It’s almost time to Open It! This weekend, 3-5 December, is when we can get those special bottles and open them just for the sake of opening them. Andy and I have also managed to arrange for lots of people to be snowed in to enjoy it even more and to have an even better excuse to drink a beer from the stash...!
It’s simple: just choose a bottle you’ve been saving for ages and open it. Then tell others about it on twitter (use the #openit hashtag), blogs, facebook or even in real life. It’s a chance to drink those beers while they are (hopefully) still good because the last thing we want is to hoard a beer for years and then find out it’s way passed its best!
Open It! this weekend. Who's taking part?
Annoyingly, I am actually snowed in with no hope of reaching my special bottles, which live with my parents in their garage (I’ve called and made sure a few towels have been laid over them to keep them less cold). This means that one or two of my to-be-opened beers now won’t be opened and instead I need to pick a few others. Thankfully I’ve got a couple in the flat that I can finally release into my glass.
Feel free to use the logo in any blog posts you want to post. It was designed by Richard from myBrewerytap. If you are snowed in and need beer then that’s the place to go!
I've had a bottle of Lost Abbey "The Angel's Share" pencilled in for the occasion. Depending on how indulgent I'm feeling over the weekend, I may augment the menu. Perhaps an American barleywinefest? I think I can also muster up a Three Floyds/Mikkeller "Oatgoop" from the shed, a Green Flash "Barleywine" and a bottle of Moylan's "Old Blarney" if needs be.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I've just got hold of some AleSmith "YuleSmith (Summer)", so a bottle of that will definitely be part of my observance of OpenIt - although I would have been drinking it at the first opportunity in any event!
NICE! I've decided to treat this as an Open It! weekend and grab something nice each day. Being snowed in I haven't got much else to do but drink good beer :)
ReplyDeleteI liked the Oatgoop a lot when I had it. And it's perfect weather for a barleywinefest!
I had my eye on a goose island christmas ale but the snow probably means I won't be able to go to Euston tap to buy it! But I have a few ideas. AB:03, something special from Russian river or maybe the bottle of Adnams Solebay.
ReplyDeleteHowever if I manage to get to Brighton tomorrow I'm gonna visit Trafalger wines pick up something unusual and drink it while watching the second day's play in Adelaide.
I've got the botle opener ready...bottle in hand...glass ready...waiting...waiting...waiting....!
ReplyDeleteNice Mark, I'll probably go with your "one treat a day" for the whole weekend.
ReplyDeleteI've just stocked the fridge. It's going to be a weekend of imperial stout! One American, one English, one Danish.
ReplyDeleteI've put another one in there to possibly open while watching the first session of the cricket tonight. It starts at midnight so that's ok, right?!
Sounds great this Mark. Gonna start with a Carlsberg, then a Foster's and who knows? Maybe a Carling.
ReplyDeleteGot my beer ready. But it's actually between a few and I havn't decided which one yet. Out of the most sacred of my stash I'm thinking ether Gale's Prize Old Ale 2006 or Russian River Consecration.
ReplyDeleteRob - Russian River Consecration is seriously good. Get that open! The Gales will keep getting better (maybe... perhaps you should open both!).
ReplyDeleteI hope that very old and perfectly preserved bottle I gave you will see the light of day?
ReplyDeleteI admit physics isn't my strength, but will putting towels over beer bottles in a cold garage actually keep them warmer?
ReplyDeleteBen - I doubt it'll do anything but it makes me feel better! I'm dreading looking underneath it just in case any have suffered from the cold...
ReplyDeleteHmm, my beer cellar is horribly depleted since we moved house. Have a selection of BrewDog Paradoxes I've been hanging onto, and 5 bottles of Tokyo*. Or there's that 5 (or is it 8 now?) year old Mead a mate made. Oh, hold on, there's a Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA lurking there too, and a Sam Adams Triple Bock. I tend not to hang onto beers, unless for a specific reason :)
ReplyDeleteI really need to stock up...
Here is my multi-blog meme posting: http://beerblog.genx40.com/archive/2010/december/session46on
ReplyDeletePublished my first Open It! Post yesterday and it will be followed by another tomorrow, it's proving to be an enjoyable weekend :-)
ReplyDeleteNice one Alan, three birds and one stone!
ReplyDeleteMark - it sure is! I'm already looking forward to the bottles I'm opening later.
Copy and paste from my blog:
ReplyDeleteOpen it! results from last night around the fire pit:
2 year old Vitatis, homemade.
One person said it was the best they ever tasted. Made it around the fire pit two times until the bottle was drained. Unfortunately - or fortunately - I have none left in the cellar, so it's time to make some more!
1 1/4 year old bottle conditioned homebrew cider.
Made with 2 lb brown sugar, dry champagne yeast, and Safeway store brand apple juice. I was surprised how this turned out - the not bottle conditioned cider was hardly drinkable, but this had a drier finish, with a hint of vinegar and alcohol, but did not kill the taste. Only made it around the fire pit once, so I had the pleasure of finishing it.
Twittering each bottle or can @verysmallbeer with reviews coming this week to http://verysmallbeer.com got some good ones from Oskar Blues, Kona, The Brew Kettle and some others! Thanks for this!
ReplyDelete