For our 73rd Session, our host is Adam W., who writes Pints and Pubs (from beer to eternity). His topic is all about something he does once a year, which he calls a “beer audit” and asking people to blog about their own efforts at managing their beer. Here’s what he means by a Beer Audit:
Once or twice a year I take a beer audit. I open cupboards and boxes and just have a good look at what’s there. Some beers get moved about, some make it from a box into the fridge, others get pushed further to the back of the cupboard for another day. Often I just stare at the bottles for a while and think about when I’ll drink them. Apart from the enjoyment of just looking at a hoard of beer, It tells me something about my drinking habits.
- I store too many bottles – over 150 at the last count, which would keep me in beer for over a month, compared to less than a week’s worth of food – but evidently that’s still not enough bottles as I return with more every time I leave the house.
- I have a tendency to hoard strong, dark beers – great for a winter evening, not so great when a lazy sunny afternoon starts with a 9% imperial stout and then gets stronger
- My cellaring could be improved. I found three beers from breweries that closed last year. I found these, not hidden away in a box under the stairs, but in the fridge. The fridge!!!
- My attempts to age beer usually just result in beer that’s past its best
- The oldest beer in my cupboard is probably an infant compared to the aged beers people must have in their cellars
So, I’m interested to know if you take stock of the beers you have, what’s in your cellar, and what does it tell you about your drinking habits. This could include a mention of the oldest, strongest, wildest beers you have stored away, the ratio of dark to light, strong to sessionable, or musings on your beer buying habits and the results of your cellaring. I look forward to reading your posts on Friday March 1st, leave a comment here when you do.
So this Friday, March 1, take stock of your own inventory, and take stock of taking stock.
So open up your beer cellar, or refrigerator, or closet, or wherever you store your beer, and let us know how you manage it by this Friday.
I’m not a “storer”, though I hold strong beers sometimes for more than a year (sometimes to do “vertical” tastings w/friends). I hate shopping, so I tend to buy cases of good stuff in 12-oz that will turn over within 30-60 days. I admire the concept, but I have neither the easily accessible cool space nor budget to pursue that kind of venture seriously.
I am new to the game but I have 150 beers (12oz – 1L) in cold storage at a wine storage facility and 50 at home. I tag all of my beers with Name, Brewer, Style, vintage, the date it went into the “proverbial” cellar and the vessel or size of each bottle. I am only building a handful of verticals because I believe our coveted cellar beers do have a maturation/staling date that is far sooner than we assume. Nothing in my cellar is earlier than 2008. And it’s for the best. Let the big ones mellow and the wild ones blossom but drink the beer folks! It only needs a year or two to get amazing and just a few months more than that for some can be detrimental. Cheers!