A Beer Cellar

I was discussing beer with a colleague not long ago. More specifically, we were talking about cellaring Barley wine-style ales. I quickly came to the realization that I've never had any "aged" beers and, for that matter, don't even know anyone who ages beer. It's challenge enough to find people who can actually find the patience to cellar wine.

So - I've spent some time over the past month seeking out the startings of my new Beer Cellar. I gave a pretty good push over the past few days looking around for some of the rare Russian River Brewing Company bottlings. I visited every Whole Foods in the vicinity and managed to piece together what looks like a fairly good starting place. At this point, I've got one double-shelf cleared out of the wine cellar (and refilled with beer) which, assuming I don't get desperate one night and tear into it, ought to be enough for educational purposes. Although, I'm already having thoughts of dedicating one of the smaller cellars completely to beer.

The starting round-up looks a bit like this: Allagash 'Four Ale' and 'Curieux', Great Divide 'Old Ruffian', Lagunitas 'Gnarly Wine', Stone Brewing Company 'Old Guardian' and 'Belgo', as well as the .375 ml bottlings from Russian River that include 'Consecration', 'Damnation', 'Redemption', and 'Sanctification'.

I even located a couple of bottles of Pliny the Elder at Green Jug in Woodland Hills. They're not for aging, but I'm happily going to enjoy them in the meantime.

I've also been tasting a number of other Barley wine beers over the past couple days, looking for a few other labels to add to the mix. It's easy to forget how much alcohol they have in them. And they only come in larger formats! This morning I woke up with a vice grip on my head...

The goal now is to forget about them for two to three years. When the great day comes that I will remove them from hibernation, the idea is to purchase current release versions of the same labels and taste the aged version next to its youthful sibling. This was the easy part. Forgetting about them for an extended period of time will be the biggest challenge.

Hopefully, in a few years we will all be around for the "Aged Beer" blog. I look forward to sharing it with you.