Starter Beer Collection

[huhscott]

Hey Everyone,

A buddy and I are looking to start a small beer collection. What are some good ways to preserve beers longer. Feel free to share your own collections and cool tips and tricks.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[Hanzo1]

To each their own but I would recommend him collecting baseball cards and drinking the beer.

 

[huhscott]

To each their own but I would recommend him collecting baseball cards and drinking the beer.

Lol, not a bad idea, what if I just got a sixer and saved one or two to collect or trade.

 

[davey101]

My honest advice would be to hold things only temporarily. Like Hanzo said, drink that beer. It's cool to see how beers change over time as an experiment but I've yet to lay down a beer for two years or more and then crack it and give my self a high five. I usually wish I had consumed it earlier. I started off aging bottles like Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Bigfoot, high ABV Dogfish Head, Avery stouts, etc...anything that I thought would improve with age. I even bought/traded for aged bottle from the 80's/90's. My conclusion was usually meh. Lambic changes sometimes for the better and bourbon county stout mellows out a bit. Aged beers always changes, but rarely do they actually get better.

Cool and dry will slow down the aging/oxidation process though.

 

[huhscott]

My honest advice would be to hold things only temporarily. Like Hanzo said, drink that beer. It's cool to see how beers change over time as an experiment but I've yet to lay down a beer for two years or more and then crack it and give my self a high five. I usually wish I had consumed it earlier. I started off aging bottles like Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Bigfoot, high ABV Dogfish Head, Avery stouts, etc...anything that I thought would improve with age. I even bought/traded for aged bottle from the 80's/90's. My conclusion was usually meh. Lambic changes sometimes for the better and bourbon county stout mellows out a bit. Aged beers always changes, but rarely do they actually get better.

Cool and dry will slow down the aging/oxidation process though.

Good advice! Super helpful, what would be one of your favorite?

 

[WABeerFiend]

Stick it in the fridge.

 

[LukeAleTime]

Read the FAQ from stupac2

http://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/cellaring-faq.1488/

 

[shelf_turd_ferguson]

Hey Everyone,

A buddy and I are looking to start a small beer collection. What are some good ways to preserve beers longer. Feel free to share your own collections and cool tips and tricks.

Thanks,

Ryan

Great idea. As we all know, beer is not meant for drinking, it is meant for collecting. This is why I have a Kolsch mini-vert. The most important number in a man's life isn't his length or girth, it's his cellar count. I see from your avatar you probably collect legos as well. We are quite similar! I have a vintage cabbage patch doll collection I keep in a dark, dry place, mainly because those things are creepy.
If you want to be on the cutting edge of beer storage, store your beer upside down. This way, there's no head space for oxygen to creep into. There's a liquid to bottle cap barrier about impenetrable as a gas station rubber. Store in a dark, dry place, away from kids, pets, significant others who deplore your hobby, other succubi, and Mormons. Welcome to the world of competitive beer collecting!















Srs. I can send you some stuff from my cellar if you want to have an instant collection of finely curated aged beer. And old Kolsch. PM me, give me a couple weeks because I'm moving.

 

[Hayden McCall]

My honest advice would be to hold things only temporarily. Like Hanzo said, drink that beer. It's cool to see how beers change over time as an experiment but I've yet to lay down a beer for two years or more and then crack it and give my self a high five. I usually wish I had consumed it earlier. I started off aging bottles like Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Bigfoot, high ABV Dogfish Head, Avery stouts, etc...anything that I thought would improve with age. I even bought/traded for aged bottle from the 80's/90's. My conclusion was usually meh. Lambic changes sometimes for the better and bourbon county stout mellows out a bit. Aged beers always changes, but rarely do they actually get better.

Cool and dry will slow down the aging/oxidation process though.

Glad I read a bunch of responses before posting my own, otherwise I'd pretty much have typed out the above paragraph myself.

Even beer that's already been aged is ready to go. They do the aging for you, and release it when it's in prime drinking condition. Buy, drink, buy some more.

 

[Vogt52]

A good rule to abide by is to age high abv (7% or higher). Don't age hoppy beers because the hops fade over time (except for Barleywine). Usually high abv, malt forward beers are the best to age.

 

[jlwalker20]

I take in beers that I know will hold up and keep them in a cool, dark place. There are only a few beers I am intentionally "aging" for a certain amount of time (listed below) - the rest are just in a holding pattern until I find a tasting or couple of friends to open them with. I have a hard enough time getting through a bomber of a nice, fresh IPA so I stay away from trying to dome my stouts.

In terms of what I'm actually sitting on for a while, it's:
FFF Dark Lord (13-15)
Dogfish Head 120 (11-15)
Bell's Expedition Stout (12-15)

I chose these beers because they are "easy gets" for me on an annual basis. I tend to keep 2+ of each year available and drink or trade any extras away. I was going to do this with Bourbon County but decided those three were enough, as I'm just not the biggest fan of BCBS.

