It’s been quite a while since we at BOV have participated in The Session (or anything at all, really, but shh), this this month’s topic seems well timed. The Ferm is hosting, with the topic being The Display Shelf: When to Drink the Good Stuff. Essentially, what do you do with the ’special’ bottles in your beer collection?

I say that it’s well timed because today starts the judging for the 2010 Amber Waves of Grain homebrew competition. At last year’s Brewer’s Night Out banquet there was a bottle of Ommegang Three Philosophers on each table, which wound up being sent home with me. It’s still sitting in my basement, waiting for the right time. I think I’ve found it, too: next Sunday I’ll be brewing again (for the first time since October), with two friends who are interested in beer but don’t yet brew themselves.

That’s the key to properly ‘using’ a special beer, I think: sharing. 22oz of a great beer consumed by yourself is not the same as 5oz shared among four friends, each with an appreciation of what they’re drinking. That also speaks to the generosity of our ilk, as I’ve had more great (and rare) beer at NAH events than I’ve been able to keep track of, and I just hope that someday I’m able to contribute as much.

There’s a danger in giving too much intrinsic value to a beer, though, or waiting too long to drink it. I bought a bottle of Chocolate Indulgence (you’d think Ommegang sponsored BOV, the way I’m going on) to drink when my wife got pregnant, and after about six months I was finally able to open it… and it was good, but not great. This may have been due to poor storage (there was about three months of ‘any day now…’), or higher expectations, or needing it to match up with our excitement, but it didn’t seem to be that special.

The ginger braggot I brought to the hospital for his birth, though, now that was some tasty stuff.

(and now you see why I don’t post more often: I’ve got New Dad Syndrome and everything comes back to him. At least I haven’t linked a picture of SON OF A BI