A Peek into my Beer Cellar

In September of 1999, we decided to expand the entry to our house by adding a foyer. We've had some issues with soil movement under and around the foundation of our house. To make a long story short, what started out as a 4' foundation ended up as a 14' x 10' x 6' cinderblock room under the foyer. I added a trapdoor, a ladder, and recently a new floor with a sump pump (to deal with water issues). I now have this underground beer cellar that keeps a fairly consistent cellar temperature of 55° Fahrenheit. It's a little bit scary to climb down and back up, and I've had to set up a lift system to bring beer out or put it in the cellar. However, it works. Here are a few pictures of what it looks like.

You can always find out what I've got stashed down ther by checking the List of Beer in my Fridge and Cellar. Anything marked with a C is in the cellar. I plan to SLOWLY acquire some good beers that improve with age and lay them down.

1. It is just around the corner.	2. In the coat closet.	3. Let me open the door for you.

4. Sure, it looks like an ordinary coat closet at the top.	5. And it seems to have a fairly ordinary wood floor, if you ignore those ropes and the trapdoor.	6. With the trap door raised, looking down on the floor of the coat closet seems a bit different.

7. And if you poke your head in the closet, you can see that there is a hole in the floor.	8. If you want to see what's in the hole, you're going to have to climb down!	9. And if you look into the hole, you can see a ladder descending into a pit.

10. And at the bottom of the pit are a cement floor, a sump pump cover, light switches, and electrical outlets.	11. Once you climb down the ladder, there is only one way out ... back up the ladder.	12. Of course, the beer is the reason that we are down here.