Metadrinker

October 31, 2010 5:19 PM

Best way to open and enjoy this fine bottle of beer...

I have a bottle of bilikin beer from belize (best beer in the world) and would like to drink it. I havent stored it correctly and its been on a plane (im in germany now) so the pressure must have messed it up, right? I dont know much about beer except how to drink it, will it suffice to just store it in a cool dry place now? Its been on a shelf in my room for the past month or so.
What can i do to "save" the beer?

posted by freddymetz to food & drink (8 answers total)

So long as it's been sealed, I think it's okay, pressure-wise. In general, I've heard that beer is best stored upright (as in, not on its side), away from light, at cellar temperatures.

As for drinking it, serve it around 44-54 degrees Fahrenheit. I approximate that by putting it in the fridge until cold, and letting it warm up for 30 minutes to an hour. You could also tweak your fridge so that it is that warm, but that's not quite cold enough for milk and other perishables.
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:27 PM on October 31, 2010

How long would you intend to store it? I wouldn't recommend more than six months because right now you might have the best beer in the world but a year or two from now you might just have disappointment. mccarty.tim's suggestions are good for storage. If you have a cool basement that is best, if you have a fridge that is better than your room, but I would recommend finding a good time and some German friends to share it with because it will only get older.
posted by Blasdelb at 6:13 PM on October 31, 2010

For storage: avoid heat and light, that's it. If you want it to mature (because it's high in alcohol and low in hops), cellar temperature is good. If you want it to stay fresh, you want it in the back of your fridge.
posted by tsmo at 7:03 PM on October 31, 2010

There are about 20 beers in the world that bear aging in the bottle. Belikin (not Bilikin, and I've never heard it ranked among the world's best before!) is not one of them. It's a lager. Every day you wait is one day further from the ideal drink by date.
posted by fourcheesemac at 7:36 PM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't know that beer, but it's probably not the type that would benefit from long-term aging. Generally speaking, only strong/heavy/outright weird beers (old ales, barley wines, funky Belgian stuff, etc.) are complex and alcoholic enough to fend off the elements and continue developing flavor for more than a couple months.

Spoiled beer usually can't host any dangerous microbes (bacterial infection would just make it foam over or taste nasty), but waiting probably won't improve it. Just keep it cool and out of direct sunlight, and crack it when the time is right.

That said, I found a few bottles of three-year-old homebrew (porter) that were still good while moving. They seemed a bit crisp (?), but definitely not stale, sour, or flat.
posted by silentbicycle at 10:10 PM on October 31, 2010

If you want to drink it now and you bought it a month ago, put it in the fridge and when it's cold, open it and pour it and drink it. This beer will be fine. The pressure won't have affected it, and it's not old enough to worry about age.
posted by bDiddy at 10:41 AM on November 1, 2010

The caps on Belikin tend to rust. Do yourself a favor and wipe the bottle top before drinking from it.
posted by JV at 9:52 PM on November 1, 2010

A top fermented beer (ale) will continue to develop in the bottle over some period of time (whether that is a good thing or not depends). A bottom-fermented lager (which Belikin is) will not. It might as well be a bottle of milk. Drink up! And go back to Belize for more.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:54 AM on November 2, 2010