![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20220902121553\/trillium-dialed-in-beer.jpg\")
Dialed-In IPA (with wine-grape must) | Trillium\nVictor | Allagash Brewing\nTemptation | Russian River\nMixed Media | Dogfish Head Craft Brewery\nGolden Canary | Block 15 Brewing Co.\nThe Road Less Traveled | Two Roads Brewing<\/p>\nBarrel-aged beers are almost a subculture when it comes to the craft beer world. Commonly bold and intense, these beers command attention with their complexity, robust taste, and often high alcohol content.<\/p>\n
When envisioning a beer that\u2019s been aged in a barrel or inspired by another non-beer beverage, initial thoughts usually turn to bourbon or whiskey. But there are plenty of beers on the market that have been carefully aged in rum barrels, brewed with the addition of wine grape must, boosted from spending time in a tequila barrel, or even inspired by the ancient Japanese beverage sake.<\/p>\n
Dialed-In IPA (with wine-grape must) | Trillium\nVictor | Allagash Brewing\nTemptation | Russian River\nMixed Media | Dogfish Head Craft Brewery\nGolden Canary | Block 15 Brewing Co.\nThe Road Less Traveled | Two Roads Brewing<\/p>\n
For Vinnie Cilurzo, owner and brewer at Russian River Brewing Company, wine barrels have always been his first choice when it comes to aging beer because of a drive to use local resources. That means partnering with nearby business owners in the bustling Sonoma County, Calif. wine scene.<\/p>\n
Cilurzo believes that in general, wine barrels have a more subtle contribution to beer than spirit barrels such as bourbon or whiskey.\u00a0\u201cIt is more finesse driven, which I like,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen using wine barrels, there typically is not too much of a rise in ABV like you\u2019d see with spirit barrels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with imparting some subtle wine flavor, the wood acts as a home for the secondary yeast and bacteria the brewery uses for these special beers.\u00a0\u201cAging beer in wine barrels is a process that typically takes longer than spirits barrels. This is also because it takes some time for the Brettanomyces yeast and bacteria to do their work,\u201d Cilurzo explains.<\/p>\n
For his first barrel-aged beer, Temptation, Cilurzo opted for Chardonnay barrels for an understated influence on the blonde ale. The brewery\u2019s Consecration, a sour dark ale with black currants, is aged in bolder Cabernet Sauvignon barrels.<\/p>\n
At Trillium Brewing in Canton, Mass., wine grape must is added at the end of fermentation for all versions of Dialed-In Double IPA. \u201cThis step allows for the retainment of complex vinous aromas and flavors that accentuate and complement the different hop varieties in each iteration while also providing for a lighter, drier DIPA experience,\u201d explained Matt Garstka, communications manager.<\/p>\n
The concept for Dialed-In began in 2016 to celebrate Trillium\u2019s third anniversary. \u201cHaving previously experimented with the integration of wildflower honey in another one of our hoppy offerings, we recognized the huge potential for innovation and flavor impact in the wide variety of wine grapes available,\u201d says Garstka. One of their all-time favorite aromatic hop varieties is Nelson Sauvin, grown in New Zealand and named after the unique Sauvignon Blanc-like white grape character imparted during brewing. \u201cNaturally, we saw this undeniable connection and landed on our first iteration of Dialed-In to feature Sauvignon Blanc grape juice in a heavily dry-hopped Nelson Sauvin DIPA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sauvignon Blanc grapes enhance the depth of tropical, fruity aromas and flavors the brewery aims for in this version of Dialed-In. Additionally, simple sugars in the wine must are fully fermented out, providing for a crisper finish. Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gew\u00fcrztraminer, Moscato, and Riesling have also provided unique flavor profiles in some of the brewery\u2019s favorite recipes to date.<\/p>\n
Imperial Dark \u2018n Stormy Ale | Great Divide Brewing Co.\nRum Barrel Aged Porter | pFriem\nDragon\u2019s Milk Rum Barrel-Aged Stout | New Holland\nBlack Tuesday | The Bruery\nHunahpu\u2019s Imperial Stout | Cigar City\nImperial Awakening | Angry Chair\nDeath by Coconut | Oskar Blues<\/p>\n
At pFriem Family Brewers in Hood River, Ore., casks for their rum-aged beers are sourced from Barbados, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix. \u201cRums from these locations tend\u00a0to be more neutral\u00a0and provide a consistent and classic rum flavor profile,\u201d believes Kyle Krause, pFriem R&D brewer and lead blender. The oldest barrel they\u2019ve ever encountered was from 1955.<\/p>\n
