Beer Cellaring Basics

Let's play word association. When I say the word 'cellaring,' the first word that pops into most people's mind is 'wine.' Am I right? Most people are aware that many varieties of wine can improve over time if cellared properly.

But what about beer? How many people think of beer when the subject of cellaring comes up?

Not many.

Much like wine, many varieties of high quality beer will achieve a deeper complexity through extended cellaring. You won't want to take your budweiser newborns and throw them in a basement for 3 years, but you may want to do that with a high-gravity beer such as a barleywine or Belgian quadrupel.

The characteristics to look for in a potential cellaring candidate are innumerable. Generally speaking, the first thing to consider is preservative qualities such as alcohol and hop content. While there are many examples of low alcohol beers that do indeed improve with age, the vast majority fall in the range somewhere above 8% ABV.

Examples of high-gravity beers that are usually good candidates for the cellar include: Russian imperial stout, barleywine, Belgian quadrupel, tripel, dubbel, strong dark ale, strong pale ale, Scotch ale/wee heavy, Flanders red ale, biere de garde, biere de Champagne, doppelbock, eisbock, and American strong ale. Gueuze and rauchbier (smoke beer) are examples of lower gravity beers that generally benefit from aging.

In order to determine whether or not you want to invest your time in a given beer, it's best to try it fresh. If you don't like a beer while fresh, you may decide against devoting valuable cellar space to it. However, you may see potential for improvement in a beer that you don't particulary enjoy fresh, and in that case it could be fun to find out if your hunch was correct.

Often times, extremely high-gravity beers will be far too cloying or boozy while still young. Over time, many beers will become more dry and less boozy. So if alcohol strength or overbearing sweetness is the lone reason you don't like a beer, consider cellaring it and checking back in a few years. You may be surprised to find out that some very interesting characteristics that were nearly undectable at first, have since stepped forward and melded beautifully with the more prominent attributes.

For example, many barleywines are laden with robust hop characteristics. Often to the point that you may not be able to distinguish them from an Imperial IPA. Now, if you're like me, this is definitely not a bad thing. Many of us love and can't get enough hops. But if you give these barleywines a few years to relax, that pronounced hop character will fall back and other subtleties will step forward and shine brightly. That tongue-puckering bitterness will smooth out and the beer will morph into a decadent malty dessert.

Now, in order to accomplish positive results and avoid spoiling your beer, the beer must be stored under adaquate conditions. Ideally, this would be a moderately humid basement or actual cellar with a constant temperature somewhere between 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit.

For you apartment dwellers or people who just don't have a basement, don't fret. A spare refrigerator or cool, dark place such as a closet works fine. Just beware that a refrigerator may dry out corks and crowns over time. This has never been a problem for me or anybody I know, but the possibility is certainly there. To combat this, you may consider dipping your bottles in wax or shrink-wrapping the necks. Also, be sure to set your refrigerator's thermostat to a setting that will produce an ideal temperature. This is usually the lowest setting.

You'll want to avoid temperatures below 35, and above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Stay within that general range, and your beer will be fine. Just keep in mind that beer will age much slower under colder conditions, and much quicker in a warmer environment.

Also, it's important to store all your beers upright. This will limit the amount of the beer's surface area being exposed to air, prevent corks and crowns from being damaged by the beer, and prevent the beer from acquiring off-flavors from the cork or crown. Light is another enemy of beer. Be sure that you store your beer in a place that remains relatively dark.

Once you've identified which beers you want to invest your time and cellar space in, it may be a good idea to purchase multiples. That way, you can check on them every year or so and really get a feel for and track the beer's maturation. Eventually, you'll be able to really hone in on what characteristics you find most appealing in aged beers, and which ones you'd rather avoid.