Nothing Goes Down Easy quite like an ice-cold Take A Chill Pilsner from NoCoast Brewery on a hot summer day. Well—to be fair, a Yoga Poser Pale Ale or a Gluten Full Blonde Ale would hit the spot as well.
But while a NoCoast beer can hit the spot on a hot summer day (or any other day), a hot summer day can do some serious damage to your beer—that is, if your beer was not stored properly. Imagine the horror when you Kraken into a Cold One and our Makes Waves Amber Ale has a bit of a funk to it.
Worry not, friends! The following are some basic rules that can help you figure out how to store your NoCoast Beer of choice.
- Position: Remember the time you bought a 12-pack of domestic beer and laid the beers down in your cooler? Yeah—don’t do that with your craft beers. When you store them upright, they oxidize (age) less and keep longer.
- Sunlight: Do not store your beer in sunlight. Sunlight can cause your beer to be ‘light struck’ or become ‘skunked.’ Green and brown bottles help battle the process, but you still wouldn’t want them in sunlight for long (if at all).
- Is your beer pasteurized? Most craft beers are not and will age faster than pasteurized ones.
- The Refrigerator: To slow down the aging process of your beer, throw it in the fridge as soon as you get it home. Yes, even if you don’t plan on drinking it yet. Colder temps will keep your beer from oxidizing and aging quickly.
- Temperature: Warm temps are not suitable for your beer, but depending on the type of beer, cold temps can be harmful as well. If you can’t control the temp of a location, try to keep your beer in a cooler place and away from sunlight, i.e., pantry, cellar, closet, under your bed.
If you can regulate the temp, keep these ranges in mind for certain beers:
- 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit will do for most beers but be sure and keep the temp as constant as possible.
- Barleywines, triples, dark ales, beers with ABV of 8 percent and over: 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bitters, IPAs, lambics, stouts, doppelbocks, and other mid-range ABV ales: 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit (i.e., typical cellar temp).
- Lagers, pilsners, wheat beers, milds, low-cal, and other low ABV beers: 45-5 degrees Fahrenheit (i.e., common refrigerator temp).
Lastly, figure out how long you can safely store your beer. Some craft beers do get better with age, but most American beers can be stored for 4-6 months; imports up to a year. Check the bottle/can for a use-by-date, but then do a little testing to see how accurate it is.
As for craft beers like a tasty Brew in Town Belgian Wheat or Agricultured Rye Porter, it can really be on a case by case basis. Some will be good for 6-8 months and some as long as 25 years. A good rule of thumb when buying beer is to think about whether you’re going to drink it within the next three months.
Of course, if you have an open beer, there is only one way to store it—in your belly! Once you open a Trend Bucker Stout or a Low Brow Brown Ale, there’s no going back!
Drink it. Enjoy it. Finish it—and then open another NoCoast beer! Cheers!
