Hello everyone, I'm a long time beer drinker but only been into the "good" beer for about two years. I keep anywhere from 6-60 beers in my garage fridge . I read all these threads about how many of you guys cellar beers. Is this just for stouts/ porters? Don't mean to seem dumb but very curious about what beers work well for this. Unfortunately I can't keep many very long due to my love of relaxing and enjoying a couple beers. Thanks for some help. Super Newbie
You're going to want to cellar high abv beers, stouts barleywines old ales etc. and sours. There are a few accept ions but check out the forums you'll get a lot of good advice.
Very very loose rule of thumb for styles it's ok to cellar are high abv, bottle conditioned stuff, sours, smoked beers. Lots of exceptions to those rules. There's a whole section of the forum dedicated to cellaring you can read HERE
I'm a big IPA guy, also love stouts, and porters. Never tried a barleywine and don't enjoy sours to much. I'll keep reading and asking from all you guys. Thanks again
You generally can cellar Stouts, Barley Wines, Old Ales, Sours, and some Porters that are over 7% abv, with some exceptions. Generally you don't want to cellar IPA's or other hoppy beers no matter the abv, again with some exceptions.
Also, as a general rule of thumb - the style guides here BeerAdvocate give a general note about whether a style can typically be cellared or not. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/157/ Look at the right hand column, under "Temps".
I recommend starting with beers you can access easily. Also, make sure it is a beer you like fresh. Because you are from Illinois, I would recommend Sophie and Matilda from Goose Island for a more wild/Brett- forward beer. I love Sophie with about 2 years on it. I think Matilda is better with a little less. Experiment with each until you find what YOU like. Orval is also a very fun option to experiment with. For stouts, if you can get a couple bottles of Bourbon County, drink one fresh then cellar the other for a year. Bourbon Barrel or Barrel-aged stouts in general can be a little overwhelming in alcohol heat. They tend to age nicely with a year or so of age. High ABV coffee beers (i.e. stouts and porters) are a topic for a bit of a debate in regards to cellaring. With age, the coffee will drop off, but the beer will become a bit more rounded, but then again, the whole reason to buy the beer in the first place is in order experience a coffee forward beer. This plays true for many different beers with additives (i.e. vanilla). Anything with high alcohol and plenty of malt works well to age. More inexpensive and easy to find beers that are good to age include: Expedition stout, Bigfoot, Old Stock ale, Narwhal, Burton Baton, and plenty of others. I look at cellaring like an experiment. If I like the beer fresh and it fits into the general aging criteria, why not throw it in the cellar for a few months. Buy a 4-pack of a favorite Imperial stout of yours and try it fresh, at 3 months, 6 months, and a year. Don't forget to post your results! Good luck!
Given you like IPAs, you may want to look into Dog Fish Head 120 minute as it's one IPA that I believe was made to cellar. Also, since you like hops there are two Barleywines, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot and Stone Old Guardian are very hoppy fresh, (90 and 80 IBUs I think) that are popular for aging and they retain hop bittnerness even when aged.