Pretty much everything else in my cellar is one-of, with the occasional exception of stuff I really enjoy. Even that has got me at like 150 bottles in the "cellar" right now.

 

[drbenzo1]

Find something local that's high in ABV and comes out regularly once a year and stays consistent, barley wine, stout, or otherwise. Buy 2 or more. Drink one and make notes. Put the other in your closet for a year. When the next batch comes out, buy more and taste them side by side. It's fun, somewhat scientific, and can help understand what is happening to the beer as it ages. We expect a full report next year. God luck and Godspeed.

 

[drbenzo1]

I can't tell if I'm impressed with people's informative and thoughtfull answers, or upset with the lack of trolls, GIfs, and smart aleck remarks...

 

[arren]

I can't tell if I'm impressed with people's informative and thoughtfull answers, or upset with the lack of trolls, GIfs, and smart aleck remarks...

Seriously, I'm waiting for the catch. Also I'm going to chortle so hard when all of this advice ends up in, like, a Thrillist article or something.

 

[jivex5k1]

Also I'm going to chortle so hard when all of this advice ends up in, like, a Thrillist article or something.

 

[litheum94]

To each their own but I would recommend him collecting baseball cards and drinking the beer.

POGs are a much better investment.

 

[Lutter]

A good rule to abide by is to age high abv (7% or higher). Don't age hoppy beers because the hops fade over time (except for Barleywine). Usually high abv, malt forward beers are the best to age.

I think fruited sours and gueuze age quite well for lower ABV beers as well.

American sours can age well... but they can also go horribly HORRIBLY wrong as well.

Just keep in mind that any flaws in the beer will be exacerbated as time goes on. Hop bitterness can fade away with aging revealing a more palatable base beer (Stone RIS is a good example of this for me) but stuff like oxygen leakage into bottles (in too high of amounts) can lead to debilitating oxydation that will turn your beer into something akin to cardboard.

I suggest several layers of aging if you really want to get into it...

I have stuff that I want to age slowest in a mini fridge (rough and tumble stouts), stuff that I want to age long-term closer to 60 degrees in the back of a closet near an air vent (guezes, fruited sours), and other stuff at room temperature that I want to age super-fast (stuff I know I'm going to drink soon). If I had the room for it, I'd invest in a multi-zone wine cooler, but I improvise.

 

[user 306926]

I can't believe someone from the FIB War Room thread didn't come in here and pick this boy up.

I guess they prefer to eat their own. Sick bastards.

 

[huhscott]

POGs are a much better investment.

Lmaoooo!!!!

 

[harrymel1]

POGs are a much better investment.

Slammers are where the money is.

 

[litheum94]

Slammers are where the money is.

I'm pretty sure my mom has my POG collection at her house. I may have her send them to me so I can flip them for beer.

 

[regularjohn]

something something something ipa's, something something something barleywine

 

[harrymel1]

 

[Snarf1]

POGs are a much better investment.

I prefer PAWGs.


beerandraiderfan

 

[WABeerFiend]

Ooh, so do I.

 

[tennispl]

Ooh, so do I.

 

[mciocco1]

To echo some of the other thoughts in this thread and add some

• High alcohol, the higher the better
• Malt focused, darker beers like stouts usually working better than lighter. Really hoppy stuff, even barleywines, can be a bit of a mixed bag, but they can also work well.
• Store in a cool, dark place (basement, closet, little fridge, etc...)
• Drink one fresh, take notes, save one for later. No use in aging something if you don't get to see how the age changes the beer.
• Added flavors seem to fade over time, so stuff like coffee stouts don't tend to work so well (might be some exceptions to that, I guess). Spices fade too, though sometimes that's a good thing. Smoked beers seem to age well, if you like wondering who put their cigar out in your beer.
• I've heard that lambics can work really well, but my experience there is limited. Ditto for American Wilds.
• I've had the best luck with 1-2 years of aging, except for some extreme circumstances (really high ABV, little to no hop character, etc...)
• In my experience, barrel aged beers tend to be best fresh, but if you find one that you feel is excessively intense or too hot, time can mellow it out (if you have more than one!)

The beers that have worked best for me are: Dogfish World Wide Stout (18%, great at 2 years, looking to try more), Samichlaus (14%, definite improvement with 2-5 years on it), Bourbon County (14%, still best fresh or at 1 year for me), Victory Otto in Oak and Oak Horizontal (8-10%, 1-2 years)

Most of my aging happens "accidentally" as I buy too much beer and sit on it a while. All of the above are (or were) readily available and I just bought a few of them, drank fresh, and noticed that I still had some left after a year or two. I've got a few lambics going as an experiment, and I've enjoyed WWS and Samichlaus enough that I'm intentionally aging them. Otherwise, it's a crapshoot.

Don't expect much out of it, and you'll be fine. It can be fun if you go into it with the right attitude. Good luck!