Friday, March 16, 2007

For the ages

If one of these new jobs comes through, my first nonessential purchase will be a beer refrigerator.

I'm a novice at the beer cellaring game, with my cellar consisting of a few wine cases loaded with beer bottles in the rear of my coat closet. But now that I've got 17 bottles and one year of aging behind me, it's time to catalogue what I'm hiding:

The oldies (one year or more): 3 750 mL bottles of Chimay Grand Reserve, Trader Joe's 2005 Vintage Ale, Rochefort 10, St. Bernardus Abt 12

The fledglings (six months or less): Grotten Flemish Ale, Ommegange Abbey Ale, Ommegange Hennepin Ale, Ommegang Three Philosophers, Unibroue Edition 2004, Urthel Tripel Ale, Abbey Val-Dieu Brown Ale, Koeningshoeven Tripel Trappist Ale, St. Bernardus 60th Anniversary Edition Abt 12, Brewmaster's Collection Lozen Boer, Gouden Carolus Grand Cru of the Emperor 2006.

I don't know what flavorful paths these beers will take in the coming years. A bottle of Allagash Tripel Reserve I aged for a year took on a champagne-like effervescence that when combined with its standard burnt orange flavor could have stood well in for a mimosa. It's too bad I have to wait to find out.

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