My latest print article for The Bulletin, the first of the new year, is out today; I write about aging beer and enjoy a lineup of vintage Central Oregon beers.

For the casual drinker, cellaring your own beer might seem exotic or complicated. In reality, it’s anything but; all that’s required is a dark, cool space that doesn’t experience any extremes in temperature. A spare refrigerator is optimal, but it could simply be a spare bedroom or bathroom that stays relatively cool. In my case, I use the back of a closet.

How long can you age beer? It depends on the style. Generally, stronger beers with an emphasis on malt or yeast are the best candidates for aging, as are barrel-aged beers. Lower alcohol and hop-forward beers are more susceptible to oxidation and other less-than-desirable influences. As some beer ages, it will continue to evolve in the bottle, particularly if wild yeasts are present.

I’ve been successfully aging many years’ worth of Deschutes Brewery’s The Abyss along with others in its Reserve Series, and various beers from other breweries, local and beyond. For the new year, I pulled a selection of aged bottles from four Central Oregon breweries spanning the previous decade to reflect upon, and included a new beer that just debuted from Sunriver Brewing Company.

Read the article for my impressions/mini-reviews of each beer. Of note is Sunriver Brewing’s new Bourbon Barrel Ale, a malty blast of bourbon- and oak-infused brew, that’s available now and will be a good beer to age.