Author Topic: "Why I decided to stop cellaring beer" (Read 3175 times)

emerge · « **on:** October 29, 2013, 01:02:46 PM »

http://emptygrowler.com/2013/10/decided-stop-cellaring-beers-mostly/ *keyword = mostly

Some nuggets of truth in here, maybe nothing new to TBS'ers, but a good perspective piece I thought.

There are so many new beers coming out these days, my budget is stretched far enough trying new stuff rather than hoarding old favorites to cellar.
As a result, mine is shrinking

but still stocked with a handful of old favorites: Lambics, Founders IS, Thomas Hardys, etc. Trying to streamline based on personal taste. Not going to bother cellaring barleywines, RIS, or Bourbon County anymore (outside of Founders). BCS is going to be too $$$ from now on, and I wasn't really a big fan last year

They raise the prices, I buy even less. Coffee will be a dif story, but that will be scarce anyway.

edit: we did this once too

howardf · « **Reply #1 on:** October 29, 2013, 01:11:46 PM »

I've given up on this almost entirely. I have some loons from my trip to Canada, and some Tiquin from Chicago, along with my last bottle of Le Bleu, and everything else is fair game. For the most part I drink it as fast as I buy it, which is a sign of balance to me. Homebrewing definitely made an impact on purchasing.

Tip Top · « **Reply #2 on:** October 29, 2013, 01:12:28 PM »

I agree with a lot of it. I bought more beer than I could ever drink while building a cellar. Some improved with time, but most did not. I think his 70% might be low. I agree on Lambics, Expo and BCS doing great with time. Pilgrim's Dole stands out as one that I really like better with about two years on it than I did fresh.

Now I'm left with a cellar with hundreds of bottles I barely ever want to drink. I'll keep cellaring some, but most of what I drink now is fresh. As I whittle down the cellar, it will open room for more homebrewing space. Can't wait until I have space to have more sour fermenters doing their things.

mr. furley · « **Reply #3 on:** October 29, 2013, 01:56:07 PM »

mine is whittled down to almost all Expedition, Bourbon County, some Central Waters stouts and barleywines.. and a bunch of Fantomes.

with a few oddball things thrown in. i've been having to buy beer lately because i don't want to touch what's down there (maybe a case and a half?).

but i will keep buying Expedition, BCS and probably CW BBBW to bury down there.

Severstad · « **Reply #4 on:** October 29, 2013, 02:24:29 PM »

I drank up my cellar nearly all the way.
A couple bottles are all that remains.

Mark · « **Reply #5 on:** October 29, 2013, 04:49:21 PM »

I keep trying to start drinking down my cellar, but I always end up buying more beer that needs immediate attention.

And I'm on the record as somebody who thinks that 99.999999% of the beers out there (including the ones that "experts" tell us should age well...) simply don't. The industry has made a lot of money by convincing beer geeks that oxidation is an acceptable thing. It ain't.

emerge · « **Reply #6 on:** October 29, 2013, 04:58:08 PM »

I'm going to try and drink all the imperial stout this winter (probably a case or so). Wish me luck

thickfreakness · « **Reply #7 on:** October 29, 2013, 05:19:19 PM »

I've got a little less than two cases of random crap left to drink, mostly bigfoot and expedition. I think I'll work on it this "winter".

Javit · « **Reply #8 on:** October 29, 2013, 06:04:07 PM »

When I thought I was still moving to Boston at the beginning of summer I took steps to sell most all of my cellar that wasn't lambics. The only thing that remains from that two bottles of Fantome, a 1985 Thomas Hardy's and the 22 years of Bigfoot (1 bottle each). I couldn't be happier that I don't have a cellar full of stouts/barleywines/american wilds anymore

I've still a metric ton of lambic though, but I think the sweetspot for most of those is around 5-8 years (at least to my taste) so they will all be coming of age in time.

mr. furley · « **Reply #9 on:** October 30, 2013, 08:48:36 AM »

Quote from: thickfreakness on October 29, 2013, 05:19:19 PM

"winter".

thickfreakness · « **Reply #10 on:** October 30, 2013, 09:21:47 AM »

Quote from: mr. furley on October 30, 2013, 08:48:36 AM

Quote from: thickfreakness on October 29, 2013, 05:19:19 PM
"winter".

