On the Right Track?

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by Steveolish, May 24, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Steveolish

    Steveolish Initiate (0) May 23, 2013 Colorado

    Howdy, this is my first post on Beeradvocate. I've creeped the forums every so often, but finally got to registering. Now it's time to actually post!

    What started out as putting a friend's homebrews down in the cellar for a year has quickly turned into a fun side hobby. I'd never aged beers before, and never sought out beers that had been aged, so all in all, this is a big experiment. It's a fun idea to compare tastes down the road, while also getting to share some special beers with special people at times.

    My first beer other than my buddy's homebrews, that I threw in the cellar was a bottle of Amuste by O'Dell. Since then, I've grabbed the following:

    New Belgium La Folie
    Boulevard Love Child #3
    Stone IRS
    Avery Hog Heaven
    Great Divide 19th Anniversary Ale
    Great Divide Yeti
    SN Bigfoot 2013
    Orvel 2012
    Left Hand Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout
    North Coast Brother Thelonious
    Funkwerks Imperial Saison
    La Fin Du Monde Triple
    O'Dell Luchene Chocolate Milk Stout


    Ya, you guessed it: I'm from Colorado. Other than the milk stout, which I'm thinking I should drink within 6 months, and the saison, which I'll drink Sept 4th (Broncos home opener!), you see anything that SHOULDN'T be there?

    Also, fairly new to sours, but I like 'em. Any relatively common sours I should look for in CO? Any CO recommendations? All my family and a lot of friends are from out of state, so it's nice to show them local product.
     
    #1 Steveolish, May 24, 2013
  2. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah

    La Folie is pasteurized now, so I doubt you'll get anything out of aging it. The one time I had aged La Fin Du Monde (~1 year old) it tasted like corn, it was bizarre. I'm not familiar enough with the rest to know how they'll age.

    Personally I only age lambic and a few select stouts that I've had aged and enjoyed (BCBS, BT, etc). Plus Temptation and Beatification. That's basically it. But I really dislike what happens to most beers over time, ymmv.
     
    #2 stupac2, May 24, 2013
    Michigan likes this.
  3. paulys55

    paulys55 Initiate (0) Aug 2, 2010 Pennsylvania

    Welcome to the forums. Your list looks pretty good and you are probably right about the milk stout and saison. Cellaring is a fun hobby/experiment or whatever you want to call it. Just remember that most beer is best consumed fresh so just try not to get carried away. It's a good idea to try something fresh before laying it down so you have a baseline for comparison. You may find that a beer others have raved about how well it ages just doesn't do it for you and that you prefer it fresh and vice versa. Cheers.
     
    #3 paulys55, May 24, 2013
  4. Steveolish

    Steveolish Initiate (0) May 23, 2013 Colorado

    Thanks for the feedback, guys. Except in instances where it's limit one per customer, I'm getting at least two and drinking one right away for comparison to the one I'm aging.

    I'm drinking a 2012 Orval right now, and I don't care for it, really, so I'm hoping the next one comes out better. This one just doesn't have much taste at all, and as weird as this sounds, the first smells I got were blood. Yes...blood.

    stupac, at your suggestion, I think I'll open the La Fin Du Monde within the next 6 months. Guess I'll crack the La Folie soon, too. Also, I'll run a search on the forums for this, but since you responded, I'd like your thoughts as well:

    What go-to lambic should I look for that's relatively common/easy to find? I'm new to these beers, and get overwhelmed when I visit a craft store. Plan on saving to my phone pictures of labels I find commonly suggested rather than just the name...much easier!

    As far as getting carried away, I'm going to cap myself at 100 bottles (that'll take awhile to reach) and only plan on buying one to cellar per week at most from here on out.

    Visiting Crooked Stave this weekend...can't wait!
     
    #4 Steveolish, May 25, 2013
  5. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah

    The gold standard is 3F's Oude Geuze, there are a number of other attainable ones. Lindeman's Cuvee Rene is solid and very cheap (NOTE: only get Cuvee Rene, the rest of Lindeman's line is sweetened and terrible). Oude Beersel is fine. Tilquin makes a good gueuze, as does Hanssens and some others I'm forgetting. But look for 3F.

    (I didn't bother mentioning Cantillon since that's impossible to find.)
     
    #5 stupac2, May 25, 2013
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.