Hey all, just starting on cellaring. Dopplebock?

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dom4moz2

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Hey all,


I'm sort of in a buying frenzy with beer right now, so I am not thinking of cellaring yet for potential trade values. (This is my ultimate goal) But right now, I am more cellaring for my own use. (The fridge isn’t big enough for all these beers I’m buying;) Anyway, I am sorry if this has been discussed, I did not see it. I have Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock. I wanted to drink one know and age the rest to drink later, like a year or two. Do you all think that a dopplebock will age well?


Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m just trying to start out.
 
It's close to impossible to tell someone if something will cellar well, since it's so personal. The only way to really know is to try it.

But I can say that if you're thinking about cellaring because of trading, don't. Cellar for yourself. Beer isn't an investment, and you'll probably just end up with a bunch of stale crap that no one wants.
 
I get that, but there is so much good beer out there that I have no way of ever getting to unless I build up some potential trade bait. But as for the original question, I guess that makes sense, I’ll just try it to see how I like it;)

Thanks,
 
DaBeerHoarder is our resident old dopplebock expert.

Maybe he'll have some input.

To be honest, I have never purposely aged a Doppelbock before. They have all been by accident. A few months ago, I had a 2007 Left Hand Goosinator. I'm sure it faded quite a bit, but it was still drinkable. It's not fair to judge an aged Doppelbock off that beer. First of all, it was a smoked Doppelbock and second, it was from Left Hand. Personally, I wouldn't age a Doppelbock more than two years.
 
Start small. believe me when I say you will regret it as most people who started out big (myself included) have. I have a 600 bottles cellar and while over 1/2 of it is exactly what I want to be aging, there are 200-250 bottles that I could care less about. not all of those have necessarily dropped off the face of a cliff, but my tastes changed and I do not care for BCBS as I used to.

I started out buying up any imp stouts, barleywines, old ales etc that I could find. not even trying them all fresh or worry about how long I should be aging them. I now have quite a few 5 year old stouts that are not as good fresh as they are now. But I am glad I have about 300 bottles of lambic at my disposal from just about every producer. as well as a good amount of american wilds and saisons that are good for several years.
 
Cellared dopplebock is never going to be tradebate if that's what you're asking, but there is no reason not to hold onto a bottle for a while to see what happens.
Nothing great is going to happen. German beers are usually pretty well pre-aged for us. A better idea is to buy some of the vintage dated Aventinus Eisbocks or whatever they are.
 
Start small. believe me when I say you will regret it as most people who started out big (myself included) have. I have a 600 bottles cellar and while over 1/2 of it is exactly what I want to be aging, there are 200-250 bottles that I could care less about. not all of those have necessarily dropped off the face of a cliff, but my tastes changed and I do not care for BCBS as I used to.

I started out buying up any imp stouts, barleywines, old ales etc that I could find. not even trying them all fresh or worry about how long I should be aging them. I now have quite a few 5 year old stouts that are not as good fresh as they are now. But I am glad I have about 300 bottles of lambic at my disposal from just about every producer. as well as a good amount of american wilds and saisons that are good for several years.
OP, this is worth emphasizing. Experimenting when you're just setting out is fine, but don't overdo it. If you go browse the cellar porn thread you'll see quite a few cellars that have a ****ton of beer that's just getting worse (with the important caveat that maybe that person really does like those things, but that's not super common). Most people new to beer rush out and buy everything, trade for everything, find out you can't drink 500 bombers a year (well, not without health repercussions...) and then accumulate a "cellar" that's mostly cruft. Someone recently posted about literally throwing unopened beers into the garbage because they were just taking up space and he'd never drink them. Don't let that happen to you (though it's really hard).
 