We might get a whole week of below freezing temps this year!

fRed Scare · « **Reply #11 on:** October 31, 2013, 10:45:44 AM »

My cellar pretty much just consists of sours and beers that I want to share with other people. It's getting whittled down as I say "fuck it, I'll just have this myself tonight," but that happens more slowly than I would like. It's getting to be Big Beer time of year, so I'm going to make a concerted effort to knock the majority if my cellar out.

mr. furley · « **Reply #12 on:** October 31, 2013, 10:50:33 AM »

Quote from: tangfoot on October 31, 2013, 10:45:44 AM

My cellar pretty much just consists of sours and beers that I want to share with other people. It's getting whittled down as I say "fuck it, I'll just have this myself tonight," but that happens more slowly than I would like. It's getting to be Big Beer time of year, so I'm going to make a concerted effort to knock the majority if my cellar out.

Quote from: Otis

fRed Scare · « **Reply #13 on:** November 01, 2013, 10:00:10 AM »

You lost me.

mr. furley · « **Reply #14 on:** November 01, 2013, 10:15:29 AM »

Quote from: tangfoot on November 01, 2013, 10:00:10 AM

You lost me.

a : mutually contrived or agreed on <a concerted effort> b : performed in unison <concerted artillery fire>

Examples of CONCERTED
They made a concerted effort to make her feel welcome.

mis-use of "concerted effort" is one of Otis' chief pet peeves

emerge · « **Reply #15 on:** November 01, 2013, 10:17:12 AM »

If only Fred had used the royal we, we wouldn't be having this vocab discussion

mr. furley · « **Reply #16 on:** November 01, 2013, 10:28:13 AM »

Quote from: emerge on November 01, 2013, 10:17:12 AM

If only Fred had used the royal we, we wouldn't be having this vocab discussion

hello, exactly!

fRed Scare · « **Reply #17 on:** November 01, 2013, 03:36:09 PM »

Quote from: mr. furley on November 01, 2013, 10:15:29 AM

Quote from: tangfoot on November 01, 2013, 10:00:10 AM
You lost me.

a : mutually contrived or agreed on <a concerted effort> b : performed in unison <concerted artillery fire>

Examples of CONCERTED
They made a concerted effort to make her feel welcome.

mis-use of "concerted effort" is one of Otis' chief pet peeves

mr. furley · « **Reply #18 on:** November 01, 2013, 03:51:02 PM »

KingG · « **Reply #19 on:** November 29, 2013, 04:59:10 AM »

Quote from: Mark on October 29, 2013, 04:49:21 PM

I keep trying to start drinking down my cellar, but I always end up buying more beer that needs immediate attention.

And I'm on the record as somebody who thinks that 99.999999% of the beers out there (including the ones that "experts" tell us should age well...) simply don't. The industry has made a lot of money by convincing beer geeks that oxidation is an acceptable thing. It ain't.

I'll disagree on this. I think oxidation (some, not a ton) can work well with certain beers. Depends on style, of course, and I'm pretty much convinced the beer has to be bottle-conditioned but it can add another layer of flavor and/or make other flavors jump out. Just my opinion though.

I'm also convinced that most Belgian beers (excluding lambic and maybe Flanders Reds) don't age well. Most get too yeasty and, well, oxidized, which doesn't seem to work for me with their styles. Of course there are exceptions.

As far as my cellar goes, I just can't seem to crack some of the stuff I have. Thus, I started a local bottleshare group about a year ago on Facebook consisting mostly of beer industry people and customers. We meet about once per month, it helps me kill the cellar, spread the love and also try other beers I don't care enough to hunt down.

As far as adding to my home cellar (the store cellar is a different story), I pretty much only age lambics and some cool local releases like Barrel-Aged Alesmiths etc.