The Session is a monthly one-day event held by beer bloggers around the world, where they each post their thoughts on a unified theme.

This edition of The Session is sponsored “SirRon” at The Ferm.

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

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?

The topic is open ended and the rules of The Session are close to nil. You can use your post to be persuasive or therapeutic. You may choose to tell a story of a great bottle you once opened or boast of your own beer collection.

I have only just started experimenting with cellaring some of my beer. Even before I discovered craft beer I’d believed in the idea that “fresh beer is better beer”. I mean, take away most of the water, add some flour, and you’ve got bread. What bread tastes better after sitting for some length of time? Even after my craft beer epiphany I still gravitated toward “pale” brews, which still benefit from being drunk fresh.

As such, I haven’t really run into the problem of setting something aside “for a special occasion”. (I do however, have a bottle or three whose siren song I’m resisting so that I can have it later this year.) Most of my friends are beer fans themselves and appreciate those rarer, “special” beers. Those that aren’t, well, they either bring their own beer or I choose something just for them that helps keep them away from the stuff they just wouldn’t appreciate. Those occasions are few and far between, though. I moved away from most of my close friends and only see them occasionally. My wife, while she enjoys a nice craft beer, doesn’t like the high-gravity stuff that does well with aging. That usually just leaves little old me to enjoy those beers I’ve been saving.

Then, of course, there’s the “don’t postpone joy” philosophy. I remember in my youth I got my mother a candle shaped like a rose or something. Well, she wouldn’t burn it because it was too nice. Years later, we discovered it in the attic. It was completely malformed, the fragrance was gone, and even if the wick would have held a flame it wouldn’t have melted evenly. Instead of enjoying it soon after receiving it, she saved it for a special occasion and never got to enjoy it at all. My wife likes to paint these one-of-a-kind pottery bowls which are just lovely, but rather than leave them to gather dust on a shelf, she uses them. A couple of them have small chips out of them as a result, but she has enjoyed them. Why wait?

Writing this reminds of two things. One, if I’m going to cellar more beer I need to get a bit more organized as I don’t really know what I have or how long it’s been in there. But, then, doesn’t that go against the “spirit” of beer? Beer is simple, approachable. If I’m going to start cataloging my purchases by vintage and judging whether or not the occasion is “worthy” of a bottle, doesn’t that send me careening down the path to one of those annoying oenophiliacs we all know? Still, I know that there are some rather tasty beers that become even more tasty with just a little time and patience, and who wouldn’t want that?

Secondly, I’m reminded that I haven’t gotten together with friends—to chat over some good beer—in an embarrassingly long time. This is something I will need to rectify very soon because, to me, being with friends is more than enough reason to celebrate.