It happens, like clockwork, every Wednesday evening. The shopping we do on Sunday has disappeared, the planned meals have been cooked, tomorrow will be pasta because it’s quick and cheap and there’s no fresh stuff left, the fridge is bare except for mustards and some sorry slices of meat for my sandwiches for the next two days. It’s on Wednesday then, as thoughts turn to the weekend, that the fridge gets re-stocked with beer, and it’s consciously filled to go with the type of weekend ahead: will I be in on Friday or Saturday night? What is the weather like? Is there anything I want to cook to go with a beer? Have we got friends over? What bottles need drinking? What do I want to drink?
So, just a simple question: what beers are in your fridge right now?
I’ve got two cans of Tanglefoot (my emergency beer reserve), a bottle each of Badger’s Blandford Fly and Golden Champion, a bottle each of Rothaus Hefe and Pils, a bottle of Mariage Parfait Kriek Gueuze, a Centennial IPA from Founders and a Captain Lawrence IIPA.
I’ve got plans on the Kriek and IPAs for this evening as Lauren is going shopping. The Hefe might find itself next to whatever I have for dinner. The others have been in there for a few weeks waiting for the moment they take my fancy.
In the fridge in the kitchen, just some malzbier (for my son, I hasten to add). Till last night there was a bottle of Klosteiner v2 :)
ReplyDeleteBut, I have a cellar, and that means I can often just go down and take something off the shelf or from a crate. But I also have a beer fridge down there, where the ones I think will be consumed first are kept, especially handy when we or the neighbours end up sitting out in the garden and it's roasting. Some König Pils (which nobody wants), Andechser Dunkles Weissbier, Pinkus Müller Jubilate, Spezial and Alt and, of course, my own Klosteiner and Pacific Jade IPA. A couple of the in the cellar shelves are for long term residents, but most is for immediate consumption :)
Lout, and lots of it.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you're asking that question, Dredgie. Are you losing inspiration?
ReplyDeleteThat's the question most asked in imagination-free environments like BeerAdvocate.
Haha, I've never seen so many beers captured in a fridge while mine keeps a few beers even in humid summer!
ReplyDeletePS. Add Kirin and Sapporo to your collectin, pls ;)
Barry - I'm jealous of anyone with a cellar. I have some bottles in the bottom of my wardrobe and the rest are 25 miles away in my parents' garage!
ReplyDeleteSid, do you really want to read four 1,000-word blog posts each week?! Nothing wrong with a bit of a fun question like this, is there?
I can't remember but there's gin and vodka in the freezer. The first martini of the weekend is a damn site more invigorating than any beer.
ReplyDeleteI tend to have the stuff that ages well in the cellar: White Shield, Fullers Reserve & Annivarsary, Harveys & Dark Star Imperial's, Robinson's Tom amongst others.
ReplyDeleteIn the fridge in the cellar: Cantillon Grand Cru, Girardin Gueuze, Mort Subite Kriek, La Trappe Tripel, Halcyon & Bernard.
All of which makes me thirsty just thinking about it. Which reminds me, I must get some swigging beer in for the match on Sunday!
I'm also jealous of people with a cellar as my wardrobe is starting to look more like a beer closet than a wardrobe (and don't ask about the cardboard boxes under my bed)...
ReplyDeleteIn my fridge at this time are a couple of XX Bitter & Taras Boulba, as well as Rulles Estivale and Saison de Dottignies in big bottles... So mainly nice hoppy refreshing beers to cope with the heatwave here in Brussels.
We have two fridges. One is in the kitchen, for the kitchen stuff (plus a selection of Yorkshire Dales Brewing Co. ales at the moment), and the one in the 'bar' contains white wine, beer, and materials for making cocktails: gin, tonic, vermouth, lime juice, and that sort of thing. I am strongly in favour of having a Gimlet, 'down' and over ice after work on a Friday.
ReplyDeleteIn the drinks fridge (which is a small one) there is a four pack of Peroni, and a couple of bottles each of Fyne Avalanche and Adnams' Innovation, plus a bottle of Dark Star Imperial Stout (thank you Ormskirk Baron), which I plan to consume over the weekend, having allowed it to warm up a bit.
i have got one bottle of Wheat Stout in my beer fridge (which is in my shed with my telly and PS1)
ReplyDeleteI like to keep a mixed six pack in the fridge. I might only have three beers during the week, so my sixer would include an IPA, Double IPA, Pilsner, Porter/Stout and two other random beers. I also normally keep a big bottle of something special so if a friend or two come over.
ReplyDeleteCurrently my big bottle is Dogfish Head Fort, with Heavy Seas Loose Cannon (2), Arcadia Hop Mouth, Victory Prima Pils and Avery Out of Bounds stout.
I never store beer in the fridge. I've got hundreds of bottles stored in various places around the house and in the shed (I think I had around a thousand at one point). Most beer I prefer to drink at room temperature. There are some kinds which I like *slightly* chilled (weissbier, or American IPA, or very strong beer like imperial stout or abbey tripel); I'll usually just put these in the freezer for about fifteen minutes before opening them.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK I use one of those shiny "keep in the freezer" bottle jackets to cool the contents of bottles of ale down to a comfortable 13C or so, which normally takes less than a minute: I find most ales kept in the fridge too cold to enjoy. In the UAE, however, everything goes in the fridge: right now there's some smuggled-in Meantime porter, Fuller's Bengal Lancer and Jever pils in there out of the heat (33C and it's 3am).
ReplyDeleteThree bottles of Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA, had one with excellent carnitas for dinner just a few minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteA couple bottles of Abita Turbodog. This beer is a standard for me, I always have a little hanging around somewhere.
A large bottle of Southern Tier "Oat" stout. Stout in the summer.
A large bottle of Chimay Blue
A single bottle of Two Brothers Domaine DuPage, a local (to me) brewery