Back in February, I posted the contents of my beer cellar. At the time, it was actually quite an impressive list of beers, but while I have been toying with the concept of aging beer, I have to admit that most of my cellar was more or less unintentionally curated.
What can I say? My eyes are bigger than my liver. In terms of beer quantity, I don’t actually drink that much. Or at least, I shouldn’t drink that much! So my cellar kept growing, and when you’ve got a whole lot of monster barleywines and imperial stouts, it’s difficult to drink your way through them (this is not a complaint, in case you were wondering). The end result of this is that my beer runs have been much more limited in 2012, and I’ve slowed down my homebrewing activities as well. At a certain point, having too much beer in the house becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hmmm, I have 7 cases of beer laying around, I should really drink some of this stuff!
So I’m happy to report that I’ve made great strides in drinking down the cellar, to the point where I only have a few massive face-melters waiting in the wings for immediate consumption (while the rest are meant for aging). For the most part, you’ve seen reviews of the beers I drank, though there are 4 or 5 reviews still in the pipeline.
Because I know you’re all dying to know what’s left (and what’s been added since last time), here’s a list of the current cellar:
- Anchor Christmas 2011 (x3) – Waiting for next year so that I can do another faux-vertical (and since I have 3, maybe I can continue the tradition a while too).
- The Bruery Autumn Maple 2011 (new) – Will probably open in, um, Autumn.
- The Bruery Coton – My first taste of The Bruery, and it blew me away. I got another bottle to age… though it’s getting old enough that I should probably crack it open before it starts to decline.
- The Bruery Cuir (x2)
- The Bruery 4 Calling Birds
- Cape Ann Fisherman’s Imperial Pumpkin Stout – Will also be cracked in Autumn.
- Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA 2011 (x3)
- Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2011
- Fegley’s Brew Works Rude Elf’s Reserve 2011 (x3)
- Firestone Walker §ucaba (new)
- Mikkeller Santa’s Little Helper 2011
- Lost Abbey The Angel’s Share 2011 – Bourbon Barrel Aged
- Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale 2011 – A blend of Bourbon and Brandy Barrel Aged Angel’s Share
- Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout 2012 (new)
- Founders Breakfast Stout 2011 – I know everyone loves this stuff, but I didn’t care for it. It’s a year old now, and I plan on giving it a little more time, then checking it out to see if the flavors have blended together better for my palate…
- Port Brewing Older Viscosity 2011
- Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Bier Helles 2007
- Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus 2009 (x3)
- Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus 2010
- Southern Tier Oak-Aged Backburner 2012 (new) – I’m told this should be given some extra time…
- Unibroue 17 Grande Réserve (new)
- Victory Dark Intrigue (x8)
- Victory Otto Ale – A smoked dubbel, I found the smokey flavors overwhelming. Perhaps they’ll harmonize with the rest of the beer in time…
- Victory V-Twelve
- Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot
- Weyerbacher Insanity (x3) (new) – Bourbon Barrel Aged Blithering Idiot
Um, ok, so that’s still a lot of beer, but I checked 18 beers off the list since last time (and, um, only added 6 new ones), which I consider to be a big win. And the majority of the above are beers I actually intend to age, instead of beers I’m accidentally aging. Of course, I’m not listing some of the stuff I have laying around, such as all that homebrew or some of the Founders standbys hanging out in my fridge for regular consumption. Things will probably slow down over the summer. I don’t find it likely that I’ll be cracking open bourbon barrel stouts that frequently during the summer, but I guess you never know!