change, and if they'll change with age, and how long it'll take. Obviously this all takes experience, so some scattershot experimentation is necessary, but the before/after is really a necessary part of building up the knowledge store that gets people from scattershot experimentation to actually understanding what they're doing.

 

I agree, it just depends on the beer, barrel aged stuff can have huge unpredictable swings.

 

And smoke.

 

The real travesty is that many people do this with rare beer or hyped beer because they have that emotional attachment to their whale(s). Many whales aren't immune to aging unfavorably. There is no plastic surgery in beer aging.

 

Yes. I think people are also hoping that every new beer will be the next M, so they hoard everything. Not realizing that when EVERYONE hoards it, it'll never get that "valuable".

 

Jokes on you guys... i've got 15 cases of Bolt Cutter in my basement right now! while the rest of you are drinking/dumping/extra'ing them away, i'll watch their stock rise to wooden hell level and beyond.

most beers i enjoy fresh (kbs,BCBS, etc) , though some i enjoy with a bit of age (1-3 years), like BT/CR/DL. There are only a few that i don't like fresh at all, usually ones that have way more hoppiness than i want for the style (Darkness, Nightstalker, many barleywines)... but i do like that old-hops tobacco-y stickiness they sometimes get after that!

*note: i am a horrible beer taster, all of my descriptors are non-scientific and worthless...

 

I have a few that I've done this unintentionally with. I bought one and have been waiting to open it but never seem to have the right occasion.

 

what about beers that had single bottle limits? what happens when reviews start pouring in and say "it's too hot right now, age it for a bit" or "there's no brett character yet, give it a year or two"? with the sheer fucking volume of beer releases, it's hard to imagine being able to buy more than one of everything and still be able to pay the rent.

there is no hard and fast rule of cellaring. if someone wants to drink year-old IPAs, so be it. it all comes down to personal preference.

 

I just like to hoard. So what !

 

I can definitely see where the OP is coming from, but only IF your intent with the aging is to compare it to other years vintages. Thats not always the case though. Sometimes you might wanna age a beer to where you're guessing you'll enjoy it most. Like eatabagofboogers said above...theres certain qualities that aging a beer, more often than not, will change. One in particular being the "hotness" of some of these crazy high abv barleywines, imperial stouts, strong ales, old ales, etc. If theres something that I can only get my hands on a single bottle of, that I've never had before, and I see lots of feedback saying how hot it is right off the shelves...Im gonna lay it down for a bit. Not for an obscene amount of time to totally transform the beer, but long enough to make a somewhat educated (by now) guess as to when the booze will blend a little better with the malt flavors and things like that.
All in all... aging beer, just like personal opinions on anything having to do with beer, is completely subjective.