As is typical of many noobs...I drank 90% of my first
really good batch between weeks 1-3.
Then I reserved one sixer in the back of my minifridge. It was heartbreaking to me when I realized those beers were 5x better after 4 weeks at room temp and 2 weeks cold than the beers I chugged through in weeks 1-3.
I savored those last few beers but everytime I cracked one open, I felt anguish about "what could have been" ... had I only waited.
HA! I did the same thing with my first batch, an Irish Red. I went through so many between day 10 and 20 without realizing how good they were after day 25. To make matters worse, I had to share the last 12 with my neighbor...and my wife. Live and learn.