To keep beer you have to keep it in a cool dark place. Sunlight and heat are a beer's worst enemy. Even then, a beer more than several months old is a 50/50 chance of getting a mouthful of something awful.
exactly right! mine are laid down [haven't even moved them in 3 years!] in a low cupboard. i said i would have one after 5 years and one after 10, but if after 5 it's rank i'll use the other as drain-o
it lives with my malt whisky, also kept carefully laid down to keep the corks wet. love scotch, especially proper, single malt stuff. )
call it a beer experiment. a couple of the uk breweries make nice christmas ales and i often keep one over for a year to see what it does and remind me of the previous years offering. usually does bugger all
this time its a little long that's all. i bet i make a whole new form of drain cleaner!
prof, do you get any live beers out your way? some of the ales made in this country are bottled with yeast still in them to allow fermentation and flavour development in the bottle. does 2 things mainly - firstly you can keep those and the flavour genuinely will develop and mature.
secondly, you can choose your method of drinking. a careful pour will give you a clear, crisp ales while a shaking of the sediment can add flavour and weight to the ale.
We've a few live, but they're mostly the over strength beers, like La Maudite. I've never been a BIG fan of high alcohol beers. And leaving one for any length of time would probably turn it off. Besides, I like to drink from the bottle, and getting a mouthful of sand isn't my idea of a good time.
we had a really good live beer that was around for years before becoming a stock bottled beer, spitfire, 4.2% and so delicious and light for an ale it made perfect summer drinking
I've a sweet little import brew you might know: old Peculier. I picked up a 6-pack when I was travelling. It's from Masham, England. It's a bit stronger than I like for a beer (5.6%), but it's a tasty little pint of heavy.
But it tastes like shit served cold. It has to be cool (shelf temp) to bring out the real flavour.
theakstones op is one of the nicest beers on draft here. it is a little heavy for everyday drinking, and the av can come and bite you onthe arse after 3 or 4 but for hitting the spot in the autumn and winter it can't be beat.
most ales are crap out of the fridge, i usally hide mine under a table to keep it cool and maybe give it 3 mins in the fridge to take it just below room temp.