I think 60F is too warm; I'd put them in the fridge. If they have cork stoppers, put them on their sides.

I tried the North Coast Old Stock; it reminded me very much of the Northwest-style winter warmer beers (Jubelale, Snow Cap, Wassail, etc.). Very tasty.

The comment about cork is right on, don't want the cork drying out just like a bottle of wine. If you regrigerate it you are techincally "lagering" it (prolonged storage at temperatures between 32 and 45 degrees). The beer will not benefit from this unless it was fermented using a quality lager yeast. If the label claims it's an ale, refigerating it is likely to drastically slow any bottle maturation it may undergo because its simply too cold. Granted, I think that's better than letting it sit out at high temperatures for any lengthy period. What I guess it comes down to is, if you are going to drink it in less than 6 or 8 months, you'll do fine to leave it at 55 degrees. If you plan to let it age longer, or you think you'll be pushing temperatures closer to 65, then you ought to refrigerate it.

The last bottle conditioned ale I had was Victory V-10. I left it at about 60 degrees for 8 months, and it improved significantly.

I still think you should stand the cork finished bottles up in the frig for awhile before cracking them open. If not... remove the bottle from the frig, carefully maintaining its horizontal posture, have a friend remove the cork and another friend ready with the glass to catch the flowing beer.

You ought to refrigerate it for two or more days before drinking anyway so that the beer isn't flat when you open it. And pour in one smooth motion so as not to disturb any sediment. By the way, I just sampled my beer when I moved it to the secondary fermenter... darn tasty if I may say so. Hoppy but smooth, with a subtle underlying sweetness.

I didn't know you were still brewin'. Awesome, you have more energy than me my friend.

Extract? Grain? Batch sizes? Beer styles? You go for all the latest gadgets or do it Flinstone style? Papazian vs. Miller? You gotta tell me more.

I've got Papazian's book. Pretty happy with it. I don't have all the latest stuff and can't do all grain, just the core parts for 5 gallon batches from extract. 5 gallon kettle, 6.5 and 5 gallon carboys, airlocks, etc. All in all I really enjoy it, take a couple hours out of one day to get a new batch going. Then an hour or two a week later to put it in the secondary, and then sometime in the next 3 weeks or so get around to bottling it. Not too much time really since you get to spread it out, and you get your own home made brews. Perfect for a poker game or bbq Right now I'm brewing a recipe a guy at the local homebrew store gave me. I need to get a hydrometer next so that I can get a more accurate idea of how alcoholic my beer is. My method right now is, drink a few and see how I feel...

As styles go, I like more flavorful beers generally. So I tend towards IPAs and porters. I'm on my way to catch a plane for San Francisco at the moment though so I can't elaborate too much. If I can get on over there I will, otherwise I'm going to have a lot of reading to do in a week...

Back from SF. Had a great time. On the beer note I tried Speakeasy's "Prohibition" and thoroughly enjoyed it. On *my* beer note, it's now bottled and I will be enjoying it in two weeks or so.

or at least, it may have been responsible for it.

Read this article to find out more.

Interesting article, but I can't help but feel like it's a soft sell ad for crapass American swill beer. " America's brewers don't claim to make the beer of eternity, but we are proud to provide Americans with beers of exceptional quality today." Eurch!

I was down at my favorite store yesterday and picked up this bourbon:

http://www.hitimewine.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=163121&csurl=%2Fistar%2Easp%3Fa%3D3%26dept%3D85%26class%3D%26subclass%3D%26manufacturer%3D%26pos%3D30

Big, bold bourbon. Huge carmel, smoke and earth flavors. Pretty damn good for $16, but it is not the smoothest most refined bourbon around (though it is far from raw, too).