Arcadia barrel aged Shipwreck question

Thanks for making the picture a bit more clear. There is a general lack of information on the web about Shipwreck, it would be nice if Arcadia could lay this stuff out on their website.

 

This was after I left the company, but I am quite sure after speaking with them that it is the same batch. Not sure if it was 2 seperate shipments from the brewery to wholesaler, or of wholesaler sat on half of the product to do a second release. L. Glunz is the wholesaler in Chicago - best to check with them for clarification.

 

Okay, thanks! Would there be any way to check with Arcadia based on bottle dates? If so, who would be best to contact?

 

The bottles are labeled with batch codes. Contact the brewery and ask for either Josh Davies or Rick Suarez

 

2011 BBA Shipwreck was my first BBA brew, and I instantly fell in love with it. I actually have 2 cases of the 2011 in my cellar now (jumped on it when I found out it was a special one off and aged for 2 years.)

 

Thank you!

 

Do yours have the red dripping wax (looks like Makers Mark) or the red wax that is straight on the bottom and isn't dripping down?

 

Also, I dug out a couple of my Shipwreck bottles and I didn't see a date or code printed on the label or on the glass anywhere. Am I just missing it?

 

Not sure what I have now. Here's a pic of the case, it says aged over a year, in 22yr barrels

 

There is a date at the base of the neck, and some other numbers above it that may be a batch code. You have to look in the right light to see the black ink on the black bottle. I have three in my cellar but can read the date on only two of them (the other is smudged). The date that I can read is 01/20/11.

 

A few other notes to add about the differences in the two batches: It's likely that the 12 oz bottles that you may still find on store shelves today are from the latest batch, and I think they carried a November, 2011 bottling date. (I must have drank the bottles that I had from this latest version, so I'm going from memory on that date.) The 01/20/11 batch used screw-off caps, but the last batch uses the pry-off version. Also, I think I noticed that the Jan 2011 bottles were a much darker black and almost impossible to see through when compared to the latest bottles which were a shade lighter. However, that's just my perception from seeing just a few bottles, and the bottle color could vary throughout the entire batch of bottles.

 

Are the January 2011 bottles that you have the ones with the dripping wax?

 

One has one drippy thread and two are just kind of uneven where the wax flowed down. I don't think the wax is an indicator of which year you have, I think it's more of a difference of how the wax was applied on that given day. (Maybe how hot the wax was?)

 

This might be true, but I noticed a drastic difference between the two releases. Between that and the fact that they were on shelves about 10 months apart, I'm wondering if they're from a different batch. The ones that I got in early 2011 (I'd say around January) had very drippy wax similar to Maker's Mark bottles. The ones that I got in late 2011 (maybe around November) have very even and straight wax (similar to Fifty Fifty Eclipe bottles - like in the picture above). I have about 5 or so of each type, and I'm just really curious if there is a difference in the barrels used and the amount of time they were aged. I guess maybe what's more important than the wax is that they were distributed so far apart. That's what makes me wonder if they're different batches.

 

So to clarify, 2009 and prior was aged in younger barrels, aged for 6 months, and released in bombers with the label of the wrecked ship. Then there was no 2010 release. Beginning in 2011 they started the new format of 12 oz bottles with the black label. And you're saying there were two bottlings in 2011? This would make sense given what I stated above ^.

And you're saying that the first 2011 bottling (January?) was from 22 year-old barrels and aged for 20 months? And then the second bottling (later in 2011?) was from 10 year-old barrels and aged for one year? Finally, did you say you found all of this on Arcadia's website?

 

I think LiquidTable said it accurately. They are separate batches that use the same base beer Balz Porter (a Baltic Porter), but instead of having a 2010 release the brewer decided to leave the beer in the barrels until early 2011, thus the 20 months of aging. Aging in the barrel was less for the late 2011 release. I don't have any info on the age of the barrels for the later batch.

 

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Josh is no longer at Arcadia.

 

Josh left Arcadia over a year ago (maybe closer to two years now) and went to a new brewery project somewhere in Pennsylvania.

 

IIRC he went to a start up near State College, PA. He supervised the move of the Jackson/Ziggs/Local brew house to there.