Unopened beer collection.

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EnjoyGoodBeer

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Hello fellas, Im pretty new to the forms but not beer. I was wondering if anyone does the same as me. About 7 years ago I started collecting beer bottles after I hade some good craft beer. Now im up to 200 bottles or so. Including a Rogue 10,000 brew ale. I have to say all these bottles are unopened for my collection. And my rule is that I have to drink the beer before I collect it. Does anyone else do this kind of collecting? And me I dont see the point if somone collects bottles that are drank. Just seeing if anyone has same intresest. If so i would love to hear about it.
 
Some beers don't age too well, so having them just to have them doesn't work out.
 
I'd agree. What I'd do is drink it and take notes. What's left in the bottle after a couple years is not what was intended by the brewery. Unless of course it's one of those you can age for many years.
 
onthekeg said:
Some beers don't age too well, so having them just to have them doesn't work out.
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I dont plan on drinking them. They will be going up on display when I make something. I do have 3 beers that im ageing right now. Oh try looking at a clear bottle of cheep modelo thats been sitting for 4 years. Looks pretty cloudy. But most of my beers are in brown bottles. But are totaly undrinkable.
 
EnjoyGoodBeer said:
I dont plan on drinking them. They will be going up on display when I make something. I do have 3 beers that im ageing right now. Oh try looking at a clear bottle of cheep modelo thats been sitting for 4 years. Looks pretty cloudy. But most of my beers are in brown bottles. But are totaly undrinkable.
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This probably goes without saying but whatever you make make sure it is sturdy! I can't imagine the smell if that thing comes crashing down!
 
Beer_me_plz said:
This probably goes without saying but whatever you make make sure it is sturdy! I can't imagine the smell if that thing comes crashing down!
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Yea, lol already was thinking about that. Id hate to loose them the most. Thats why there not up yet. Mother nature can be a SOB.
 
EnjoyGoodBeer said:
I dont plan on drinking them. They will be going up on display when I make something. I do have 3 beers that im ageing right now. Oh try looking at a clear bottle of cheep modelo thats been sitting for 4 years. Looks pretty cloudy. But most of my beers are in brown bottles. But are totaly undrinkable.
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Why not drink them fresh, fill with water and re-cap? No one will ever know the difference.
 
baulz said:
Why not drink them fresh, fill with water and re-cap? No one will ever know the difference.
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I would know. Its funny even the people I know don't understand why I do this. I just like saying there never opend. Like my seirra navada 25th annaversary brew? Least thats what I think it is. Or hen rogue came out with there 10,000 brew ale I bought two one to drink the other to save. Still have it too. That was on 06.
 
EnjoyGoodBeer said:
Well u didt read my post. I buy the beer drink it an save it. Beers to to good not to drink.
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Ya, I got that part but still not quite sure why you choose to drink all but one and save the one, like I said, I buy beer to drink, meaning ALL the beer!
 
duboman said:
Ya, I got that part but still not quite sure why you choose to drink all but one and save the one, like I said, I buy beer to drink, meaning ALL the beer!
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Not sure why either just do. I know I could probably stilldrink about 20% of them tho.
 
So what exactly are you collecting: bottles or beer? I guess that's the different perspective some folks have in their replies.

I collect both. The "beer" collection, however, is for later drinking. Maybe, years & years later, but at some point, I know I will be drinking these. The "bottle" collection is just that--bottles/labels but no beer. All of these bottles are cleaned out & recapped, some with their original cap.

To me, these are different collections, and I'm not clear why you are collecting beer which (unless stored properly) will probably some day go bad. And may in fact actually ruin the bottle you are trying to collect.
 
baulz said:
Why not drink them fresh, fill with water and re-cap? No one will ever know the difference.
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Yeah. Then you can sell them on Ebay and CL. Muwhahahaaaa!

I have a few unopened commemorative Coke bottles just because. And hey, some collector one day might pay a ridiculous amount of money for them.
 
Zuljin said:
Yeah. Then you can sell them on Ebay and CL. Muwhahahaaaa!

I have a few unopened commemorative Coke bottles just because. And hey, some collector one day might pay a ridiculous amount of money for them.
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Ditto to this. But I collect beer not soda. Its al relative in the end.
 
CastleHollow said:
So what exactly are you collecting: bottles or beer? I guess that's the different perspective some folks have in their replies.

I collect both. The "beer" collection, however, is for later drinking. Maybe, years & years later, but at some point, I know I will be drinking these. The "bottle" collection is just that--bottles/labels but no beer. All of these bottles are cleaned out & recapped, some with their original cap.

