Putting a beer away for a year or two—or even five—can yield some pretty fantastic results.
With the start of the new year, I'm going to offer some suggestions for things for you to try in the coming 12 months. I won't call them resolutions, because they're not really improvements you should resolve to make. Think of them more as possibilities of things you might want to try.
Of course, not all of these will be possible or attractive to all of you. For example, as much as I love beer, I'm never going to try homebrewing. I assisted someone once, and it was a lot more science and work than I care to undertake just to get some cheaper beer. In my world, that's what liquor stores are for.
But otherwise, here are a few things you might want to consider partaking in during 2013. Please feel free to suggest your own. So, without further ado, Here are some possible activities for beer aficionados In in the coming year:
• Hold a beer tasting party once a month: This can be done with a group of friends, with each member hosting the tasting once a month on a rotating schedule. Tastings can be done using a theme on a style (such as IPA month) or by sampling a vertical tasting of a beer, or simply by getting together and talking about new beers each member has sampled lately. Basically, it's just a good excuse to get together with friends and drink great brews.
• Get involved in homebrewing in some way: As I said above, this is something I'm not going to undertake again, but if you haven't tried it, you probably should. You can get a homebrew kit for fairly cheaply these days, or maybe you just want to help friend who's already done it. It's a pretty fascinating process and it might get you interested in brewing on your own. You can never be too rich, or too thin, as they say, and I think there can never be too many brewers. Almost every great brewer out there today started as a homebrewer.
• Start a beer cellar: You really don't need a lot of space to do this. You just have to select your beers wisely. There is plenty of information about which beers are best for "laying down" on the Internet so I won't burden you with that kind of thing here. But putting a beer away for a year or two—or even five—can yield some pretty fantastic results. The key here is making sure you have a place with good temperature control, and that you yourself have a lot of patience. There will be times when you saunter down to where your beers are and you'll see a real treat that's been sitting there for 18 months. And you will be tempted to open it. Don't. Wait until you gather your friends and can share it. It's a real pleasure to do so especially if they bring their own cellared beers over for you to sample.
Cheers!