As my collection of beer in the cellar grows, I’m starting to wonder if I’m a hoarder. It’s not that I don’t drink things that have been aging for awhile, its just that I rarely do so. I realized this morning that I haven’t consumed a single bottle of barleywine so far this winter and yet I must have a couple cases of various aged barleywines. Victory’s Old Horizontal seems to need two years to get rid of the overly cloying nature of it fresh.
My final data point is that I picked up a 4 pack of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout this afternoon (shocked to find it) and I know my thinking was that I’d through it in the cellar either to let age, gift/trade with European friends or open for someone at the house who wants to try one. I had a couple on draft this year and, while well-made, its just not my style. Yet I still bought a 4 pack.
Perhaps its the price point. For the most part, beer is so much cheaper than the wine that I buy I think I don’t feel a sense of loss if its over the hill when I open one. Pointless rambling but something that struck me today or at least more poignantly than other days.
If you started out in wine, like most people on this board, then beer is probably pretty fungible. The idea that you can go to a store and buy a boatload of different items and spend $100, which only equals a single bottle of wine only reinforces that idea. There are certainly dangers in beer aging comparatively to wine aging, but I find beer trading to be exponentially more reasonable and interesting than the wine equivalent. Short answer to your question- do I own too much beer? Probably. Do I care? Not so much.
I do find it very difficult to keep my hands off the beers I’m aging, and yet very easy to keep my hands of wines I’m aging. Part of that is the “easy to replace” factor, and part of it is that the beer I’m aging already tastes great! If I don’t bring the beer I’m aging to offsite, then it doesn’t get aged. simple as that.
but, I do find it quite easy to drink my aged beers once I feel I’ve given them enough time. Every time I go to my offsite I try to grab a bottle or two of beer that’s been sitting there awhile.
My beer for cellaring numbers into triple digits, and takes up a significant space in my cellar. I agree with your quote here 100%.
And to put a fine point on it… Ommegang is selling packs of aged Three Philosophers. It is a 3-pack of a bottle from 2011, one from 2012, and one from 2013. Aged properly, this beer is perhaps one of the best, if not the best, beer in the US. Run, don’t walk, to your local store and pick it up now.
Price point is what does it for me. I found that I went from the low end of what I like (12 pack of Mirror Pond for $12.99) to the high end for most of the limited releases (~$15/bomber) and generally land around $5-$7/bomber. Like posted earlier, compared to the decision to drop Rochioli when it broke $100/bottle for East Block, $15 on Deschutes Abyss is nothing. All about your reference point
That said, I can’t keep my hands off of most of these and just congratulated myself for leaving a Bruery Bois in the cellar for a year
I may be a hoarder, but as John replied… who cares the stuff isn’t breaking the bank. I’m pretty good at keeping my hands off stuff I want to age simply because I’ll buy multiple bottles and just drink one now. I also like to keep verticals going of barrel aged stouts and barley wines, so that helps as well.
The verticals really suck you in. I have some Bigfoot and Anchor Christmas going back to the early 90’s. Finally stopped buying and now I just look at them on occasion resting peacefully.
What I was trying to get at but didn’t articulate it is that I find myself buying beers built to age, usually rare ones, even though they aren’t beers I generally drink. Hence the hoarder concerns.
Hoarder here for sure. I’ve pretty much stopped saving beer and using it for bottleshares. I don’t care to drink a whole bottle of 99% of what I have anyway so why not.
I’m aging a lot of beers I don’t love too. But they are great to share with others. For the life of me I just can’t wrap my head around Barleywines, but I know other people love them. Beer people swear they get better with age, my experience thus far is that they take on more of the characteristics I loathe.
I think I am a drinker although I always keep a number of beers aging but not necessarily long term (over 10 years).
Beers I keep in the cellar are RRBC sours, various Unibroue, Rochefort 10, Bigfoot, St Bernie Xmas, Black Butte, Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale, and they bunch of 1 or 2 offs.
I used to keep verticals of the Goose Island Matilda and Sofie until I realized I preferred both with about 1 year. And since the move to Budweiser, I think they are not the same so I stopped buying.
This makes me feel better about my affliction/benevolence/curiosity. I guess I just need to do a better job paying attention to what I have cellared so I am more of a drinker than a collector.
As an interesting aside, I have been told a great way to reduce oxidation in beers with caps is to dip the tops in paraffin to better preserve them. I have purchased the paraffin but never actually gotten around to dipping any bottles.
I have way too much beer (and wine and whiskey). I open way more beer or pour a dram than I do wine. Mostly cuz my wife isn’t much of a drinker so easier to finish off a beer or dram than a whole 750 of wine. I should probably get a Coravin or Pungo. Because beer is so much cheaper than wine, I find myself buying multiple bottles of beer and if they go bad, meh, doesn’t feel so bad drain pouring the yucky ones. My goal for this year (like all the years before) is to drink more, buy less.
I’m strictly a drinker as almost everything I buy gets consumed within a month. Then again I don’t buy the types of beers that need aging and I’m new to the more serious end of the craft scene.
Its been awhile since I have had a Three Philosophers. I remember trying the inaugural batch and it didn’t hit my sweet spot although I don’t recall why. Certainly worth revisiting.
