One man and his beer hoard....

This post was prompted by the following question on Twitter from Neil Wines 

@MarkC_Belfast @roywillighan @Wattie187 @TheGazzz @StephenStitt @tubboy79 @ Sorry is the fun not in the drinking? Rather than the stashing ?

— Neill Wine (@neillwine) March 29, 2015

So why do I have a cupboard full of beer in my house, rather than just buy what I want to drink there and then?

Well there are a few reasons that I will try to explain:

1/ My love of Imperial Stouts – This for me is the main reason, as most of the beers in my cupboard fall into this category. These beasts have a high ABV, averaging in and around 10%. For this reason I am not sitting down to drink 5 or 6 of them over an evening (not saying that hasn’t happened mind you). I also tend to buy 2, drinking one while the other is put away to see what a bit of aging will do to it. I often find aging will round out the alcohol, giving the beer a smoother finish. These type of beers are similar to good wine in that respect.

2/ Ordering online – when ordering on line it is better to buy more rather than less from an economic point of view. So again when a big box of high ABV Imperial stouts arrives, it fills the beer cave back up for a while and it takes time to deplete the stock for reasons outlined above.

3/ The Pokemon effect – gotta catch ‘em all! There is currently, due to the increase in good bottle shops, plenty of opportunity to buy some exceptional beers or limited editions. When these opportunities arise I have just got to purchase, partly for fear of missing out and partly the excitement of trying something new. This usually means buying more than I can drink, even if the cupboard is full. Despite self imposed buying bans, I often get lured back by some big American stout or Belgian sour.

4/ Special occasions – This follows on from the previous idea of special edition beers, but is more to do with keeping them for special occasions. Much in the same way people buy a bottle of wine to open on an anniversary, I have beers that serve a similar purpose. Think Deus Brut des Flandres and the like.

Bring these 4 together and you have a perfect storm for an abundance of beer knocking about the house. Not always the case, but I do usually have one or two floating about. So instead of having a wine cellar, I have a beer cave and to be fair you probably wouldn’t query why someone has an overflowing wine rack (I was going to say wine cellar but I don’t know anyone with a wine cellar).

All of this could be me just trying to justify a hoarding compulsion, but I like to think it is all above board and normal.

Don’t judge me.

My name is Bruce.