Beer in a barrel

“It essentially sanded down the rough edges that can come with bourbon,” says Brad Kamphuis, the director of operations at New Holland Brewing in Holland, Michigan. He’s talking about his bourbon barrels and beer as well as beer barrel rye. Both were aged in the barrels that previously contained the brewery’s renowned Dragon’s Milk stout, adding the flavor of roast for both spirits.

The American source of the method, however, can be found in Old Potrero, which has for a long time made use of its whiskey as well as beer barrels from Anchor Brewing and Hotaling & Co. in San Francisco. Although Potrero did not release more than 80 cases of the aged whiskey in a stout cask, the bottling took nearly 12 years before it was made. It started with two brand-new that were charred American oak barrels. One contained the rye of five years, while the other was home to the company’s founder Fritz Maytag’s adored Apple Brandy over five years. The barrels sat in stout for about a year before they eventually sat with the latest Old Potrero malted rye for approximately four months.

“Over the history of our distillery and whiskey making, we’ve experimented with a lot of barrels,” says master distiller Bruce Joseph, who has been in the company since. “That was a thing Fritz was looking to try when we first started distilling. .”

Others have tried the concept on a smaller scale, for instance, Great Lakes Distilling, which kept their Kinnickinnic whisky for two years inside barrels that were originally used to make Milwaukee Brewing Co.’s Admiral Stache Baltic porter. The product sold out quickly following its release in May of 2017.

Another one, Onyx Moonshine in East Hartford, Connecticut, used the method to inspire a fund-raising event for college-bound youngsters in the local area. The owner, Adam von Gootkin, partnered with 25 local breweries and used the barrels of the production of his Secret Stash whiskey in order to make 25 unique versions of beers aged in barrels. The brewery owners returned the barrels after they had finished as well. Von Gootkin refilled them with the Secret Stash, creating two dozen-plus distinct beer-cask-finished versions of his whiskey that he aged. “It was a lot of fun. It allowed us to collaborate with local breweries to create an intriguing range of whiskeys aged over time, each with distinct flavors .”

It’s a bit surprising that, despite the different barrel finishes that whiskey producers experiment with in the whiskey industry, not many producers have joined the dots of beer. However, these six have been and should be considered.

Glenfiddich India Pale Ale Cask Finished Scotch ($60)

Glenfiddich began its Experimental Series in the fall of 2016, stepping up the stakes by actually having a beer made and matured within American oak casks to serve the purpose of circling the barrels for whisky. Master Blender Brian Kinsman partnered with Speyside Brewery’s Seb Jones, who made various versions of an IPA for Kinsman to test. The result is a celebration of the citrus and herbaceous flavors of Speyside Single Malt. Speyside single malt, and is rounded out with some vanilla and apple that is barrel-focused.

Grant’s Ale Cask Aged Blended Scotch ($24)

Relative is also the producer of whiskies aged in barrels from Grant’s. Relative began playing around with different finishes on casks and was looking to add a second dimension of excitement to this blended whisky. A period of four months inside a car that was once a scotch ale bottle gave him the taste he was looking for with a mouth-watering maltiness, honey, and (perhaps due to hops) an enticing citrusy ping towards the end.

Jameson Caskmates IPA Edition Irish Whiskey ($36)

To take advantage of the current wave of American IPA love, Jameson worked along with Wicklow’s Shane Long on this 2017-launched project. Barrels Shane is filling with his IPA start at Midleton and are then redirected back at the distiller wh, where they’re filled with whiskey again, resulting in an intriguing quick end to the typical sweet and mellow flavor of the Jameson whisky.

New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon ($30)

After 21 years of operation, New Holland found a buzzer in its popular Dragon’s Milk stout, but the remaining barrels they put it in were taking up space on the floor of the brewery. The solution: use the barrels to finish off the Bourbon (40 percent ABV) and Rye (44 percent ABV). “It was really having a distillery a-ha moment of innovation based on necessity,” Kamphuis says. Kamphuis. “It took us three months to truly take on the personality we wanted to achieve. .”

Old Potrero Stout Cask Aged Whiskey ($100)

A few bottles of whiskey remain floating around, and if you happen to find some of the unicorns, you should grab them. “What surprised us about this, after all the stuff that the barrel went through, was a hint of some apple,” Joseph says. Joseph. “But we also got what we had expected from a stout, that maltiness. We wanted that. We thought we could get a hint of the apple’s fresh characteristic, too. .”

Pinckney Stout Cask Whiskey ($20 / 200mL)

Master distiller Tom Anderson of Pinckney Bend Distillery, located in New Haven, Missouri, begins the process of making his stout cask whiskey, providing fifteen-gallon Missouri whiskey barrels of white oak for 2nd Shift Brewing in St. Louis for their Liquid Spiritual Delight Imperial Stout. “We then took the barrels back when they were finished and filled them with our Rested American Whiskey,” says Meyer. “Since that time, it’s been among our top sought-after whiskeys. It is rarely a bottle that lasts for long when we release the next batch.” .”

Weizen

The word “wheat” means “wheat” in German; weizen glasses can be mistaken for pint glasses. Taller than pints, weizen glasses are more of a display of the golden hue of beer, and their curvy shape holds in yeast and sediment in the bottom. The glasses also have a bigger mouth that can create a foamy head and take in the aroma of beer.

As the name implies, this style of beer glass is usually used to serve wheat beers along with white ale and goes.

The glass’s thin structure makes it simple to add garnishes to the rim. However, beer experts recommend against using fruits that have high acidity as they could ruin the head.

Weizen glasses usually contain a weight of around 17oz, which is about half one 1 liter.

Stemmed Tulip and Thistle

Also referred to as a Belgian glass, the tulip glasses look like a goblet or snifter. It has a rounded bowl that is mounted on a short stem and a taper at the top to draw in the aroma of beer. The rim curves downwards to form a foamy head.

Tulip glasses work best for strong ales that contain lots of hops, like saisons, double stouts, Belgian beers, and other ales.

To get a different look, you can try a thistle. It’s a stretch-out variant of the tulip glass with less curvature around the top lip. Avoid hoppy drinks when you use this glass, and opt for Scottish ales or double IPAs as well as barleywines instead.

Whatever your taste, the large bowl of both thistle and tulip glass allows you to mix the liquids around and let the aroma escape.