To me, these are different collections, and I'm not clear why you are collecting beer which (unless stored properly) will probably some day go bad. And may in fact actually ruin the bottle you are trying to collect.
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Well I also am saving only a couple for ageing. The most part I save them for the fact that I drank them all and I can take one or more out and save them. To me having already drank bottles is pointless. Thats why I keep them all full. And knowing that I didt recap them makes it more worth while to me. And maybe a collector of some too. Who knows. Already been doing it for a wile not gonna stop now. Well maybe soon because I'll be having mybown craft ones too. Wich I will save and age one and collect the other. And as for the caps I save those for a friend of mine.
 
passedpawn said:
Sounds like an unused condom collection.
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Lol well whoes gonna save a used one? That is my question. Its like having a coca-cola. Now would you save that bottle empty or full?
 
i am collecting the ones i drink to make a boarder around my finished basement when i get to that point in my house. i think i am up to one wall done lots more to go. and every bottle will be different no doubles for me unless i can find DFH120 then they will be marked first bought aged 6months aged1year aged2years (i had it once and regret not getting the 4 pack that was there)
 
1fast636 said:
i am collecting the ones i drink to make a boarder around my finished basement when i get to that point in my house. i think i am up to one wall done lots more to go. and every bottle will be different no doubles for me unless i can find DFH120 then they will be marked first bought aged 6months aged1year aged2years (i had it once and regret not getting the 4 pack that was there)
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Thank you. I started with the same idea and now I have a bunch. Also i have no dups either except for the ones im ageing. Wich I will drink those. Now do you save them full or empty?
 
I collect beers to age (ones that are meant to be aged) and I collect bottles for future brews. That's pretty much it.
 
Give us a list of some of your prize possesions?
I heard rogue, sn25, what else?
Igotsand
 
I started collecting bottle for homebrew reuse but one day I realized that I had about 150 different types of beer bottles. I just separated out one of each to not use for homebrew and maybe one day I'll have a good idea for something to use them for. Brew room shelf decoration or something, I dunno. I wouldn't ever keep full ones, though. I wouldn't be able to keep myself from tallying up how much all of them cost and looking at them as wasted beer. Don't have anything particularly rare but I travel a bit and get bottles that I can't get where I live. It's all in the eye of the beholder...
 
Unopened beers are like unspent money.

Somebody make a signature out of that! ;) (I do like the idea of re-capping with water, though.)
 
To quote Michael Jackson: "If you see a beer, do it a favour, and drink it. Beer was not meant to age."

I've found this to be true for almost all beers. While a month or two might improve a beer, more than that tends to see degradation of it. This is certainly true of hoppy beers.

I had a RIS and a barleywine that did improve with time, so I'd say that Jackson's advice is more of general rule than a law.
 
igotsand said:
Give us a list of some of your prize possesions?
I heard rogue, sn25, what else?
Igotsand
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Well I dont think I have lots of "prize possesions". Uhhh Rogue 10,000 brew ale. Have a Budwiser Private Reserve 07. Serria Navada 25th annaversary ale. More or less I buy craft brews and save the bottles for my collection there all unopened and I have drank them all (one of my rules). I do have a Ommagang ( not sure if a I spelled that right) tripple. Its 6 or 7 years old, wich I am not ageing. Just beers I drink and save. Ive had lot more. Some of them darn 4 packs I just cant drink 3. And then I won't buy them again. ( because im always trying to drink new beers). All in all nothing really that special but they are to me.
 
passedpawn said:
To quote Michael Jackson: "If you see a beer, do it a favour, and drink it. Beer was not meant to age."

I've found this to be true for almost all beers. While a month or two might improve a beer, more than that tends to see degradation of it. This is certainly true of hoppy beers.

I had a RIS and a barleywine that did improve with time, so I'd say that Jackson's advice is more of general rule than a law.
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I have a beer EKU 28 has a quote from micheal jackson on the back of that one. I have it ageing 1 year so far for. Haha. And yeah its more like the parates code, More of a guideline anayways.
 
Stauffbier said:
I can still spend a dollar bill that I've saved for 10 years! ;)
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Uh huh. Don't matter. Its a wast of money to a sense. But I enjoy drinking my beers and having the intigrity to save them. Money is also a prized possesion but we'll all end up spending it one way or another.
 
baulz said:
Why not drink them fresh, fill with water and re-cap? No one will ever know the difference.
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shhhh...don't tell the secret, but that is what most wineries and breweries do as far as the bottles they have out on display showing medals won, etc. The display bottles are filled with water and re-capped/re-corked. Sitting out on display is a recipe for something getting broken somewhere down the line. Enjoy the contents, keep some wine tucked away in the cellar, but just use water for those collectible/display bottles.
 
Wine2Beer said:
shhhh...don't tell the secret, but that is what most wineries and breweries do as far as the bottles they have out on display showing medals won, etc. The display bottles are filled with water and re-capped/re-corked. Sitting out on display is a recipe for something getting broken somewhere down the line. Enjoy the contents, keep some wine tucked away in the cellar, but just use water for those collectible/display bottles.
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I was talking to somebody at a winery in Calistoga and she said they'll fill (with water), recork, and refoil a bottle for a small fee, like if you have a wine or champagne from your wedding or whatever.
 
So who would agree on taking the last year of my collection and drinking them, recap for my collection. There still would be 120 or so that I would leave full. Yay or Nay?
 
EnjoyGoodBeer said:
So who would agree on taking the last year of my collection and drinking them, recap for my collection. There still would be 120 or so that I would leave full. Yay or Nay?
Click to expand...

We've all been giving you hell, but if it makes you happy to collect full, unopened bottles you should keep doing it. Don't let us bully you in to opening your collection... :mug:
 

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