The Session #37: The Display Shelf – When to Drink the Good Stuff.

The Session is back again, and this time it’s dealing with a topic that I battle with every day. When do you drink the good stuff? We save our beer that gets better with age, we add to the collection, but then we see that special bottle tucked away in the back. When? We want to drink it, more than anything, but when?

Finding a drinking occasion that lives up to the reputation of the bottle and the story of its acquisition is not a dreadful struggle to have, but it is a struggle nonetheless. When my good friends are over and we have had a few other beverages, will we still be able to enjoy my cave aged Hennepin that I bought after my tour of the brewery and have cellared for ten years? Will I miss it like I miss that four year old Golden Monkey?

I understand our host’s pain. While my collection doesn’t hold anything quite as old, I have a few bottles of which I’m pretty protective.

It’s no so much the loss of the bottle that I fear. I think it’s more an issue of my pride. We build our collections in order to have the best. If you collect baseball cards you want to show off the Mickey Mantle rookie card, or the card that Nolan Ryan signed the night of his last no-hitter. You’d never think of eating those collectibles! With beer collections, that’s precisely the point of the collection. We will drink the beer at some point.

Part of my collection, waiting to meet their fate.

In order to fulfill the promise of the awesome beer collection we have to change the way we think about collecting. We have to lose the attachment to our pride and joy knowing that one day we will consume it.

In my collection, I’ve separated beers into 4 categories.

• The platinum collection – These are the ones we’re saving for the birth of children, graduations, big promotions, etc.
• Special beers – Drink these when friends come to town, to give as birthday presents, basically, these are beers you’re ready to sacrifice at any given moment, but will still impress.
• Tuesday beers. These are beers that you can open for any reason, even if it’s by yourself on a Tuesday. Maybe a bottle of Chimay you’ve had for 3-4 months, or you bought a 6 pack of Bigfoots 2 years ago and want to see where they stand. These are expendable beers, either they are easy to replace or you are blessed with a bounty.
• Not Yet – pretty simple, these are the beers you just bought. When you add something to your collection you may not know when you’ll open it, but you generally know when you won’t open it. Did you buy some Anchor Our Special Ale this winter to save for later? Later probably didn’t mean March. These don’t even warrant consideration at this point.

So the question still remains. When? My answer is soon. Start working on those 2nd and 3rd categories. You can still have the items in the first category that will wow when need be and the 4th category is well on the way to filling the ranks. Need motivation? Drink one when you add one. This also helps solve the problem of storage space that so many of us face. If nothing else move a bottle to fridge where it will stare at you on a more regular basis, until you cave and open it late at night by yourself.

Still wondering when to drink off the top shelf? That’s something only you can answer, but with a little practice drinking some of the less rare and important beers, it may come easier to part with your babies.

For my part, I took this opportunity to open a bottle of 2008 Gnarly Wine from Lagunitas. I had just tried the 2010 version and a comparison of the recently 3rd place finisher at the Toronado Barleywine seemed like a good idea. For my thoughts on the 2008 Gnarly Wine, click over to my Examiner.com article.

Long story short, we buy the beer to drink it. Best to do just that. Thanks to The Ferm for hosting this edition of the Session. Be sure to check their site for the Session roundup and their own thoughts on aging beer.