OP, this is worth emphasizing. Experimenting when you're just setting out is fine, but don't overdo it. If you go browse the cellar porn thread you'll see quite a few cellars that have a ****ton of beer that's just getting worse (with the important caveat that maybe that person really does like those things, but that's not super common). Most people new to beer rush out and buy everything, trade for everything, find out you can't drink 500 bombers a year (well, not without health repercussions...) and then accumulate a "cellar" that's mostly cruft. Someone recently posted about literally throwing unopened beers into the garbage because they were just taking up space and he'd never drink them. Don't let that happen to you (though it's really hard).

So much this...I'm slowly drinking down my "cellar" until I have 30-40 bottles tops, and with a few rare exceptions, will never again go down the road of "oh I'll buy 3 of these, 1 to drink now, 2 to age!" So stupid.
 
OP, this is worth emphasizing. Experimenting when you're just setting out is fine, but don't overdo it. If you go browse the cellar porn thread you'll see quite a few cellars that have a ****ton of beer that's just getting worse (with the important caveat that maybe that person really does like those things, but that's not super common). Most people new to beer rush out and buy everything, trade for everything, find out you can't drink 500 bombers a year (well, not without health repercussions...) and then accumulate a "cellar" that's mostly cruft. Someone recently posted about literally throwing unopened beers into the garbage because they were just taking up space and he'd never drink them. Don't let that happen to you (though it's really hard).
Guilty.
 
Hey all,


I'm sort of in a buying frenzy with beer right now, so I am not thinking of cellaring yet for potential trade values. (This is my ultimate goal) But right now, I am more cellaring for my own use. (The fridge isn’t big enough for all these beers I’m buying;) Anyway, I am sorry if this has been discussed, I did not see it. I have Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock. I wanted to drink one know and age the rest to drink later, like a year or two. Do you all think that a dopplebock will age well?


Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m just trying to start out.

You should join one of the Bruery societies. You'll have a cellar full of stuff in no time.

But seriously, just cellar a few things and don't do it for trade value. You'll regret this strategy in a year or two. We've all been in your shoes and have regretted it.
 
So much this...I'm slowly drinking down my "cellar" until I have 30-40 bottles tops, and with a few rare exceptions, will never again go down the road of "oh I'll buy 3 of these, 1 to drink now, 2 to age!" So stupid.

This. A million times.

When I started getting into beer, if it was couched as "rare" by my local bottle store or was vaguely dark/had a high enough ABV, it was going in the cellar.

Now I realize the only things I actually like more with age than I liked them fresh are lambics, barleywines, and a few very specific stouts. I've been selling, trading, giving away, and drinking through my cellar like crazy. And almost everything I'm drinking recently out of the basement would have been much better fresh.
 
Have to agree on the starting small, I laugh at the things I started cellaring when i started out, distinctively remember buying a 4pk of dfh aprihop, drinking one and putting three in the "cellar". ::facepalm:: but you live and you learn. Personally I wouldn't cellar a dopplebock, but then again I don't really cellar much anymore. Like others have said if you want to do it for the experiment, drink it now, and drink the other one in 6mos-1year, can't hurt but do too many experiments and you'll be wishing you had the space and money back.
 
I get that, but there is so much good beer out there that I have no way of ever getting to unless I build up some potential trade bait. But as for the original question, I guess that makes sense, I’ll just try it to see how I like it;)

Thanks,

Honestly between all the costs associated with trading (Bottle Cost, Cost of "extras", Boxes, Bubblewrap, Styrofoam Shippers, fedex/UPS charges) you're better off saving your time and money for one trip to one of the bigger beer festivals. At Dark Lord Day, Huna Day, GABF, ACBF, Great Taste of the Midwest, Copenhagen Beer Celebration, Shelton Brothers Festival, Firestone Invitational or many others you'll get the chance to taste 20-30+ Mega Whalez either on draft or through a bottleshare. It will only cost you a couple hundred bucks and it will be a fun vacation that gets you interacting with people in the beer community instead of viewing them as the opposition/targets for trade baiting. Not to mention you can go to local breweries while visiting IN, FL, CO, MA, WI, CA, KY, etc..

