In these tumultuous times, it’s hard to know where best to invest. Americans seem to be equally disillusioned about the prospects of leaving their money to banks, the stock market, or to a retirement fund. While these options are failing all around us, it’s nice to know that there is an alternative: invest in beer. I’m not talking about pouring money into a new brewery (although that’s not a bad idea) or buying case after case of PBR to get drunk and forget your financial worries (this is a bad idea), I’m talking about aging beers. The idea of having a beer cellar is one that takes some getting used to for most of us who are sick of hearing rich wine snobs flaunt their extensive cellar of Bordeaux from the 1970s. As with many things beer-related, aging beer is a less pretentious proposition than aging wine, but still there are guidelines that must be followed.

First, we discuss beer style.  Not all beers can be aged successfully. If you put a sixer of Yuengling in the cellar for a year, all you’re going to have is stale Yuengling. To begin with, the beer must be strong: 8 percent is the generally accepted low bar. With a few exceptions, the beer should be on the malty/sweet side of things: although hops will mellow with up to a year of age, they start to break down as you get into the multiple year range and can contribute some funky/bad flavors. That said, taking an overly hoppy double IPA and giving it six months to mellow out has worked well for me in the past. Imperial Stouts, Barleywines, Belgian Quadrupel, and Belgian Geuze (sour beer!) are some favorite aging candidates, but it’s worth trying other reasonable options. But vintage Sam Adams Boston Lager? Thumbs down.