This month’s Session is brought to us by The Ferm. The topic: “The Display Shelf: When to Drink the Good Stuff.”

I’m still relatively new to cellaring, having only started my meager collection in the winter of 2006/2007. I’ve got a variety of stuff tucked away in the back corner, the oldest of which is from 2007 (although, I have had the rare 2006 vintage).

I’m excited to have a couple of bottles of each year since from the Stone Vertical Epic series. I’ve got a few Belgians (Chouffe, Chimay, Orval) dating from early 2007. Mostly, though, a majority of the bottles that I’ve got are from the 2008-2009 time frame with more of a leaning toward stouts and barley wines.

It’s messy, but it’s mine.

Storing away beer isn’t easy for me. Sure, I know what to look for in a potential brew to put away for a few years, but when it comes to actually waiting, maintaining patience through that time has been rough. It also doesn’t help that I keep those bottles that don’t fit in the fridge — and are meant to be consumed that week — in the same area as my older bottles. So every time I go in to get a beer, I’m tempted and teased by those older goodies. Listen… you can hear them calling me even now.

Some Chouffee Noel, Gouden Carolous, Chimay and more…

So, shortly after this post, I’m going to come up with a plan to better protect and preserve the cellar selection. I will definitely start by isolating the older stuff from the spill over from the fridge.

I’m also going to reorganize the selection for easier management. I’m not sure if I should do this by date, brand or specific bottle, but I do know that the haphazard method I am currently using isn’t the best.

I guess I’m taking this opportunity with The Session to ask for some advice on my current cellaring situation — letting those bottles sit still for longer than I have. I’m certainly open to suggestions and ideas. Please, think of the beer, won’t you.

I’m a day late to this month’s installment of The Session, but better late than never.

Hosted by The Beer Chicks, the aim of this month’s Session was to discuss New Year resolutions and this past year.

So we want to know what was your best and worst of beer for 2009? What beer mistakes did you make? What beer resolutions do you have for 2010? What are your beer regrets and embarrassing moments? What are you hoping to change about your beer experience in 2010?

I’ve pretty much already addressed the past 12 months in my year in review.

As far as what I’d like to do in 2010, I’m not entirely sure. I know that I want to increase my contact lists for breweries and press representatives to try and get more coverage of what’s going on in the industry and the beer world in general. Of course, drinking more beer is always a goal, as well. Oh, and despite my late start, I need to participate more often in The Session — I’ve missed quite a few in the past year.

I’m sure more resolutions will popup as the first month of the year progresses, but for now, this is all I can think of. I need more coffee.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of stouts and porters. In fact, I’m pretty sure I profess my love for them every third or fourth post here at The Barley Blog. I can open one up and thoroughly enjoy the dark frothy goodness regardless of the setting, weather or time of day — even after mowing the yard, sitting on the back deck in 90 plus degree Virginia humidity. But, and it breaks my heart to say this, stouts aren’t everything.

That brief disclaimer aside, the Summer for my wife and myself is all about IPAs. Hopstoopid, Hop Wallop, 90 Minute, Hopslam… You get the picture.

The hoppier and more crisp it is with that tell tale biting finish is what the Summer heat calls for. Sure one can only take so many IBUs consistently so we break up the flow of hops with browns and lagers and what not, but the IPA is the ubiquitous hot weather brew.

Narrowing it down to a single brew to designate as a favorite is tough. I can tell you that I have been drinking the hell out of some 21st Amendment’s Brew Free or Die IPA. There’s just something about pulling a cold can out of the fridge, forgoing the glass and pulling in that sweet nectar of the gods. I know I should be pouring it into a pint glass in the least, but a cold aluminum can full of quality craft beer is just too much to for my heat swelled melon to handle.

So, I guess, to sum up my first Session contribution is far too long, I am proclaiming my lover for a canned beer — a finely tuned, hand crafted IPA of the highest order mind you, just in can form.

Damn, now I’m thirsty.