Rum barrels present a unique challenge in that they are generally old and in rough condition by the time they are received\u00a0at the brewery, Krause says. \u201cRum distillers most often use ex-bourbon casks that, once filled, spend the entirety of their lives in open-air rickhouses in a tropical climate,\u201d Krause says. Rum distillers aren\u2019t bound by labeling laws to use new oak, so casks are reused over and over, he explains.<\/p>\n
Additionally, these casks are often stored upright, drying out one of the heads, potentially for decades.\u00a0Krause says it takes a good amount of effort to coax these barrels back into shape before they are safe to hold clean beer.\u00a0\u201cEven then, the percentage of casks lost to leakage is significantly higher than other brands,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
New Holland brewer Mark Erickson echoes Krause in lamenting that the rum barrels themselves are a little challenging to work with since they are often warped and prone to leakage. \u201cSometimes the rum producers try to get extra life out of a barrel, so they add wood chips to it,\u201d he says. There are special pumps with screens on the inlet for those barrels.<\/p>\n
Erickson believes there are certain beer styles that pair nicely with rum barrels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think the Belgian and saison-type styles are better in rum than bourbon because they tend to have a little banana flavor from the yeast, and more tropical flavors work better with rum,\u201d says Erickson, who leads the barrel program at New Holland.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20220902121631\/cambridge-beer.jpg\")
For the Sake of Ale | Angel City Brewery\nBanryu Ichi | Cambridge Brewing Company\nStillwater Extra Dry Sake Style Saison | Stillwater Artisanal\nSunset Kura | Five Boroughs Brewing Co.<\/p>\n
Banryu Ichi from Cambridge Brewing Company is a hybrid of beer and sake, brewed in collaboration with the brewery\u2019s friend Todd Bellomy, founder and Toji (brewmaster) of Farthest Star Sake in Medfield, Mass..<\/p>\n
\u201cOur idea was to create a true hybridization of sake and beer, both in technique and ingredients,\u201d says Will Meyers, brewmaster at Cambridge Brewing Company.<\/p>\n
They began by brewing a 500-liter batch of sake\u2014washing, soaking, steaming, and cooling the rice in batches over several days, adding koji, water, and sake yeast. \u201cWe fermented for about two weeks, then transferred 300-plus liters to a CCV [cylindroconical vessel] and added that day\u2019s wort, which was about 6 barrels of high OG [original gravity] wort.\u201d The beer wort was comprised of malted barley and rice that were mashed at very high temperatures so that regular brewer\u2019s yeast would be unable to ferment it properly.<\/p>\n
From there, more koji was added to the fermentation tank to break down the complex starches from a high conversion temperature. Fermentation took several weeks, followed by a month of maturation, then clarification. Banryu Ichi is served with low carbonation in a five-ounce glass set inside a small wooden box called a Masu.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20220902121656\/margarita-gose-great-divide.jpg\")
Uber La Luna Margarita Gose | Cheluna Brewing\nMagarita Gose | Great Divide Brewing\nBenny Tequila Barrel-Aged Mexican Lager | Broken Bat Brewing\nMetzli | Dos Luces\u00a0Brewery<\/p>\n
Great Divide\u2019s Margarita Gose is partially aged in tequila barrels and gets an extra kick from Makrut lime leaf, lime puree, and Himalayan pink salt.<\/p>\n
Director of operations Jeff Martin explains that the process for aging in tequila barrels is the same as whiskey, but the timeline is different.\u00a0\u201cThe biggest difference we see is the extraction of flavor,\u201d Martin says. While Great Divide ages its Barrel Aged Yeti Imperial Stout for a minimum of one year in whiskey barrels, it can reduce tequila aging to one month on oak.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we are aging a more delicate beer in tequila barrels, we also reduce aging and oxygen ingress\u2014thus preserving the flavor of the final product,\u201d Martin added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bold and intense, barrel-aged beers command attention with their complexity, robust taste, and high ABV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1855,"featured_media":112465,"sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sticky_collection":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[676,4812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-picks","category-full-pour"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n