I love going to a brewery and having the sampler or going to a beer bar and asking for the most adventurous thing I can find. I adore having a beer with good company and I adore reading a book at a pub and people watching. I enjoy talking beer with the bartenders and brewers and regulars. I do. But I also like to be comfy cozy at home in my PJs stretched out in my hammock (weather permitting) or recliner. And I expect of myself the same quality and variety that I expect from my favorite beer bar, which is The Local by the way.
How do I accomplish this? It starts with having a fridge whose entire purpose is to house beer.
OK, full disclosure. There's a mini freezer in there that we use to store the frozen sausage we pick up in Cave Junction at Taylor's Sausage whenever we pass through. Sidenote: Taylor's has some great beer taps.
Mostly though, it is full of beer. Good beer. Different beer. Vast styles and flavors of beer. Don't believe me? See for yourself:
That's the beer fridge. It lives in the garage and it is smaller than your average kitchen fridge. It's also necessary.
Take today for instance. It's the busy season at my Monday-Friday 8am-5pm job at the local University and so I put in some extra time on a Saturday to catch up. When I came home, I was feeling more like I feel at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday than I usually feel at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. I want a great beer but I don't want to go out. Luckily, all I need to do is kick off my shoes and bound into the garage and take my pick. I can choose from a number of styles, crafted by a variety of breweries.
Let's see there's a Saison from 21st Amendment, always in the can if you please. I can go for North Coast Brewing's Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, which I prefer with a shot of espresso. I've got a Lagunitas Brown Shugga. An Allagash Belgian White. There's a handful of Dogfish Head's brews in there. A very large number of sours from around the world including a Rodenbach anniversary bottle (that's the big one in front). I've got a GoodLife Pale that I've been saving since December. And we always have Pilsner Urquell on hand. I finally settled on a Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA. I just can't get enough of the Rye recently.
The point is, no matter what my taste buds were craving after my Saturday office day, I could find something to suit them right here in the comfort of my own home.
So how did my *manfriend and I build up such an amazing collection, and how do we keep it meeting expectations? It's easier than you might think.
Start at the breweries you go to, near and far. Ask if they sell bottled beer on site. Maybe they'll have something you really liked while you were there, as was the case with the GoodLife Mountain Rescue mentioned above. Or maybe they'll have something special that you didn't get to try on tap. Last winter I went to Bend Brewing Company and they had tapped the final Ching Ching keg the night before but still had 22's so I got one to go. This is the obvious approach to filling a beer fridge but it's impractical to think it's the only way.
Next, find nearby bottle shops. We're lucky that our favorite local beer bars also have coolers full of interesting beers. Your best bet here is to establish a relationship with the owner/person who orders the bottled beer. I have three beer bars that when I walk in I get a high five or a hug and a run down of what's new in the cooler that they know I will like. My routine is to grab one of the on tap beers and sip will I shop. Without fail I find myself with an armful of great additions for the fridge when I leave. The cool thing about bottle shop coolers is that you'll find a ton of variety in the beer styles, regions, and sizes. Plus you have a knowledgeable expert to help you decide which, if not all, of the beers to take home. Finally, you'll typically find that beer bars and bottle ships which also serve beer in house will cut you a deal on to-go/takeout bottles. Check out the awesome deal at Beerworks.
Local markets are my final stop on your beer fridge shopping spree. Sure, you can get some great beers at a BevMo. We don't have one locally, but I cruise in there when I see one and that Allagash I mentioned above was purchased there. And Costco can be great for a bulk box of something you love, like the Sierra Nevada Ruthless I'm drinking right now. But you already knew that. What you may not have known is how fascinating the beer selection is at your local market(s). Our community Co-op, The North Coast Co-op has, hands down, the best beer selection of any multi-product store in our area. The beer cooler covers one entire wall. There are Belgians from Belgium, mass market beers, a bunch of California and Pacific Northwest beers, and brews from big players in Colorado, Louisiana, and the East Coast. There's also a rad little homebrew section on the end of the aisle that wouldn't get someone set up for their first foray into brewing but it could supply a regular with a last minute supply. I can, and have, filled my cart to the brim with amazing and reasonably priced beers. The price here is frequently better than the beer bar approach. The fantastic addition to this method is that you can grab a slab of local grass fed meat from the counter, a hunk of locally produced cheese, or a freshly baked baguette from the store that you know will pair perfectly with the beer you're having tonight because you're selecting them all at the same time. It's basically a recipe for pairing success.
Some of you may be wondering about growlers. Growlers are wonderful and I intend to dedicate an entire post to them. In my mind however, they do not fall into the category of building the best beer fridge. Another time my friends.
This arsenal of quality beer with different notes and tones means that when a pal calls me up and says, "I just scored a bunch of fresh crab, want to feast tonight!?" (yes, I know how awesome it is that I have friends who call to tell me that) I can say confidently, "I'll bring the beer."
Do you have a beer fridge? Share pictures!
What beer has to be in your fridge?
*Manfriend is a term I use for my special guy. I'm certainly not a girl and he is older than me so how can I call him my boyfriend!? He's a special manfriend and I think Carrie from the Sex and the City movie might have called Big something similar, I assert that I coined the term first. I could be wrong but either way it's a great and more appropriate term for adults to use.
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