Beer is more fragile than it looks. Heat, light and time all change flavor, and a few habits protect it.
Keep beer cold, dark and upright, and drink it fresh. That covers most of it. Heat is the biggest threat, light is the second, and time is the third. Beer is not wine, and most beer is meant to be enjoyed within months of packaging, not stashed for years.
The rest of this guide explains why, and what to do in the real situations where you have a growler, a case or a keg.
Cold storage slows the chemical changes that make beer taste stale. High temperatures are generally more harmful than cold ones, since heat speeds aging and can encourage bacteria. A refrigerator is the simplest place to keep beer you plan to drink soon.
Ideal temperatures vary by style, according to storage guides: lagers do best quite cold, ales a bit warmer, and stouts and darker beers warmer still. For serving, a slightly warmer beer shows more aroma, so you may want to let a strong or dark beer sit out for a few minutes before pouring. Avoid freezing, which can separate the beer and push caps loose.
Repeated swings between warm and cold are hard on beer. Moving a case in and out of the car, or leaving it on a porch in the sun, causes more trouble than a steady, moderate temperature. For unpasteurized beers, high heat can lead to over-carbonation and even burst bottles.
Light, especially sunlight, breaks down compounds from hops and creates a skunky flavor. Clear and green bottles offer the least protection, brown bottles more and cans the most because aluminum blocks light completely. Keep beer in a dark cupboard, a cellar or a refrigerator, and keep a growler out of sunny spots.
This is why a case on a sunny patio is a poor idea, even for a few hours in summer.
Upright, not on its side. Unlike wine, beer should stand upright. Lying a bottle down increases the surface contact between the beer and the cap and can raise oxidation, and it stirs up sediment in bottle-conditioned beers. Corked beer bottles are the exception, where very dry air can shrink the cork, but that is a specialty case.
Store cans upright too, and handle them gently so you do not have a fizzing mess when you open them.
Freshness is a spectrum. Hoppy beers, such as IPAs, are best soon after packaging because hop aroma fades. Lighter lagers are meant to be drunk fresh. Strong, dark or sour beers sometimes hold up longer, and a few styles are aged on purpose, but you should not assume any particular beer improves with age.
Check the package for a best-by or packaged-on date when there is one, and ask the taproom how long a particular beer is meant to be kept. We avoid giving a single number here because styles and packages differ so much.
Containers filled at a taproom are short-term. Refrigerate them right away and drink them soon, as covered in growler vs crowler. Once opened, finish them the same day if you can.
A keg stays in good shape longer than a growler because it is closed and cold, but once it is tapped, the clock runs. Gas pressure, temperature and the dispensing method all affect how long the beer holds up. Read keg sizes explained if you are deciding how much to buy.
A simple home routine. Keep a few beers in the fridge and the rest of your stock in a cool, dark closet. Rotate so older beer is used first. Date your own homebrew, and, if you brew, see homebrewing for beginners for the basics.
Pour into clean glasses with the method in how to pour a beer properly so the work of storing it well pays off in the glass.
Party season and holidays put pressure on refrigerator space. A drawer, a second fridge, a cooler with ice or a cold garage in winter can all hold beer, as long as the temperature stays steady and moderate. Avoid anywhere that gets direct sunlight or freezes.
If you are chilling a lot of beer quickly, a tub of ice and water cools containers faster than air does. Add salt to the water if you are in a hurry, and expect cans to cool faster than glass bottles. Do not leave beer in the freezer to rush it, since forgotten bottles can burst or freeze.
Once beer is cold, keep it that way. Bringing it out for a few minutes is fine, but repeatedly warming and re-chilling it is hard on flavor. Pull out only as much as you need and return the rest to the cold quickly.
Several beliefs about beer storage are worth dropping. Cold beer does not spoil from being cold, and a bottle that has been chilled is not ruined by returning to room temperature once. The damage comes from repeated and extreme swings, and from prolonged heat.
Another myth is that all beer improves with age. A few strong or specialty beers are made for aging, but most are brewed to be drunk fresh, and keeping them for a long time just makes them stale. A third myth is that a brown bottle makes beer immune to light. It helps, but it is not a guarantee, and a dark spot is still better than a sunny one.
When in doubt, buy what you will drink soon, keep it cold and enjoy it at its best. Treat storage as a habit rather than a project, and your beer will taste closer to how the brewer intended every time you open one.
Upright. Lying a bottle down can increase oxidation, unlike wine.
Yes. Light, especially sunlight, breaks down hop compounds and produces a skunky flavor, which is why cans and brown bottles protect best.
Only if it stays reasonably cool. Heat is more harmful than cold, and big temperature swings are hard on beer.
Mostly no. Many beers are best fresh, and only a few styles are intended for aging.
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