Just started... Essentials

Stone IRS and bells expedition stout are two of my favorites. HotD Adam is another great one. I'd recommend staying away from most barrel aged offerings. There definitely are exceptions to that (most prominently bcbs), but I found that most seem to have the barrel flavor fade the fastest. If you're a fan of sours, oude geuze 750s age gracefully as well. Cheers and congrats on starting the cellar

 

Brooklyn Chocolate Stout is also a solid choice, Yeti ages well at least up to 2 years, and most Barley Wines and Old Ales.

 

Old Rasputin, Alaskan Smoked Porter, Three Philosophers, and Third Coast Old Ale are all reputable agers and usually not hard to come by.

It depends on what you like of course or if you want to branch out and try new things. I've been meaning to get some sours because they sound interesting.

 

Stone IRS, especially for the price.

 

Depends. Do you want a cellar to bring out impressive beers to tastings, or a cellar to drink personally?

If you want to impress people put all kinds of expensive barrel aged limited rare whale tics in your basement until they are too old.

If you want to drink on your own put down Expedition, Rasputin, JW Lees, BCBS, Oude and Classic Geueze, old stock, stone iRS and Old Gaurdian, LaRoja, Roquefort 10, ABT 12, Orval, FIS, Samiclause, Kaiser Blau... Shelf beers with good character.

 

DFH Palo Santo Marron

 

Brooklyn BCS is the one for me. Excellent at all stages and constantly evolving.

 

There are three things any BA must have in order to have a successful beer cellar and those are (in no particular order):

1. Beer
2. Cellar
3. Time

Now #2 is contentious and may result in some disagreement on here but let me reminder you if you don't have a cellar you don't have a beer cellar, you have a box/closet/cabinet where you store your beer for the purpose of aging.

 

Agree on staying away from most barrel aged beers. I've also found that some harbor a tiny amount of bugs that will really turn the beer sour over time. Had a Smoke From the Oak recently and this was the case.

 

I would recommend one thing: Do not go crazy buying a bunch of beers to cellar, as many do (including myself) initially when getting into the whole 'beer cellar' thing. Most beer gets worse over time and it's easy to suddenly end up with way more beer than you can/will consume in a reasonable time.

That being said, I cellar beer mostly to have fun tastings rather than necessarily improve beer. I love to do verticals, comparing various vintages, seeing how different variants of the same beer progress/change, etc. Most of the beers listed above are excellent, reasonably priced beers that hold up well and are easy to maintain verticals.

 

Also, anything you plan to cellar you should try fresh first. That will give you something to compare it to and help you identify what has changed over time - for better or for worse.

 

Hopslam.

 

We really need a Sticky thread that lists the top 10 Cellar Starting beers. That Would cut down on a lot of threads

 

!!!

 

Really? I had a non-aged one and it was one of the most alcohol forward beers I've ever had. Does that mellow out?

 

I'd start with some high Abv DFH. Say six or so. Could be 120 or anything more common. Lay them down and drink one six months from now. Then drink one at the year mark. This will give you an idea on whether you like where they're going.

If you do, lay more down at intervals. Expand into Barley wines, like Bigfoot; or Big stouts like Abyss; or Quads or Belgians, like Three Philosophers. Experiment as you go. Then rinse and repeat. Until you run out of money or time. Or the wife doesn't buy the argument they are survival neccesities and you're prepping "for the good of us all".

Hey, might work?