I was pleased to stumble across the video I've embedded below featuring the guys from Hop Cast talking to Pete Crowley of Haymarket Pub & Brewery about the virtues - or lack thereof - of cellaring beer in the bottle. This video was created after a rather lengthy tasting session of hard-to-find stouts, but there are some very good insights breaking through the slightly slurred speech. Namely, the fact that most beers aren't meant to be cellared.

I've been beating this drum for some time now. Beer aficionados love to "collect" rare beers and amass an impressive cellar. This, in itself, is perfectly fine but as one of the Hop Cast guys says, "beers are not baseball cards." The vast majority of craft beers you'll find - rare or otherwise - are meant to be enjoyed fresh. Aging a beer for the sake of aging it, seldom improves its character. As Pete mentioned, there is a qualitative difference between aging something and staling it. If we're going to be brutally honest about it, of the 120+ recognized beer styles, only a handful are truly appropriate for cellaring. Unless you're cellaring a bottle-conditioned Belgian ale, old ale, barleywine or the occasional high gravity bock, all you're really doing is staling your beer. Great point, Pete!

Notice a common theme in the beer styles I've listed in the previous paragraph? They're all typically high ABV beers and they're all malt-forward styles. This leads me to the final addendum I'd like to make regarding the practice of cellaring beer. For the love of all that's good, please stop cellaring hoppy beers! Again, brewers brew their beers to be consumed, not admired on a shelf. This is particularly true of hoppy IPAs and the like. Hops don't age well and the characteristics that make hoppy beers so appealing is, at best, dulled with age. At worst, it's morphed into an oxidized, vegetal mess. This is true almost without exception with hoppy beers. So, unless your brewing a Belgian gueuze, time is the enemy of hops. Live it, love it, learn it.

I hope everyone enjoys the video and reconsiders the merits of cellaring beer. Of course it's cool to show your friends what you've got, but are the beers you so admire getting worse with every day on the shelf? It's something to consider.

Hop Cast – Episode 165: A Discussion With Pete Crowley On Cellaring from Hop Cast on Vimeo.
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A quick announcement to my readers who don't already follow me on Facebook and elsewhere, yet another excellent craft brewery is making its way to the southern Illinois market ... please welcome Smuttynose Brewing Company! Koerner Distributor - the largest distributor of craft and specialty beer in the region - is handling the Smuttynose portfolio in our market and they have several great Smuttynose beers in inventory now, so you should begin seeing them on better retailers shelves and coolers just about any time now, including the IPA, Shoals Pale Ale, Old Brown Dog, Star Island Single, Robust Porter and Big A IPA.

Also, look for Smuttynose on draught at the Hangar 9 and Kindling Spirits soon too!

It's a good day for good beer!

An early Christmas gift arrived on the front porch this morning from the folks at A-B ... it's their brand new Draftmark tap system. If you haven't heard about the new, battery-operated gadget you can find out more from the company's website here. While the arrival of this new home draught system may not qualify as news to most craft beer drinkers, it is interesting to note that one of the three beers available for the system at roll-out (set for February 2012) is Bass Ale - a respectable English pale ale. The other two are Budweiser lager and Shock Top Belgian-style wit. I'm a little surprised that Stella Artois wasn't among the initial brands set to be released, but the marketers at A-B Inbev likely see the Belgian lager as too close in terms of target audience to Budweiser. I'd imagine that more brands in the portfolio will be added if the new system proves successful in the marketplace in 2012 - maybe even some Goose Island beers down the road? Who knows.

Speaking of the marketplace, the Draftmark system is being released to a very limited test market in the St. Louis area first, and then throughout the greater St. Louis area in February. The obvious appeal of the system, although I've yet to test it out myself, is its size, portability and - one would assume - affordability. The rechargeable battery-operated system fits easily into the average home refrigerator with a very small footprint. The beer refills, sold in 1-gallon plastic jugs with a special connector, seem compact and easy to install not to mention easy enough to tote along to a party or move to a different location on a whim. I didn't see any projections on what the system, or its refills, will retail for when released but I've got to think that it will be comparable to the Heineken BeerTender system, or less.

The most glaring down side, as I already noted, is the limited beer selection. If this product catches on, however, this will surely improve substantially with time. I'll be curious to see if the brands will be limited to obvious A-B Inbev selections only (which is my suspicion), or if the system will be compatible with other brands packaged in similar 1-gallon plastic dispensers. I've seen similar plastic bottles in 6-liter size used for packaging home brew, but this 1-gallon size/configuration may well be proprietary. This will make it tough for the Draftmark system to compete for a wider audience when compared head to head with other home systems capable of using a 5-liter mini keg, which is available in a wider variety of beer brands ... including craft beer like Bell's Oberon.

Time will tell if Draftmark hits the mark or not, but in the meantime it will be fun to give this gadget a try since I love new technology and, of course, beer. It is undoubtedly a cool concept that has potential. Let's see where this goes in the months to come.  [ http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://beerphilosopher.blogspot.com/2011/12/will-bs-new-draftmark-hit-mark.html

I'm pleased to convey the news that the Hangar 9 will be tapping a very special cask of Summit Black IPA on Wednesday, December 7th at 5pm. Mark your calendars and come out to Hangar 9 to support craft beer in southern Illinois and great venues like Hangar 9 who are at the forefront of the craft beer revolution in this region! Show up, have a pint or three and toast to better beer ... Right here! Posted from my iPad2