Significant other beer cellar issues...

When we moved into our 'new' house over a decade ago there was a lonely, unused fridge in the basement. Within a couple years it was taken over by beer.

My wife - who loves beer as much if not more than I do - is more worried about drinking something 'special' than I am, though it's never happened. However, in the beer fridge, the bottom two drawers are hers. They're filled with good beer that she knows she's free to drink if I'm out, out of town, or what have you.

I keep it well stocked with barrel aged beers, good IPAs, & stouts. She's happy, I'm happy, & it's worked for ten years. Good by me!

 

Yeah, basically... Or I move it just an hour or so ahead of drinking it if it's a stout and I don't want it too cold when I open it.

 

I am the major beer geek in our house. I think with ann, art, Clover , Cds and various Floras in our cellar I can call myself as much as a beer geek as most guys here.
I am the person who wants is to go to most of the major beer releases he also loves the beers he just doesnt do the trading and negotiating that I normally do.
It works as I dont drink IPAS, I know if I plan to trade the IPAs to segregate them until they leave the house other than that he has all the IPAs to drink.
We have a unwritten rule that any one offs/ rarities we wait until both of us are there and we can both appreciate the beer.
We also have a whale fridge which we dont touch unless we both agree.
Of course there was that time when I found he had drink two 4 packs of luscious late at night without sharing or really fully appreciating it, leaving us with one 4 pack. I still havent indulged in the last 4 cans. I was royally pissed at him for that one but I think he knows better now.

 

Beer is meant to be consumed...whether in the cellar or not. We have just shy of 300 beers in our house's dedicated cellar. I used to have rules about who was 'worthy,' or not...and when the time was 'right' to drink any number of special beers (ranging from quite old Cantillon...to cases and cases and cases of Firestone Walker verticals to make you dizzy, BCBS, etc). I've since relaxed that rule...and I agree to open basically anything, any time. It got to the point where bottles would sit for years just waiting for the right time, or the special occasion to open them. I've realized it's much more fun to drink the cellar in a serendipitous nature...then again, when you're creeping on close to 300 bottles, if you don't drink them it gets easy to forget what's down there...my two cents.

 

My wife stays out of my cellar for the most part. The stuff on the shelf is at room temp and not ready to be drank. I have a mini-fridge in the cellar for my beers and stuff I have on deck for beer shares. We have a full size fridge in the main part of our basement that is for her or anyone else to drink. Mostly IPA's and Pales, but I buy beer for her and guests and put it there. She knows where to go to find beer. Every know and then she will say what are you hiding from me in your beer room? Or can we have a really good IPA to share? I think once she has asked for a "fancy beer" and I told her to just go get one. She came back with a Heady Topper. Nailed it!

 

I don't see much of an issue here. My gf doesn't like stouts, so my issue is that I can't deplete my cellar as quickly as it grows. I'm currently at 141 unique beers totaling ~442 bottles (of mixed formats), but I wish I could thin this down to maybe 200 so I could have them all cellared in some form and not on room temp. shelves.

I like the idea that people have different storage areas for different intentions. That seems like the easiest solution, assuming you have the refrigerators/space/etc. to do so.

 

The longer I've been into collecting beer, the less I care about saving "special" beers. I've maintained a 150 or so bottle cellar for a couple of years now. Sharing my collection with family and friends who are not into beer is super refreshing. They tend to care more about the taste, and are totally unaware of hype.

I'm also really appreciative that my wife tolerates my interest in craft beer so I try really hard not to be a dick about it.

 

^ This is my set up, too.

 

12oz and/or in the fridge, fair game.

Anything else, ask or don't touch.