Beer guide
What is barrel aged beer?
Barrel aged literally means: aged in a barrel. A brewer first makes a beer, usually a strong stout or barleywine, and then puts it for months or even years in wooden barrels that previously held something else. Usually that's bourbon, but rye whiskey, rum, port, sherry, cognac or wine are used too.
Why bourbon barrels?
By law, American bourbon has to mature in new, charred oak barrels. So a barrel is only used once for bourbon. After that, many of those barrels go to Scotland for whisky, or to breweries. The wood still holds bourbon, plus the vanilla and caramel the charred oak gives off. That's what gives the stout its distinctive taste.
How it started
In 1992 Goose Island in Chicago put an imperial stout into empty Jim Beam barrels. That became Bourbon County Stout, the first bourbon barrel aged beer. Today hundreds of breweries do it, but the Americans are still the furthest ahead.
What do you taste?
- From the wood: vanilla, coconut, caramel, toast, sometimes a hint of tobacco or leather.
- From the bourbon: warmth, toffee, ripe fruit.
- From time: the sharp edges wear off. A stout that spent two years in a barrel is rounder and softer than a young one.
Why are they so expensive?
A barrel costs money, aging takes years, and part of the beer evaporates along the way (the 'angel's share'). On top of that, many of these beers are made in very small batches and sell out within a day in the US. You see that scarcity in the price, and in how special it is to open one.
Curious? Have a look at our imperial stouts or barleywines.