I know it can be kind of an overload to try all these amazing beers on one day but it'll feel a lot better than dropping 100s of dollars to get ONE Adjunct Stout of the week. To hold you over between festivals, support the brewers in your community and drink your fresh local beer.

If you're in Michigan you ought to think about attending this: http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/festival/
Beginner's List of amazing whalezbro: Drie Fonteinen, Cantillon, Brekeriet, De La Senne, Fonta Flora, HF, Grimm, Jester King, Kent Falls, Oxbow, Perennial, Sante Adairius, Side Project, Thiriez, Tired Hands, Trillium and so many more
 
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Most of us idiots have all been there. Buying more than safely consumable. Cellar happens.
I've emptied my cellar into my fridge with the goal of getting that down even further so I am hunting for fresh beer to consume immediately.

Also OP, you live in Michigan. The grass ain't always greener....
 
As a dopplebock enthusiast, I say lay down that lager and see where it goes! I drank my last Human Blockhead this summer at around 3 years old and it was everything I'd hoped for. It staled in the right places and help up in the right places to transmute into my dream beer. Tried to mellow a some Bock Bock for year and had half a case go south on me. For Science!
 
Dopplebock thread thats been open for 6 months with no mention of Samichlaus?

I wish I could reverse time a bit...stop myself from buying/trading for so many stupid stouts and instead bank on cases of sami. Yeah its expensive but that **** is a mini time capsule that amazes me everytime I open one. Its not so much that it changes with age but that it seemingly stays exactly the same without degrading at all - that puts me in awe.

Plus my wife loves it and that means more to me than how rare something is.
 
Start small. believe me when I say you will regret it as most people who started out big (myself included) have. I have a 600 bottles cellar and while over 1/2 of it is exactly what I want to be aging, there are 200-250 bottles that I could care less about. not all of those have necessarily dropped off the face of a cliff, but my tastes changed and I do not care for BCBS as I used to.

I started out buying up any imp stouts, barleywines, old ales etc that I could find. not even trying them all fresh or worry about how long I should be aging them. I now have quite a few 5 year old stouts that are not as good fresh as they are now. But I am glad I have about 300 bottles of lambic at my disposal from just about every producer. as well as a good amount of american wilds and saisons that are good for several years.

got any pics of your lambic collection?
 
I get that, but there is so much good beer out there that I have no way of ever getting to unless I build up some potential trade bait. But as for the original question, I guess that makes sense, I’ll just try it to see how I like it;)

Thanks,
I don't think dopplebocks really pull much/develop into trade bait. It's an often miserable experience, but getting up early and waiting in line for limited beer releases is the safest bet to attain "trade bait."
 
I don't think dopplebocks really pull much/develop into trade bait. It's an often miserable experience, but getting up early and waiting in line for limited beer releases is the safest bet to attain "trade bait."

I definitely agree that dopplebocks aren't trade bait but you never know who's willing to sleep on the sidewalk in front of RR for some old Coney Island beers no one else cares about.
 
Dopplebock thread thats been open for 6 months with no mention of Samichlaus?

I wish I could reverse time a bit...stop myself from buying/trading for so many stupid stouts and instead bank on cases of sami. Yeah its expensive but that **** is a mini time capsule that amazes me everytime I open one. Its not so much that it changes with age but that it seemingly stays exactly the same without degrading at all - that puts me in awe.

Plus my wife loves it and that means more to me than how rare something is.

I wish I could like this harder!
 
Speaking of Samichlaus...I opened up a 10 year old bottle this past weekend. My grocery store randomly had a 4 pack of this on clearance for $4 back in '09 or something. I drank the first three bottles relatively quickly, but figured I'd hold onto this one for a while and see what happens. Now I wish I'd held onto all of them for a while.

Man, it was basically perfect. Plums, fig, cherry chocolate tootsie roll. No detrimental oxidation to speak of.

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