storing corked beer, evaporation

[jigidyjim]

Hello - I have 3 bottles of corked beer i've received as gifts over the last year, and I think they may be slowly evaporating... I know I'm storing them too warm but I don't have much of a choice.

I originally thought I'd end up with better beer by storing for a year (the Allagash bottle said to wait until this fall for the best taste), but now I'm thinking they'll taste bad cuz of the evaporation.

I could put them in my wine fridge, but then I'd have to lay them down sideways. So I chose to keep them upright and non-refrigerated after reading it was better to do that...

Is it common for corked beer bottles to have some evaporation? Do you think that storing them was a bad idea if I can't keep them cool?

 

[sherm1016]

There is a good article on Beer Advocate on storing beer.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/store

 

[brewingmeister]

corks need to be wet so they swell and are tight. Upright bottles will dry out corks, even if they are waxed.
I store all things corked on their side.

Cheers

 

[Sydwaiz]

I would keep them standing up in the coolest, darkest place you can find besides a fridge. The BA article explains things nicely. I wouldn't want any funky cork flavors in my beer.

How hot have your beers gotten? A month ago I came across a bottle of 1994 Sam Adams triple bock that was given to me back in 94 long before I was into craft beers. I totally forgot I even had it. It wasn't stored correctly, got hot at times, on it's side at times, some leaked out because the cork was crap, but man was it some of the best stuff I ever had! Shared it between 4 people and all of us were simply amazed at how good it was even though it was obvious it wasn't stored correctly.