Revolution Brewing (2019)

Yep, this is why I've loved Rev's program the last few years. Don't get me wrong; I still love beers like Midnight Orange, Benthic, etc., but it's been a lot of fun trying all of Rev's adjunct-free stuff (and please, I don't want to get into a discussion about what an adjunct is). I'm a sucker for "extra-aged" stouts.

 

It doesn't connotate pastry stout, it connotates too much going on....just read the descriptions.

 

I think it's pretty cool to be able to try isolated components of a final blended product. I like the idea of being a taste detective and trying to figure out where certain notes in the finished beer blend come from. I keep saying I'm going to come down there for these Rev releases then never make it but this is the most tempting taplist yet for me.

Also what is a 'money barrel?' Is that a bit of legit distillery lingo or just Rev hyping single barrel one-off beers? Honest question. I googled it and only got stuff about horse barrel racing.

 

Seems like it's something where they only acquired a single barrel from a distillery.

It might have something to do with their "sanctuary barrel" program, also.

https://revbrew.com/the-sanctuary-barrel-program

 

FWIW, we were able to try 6 Single Barrel 2016 BCBS here in Ohio, back in 2017... I didn't think it would show a huge difference between each, but went anyway, out of curiosity... It ended up being of the coolest experiences in barrel aging I've been able to see. Each barrel tasted pretty vastly different, even more so than different vintages of the same beer tasting different.

 

Seems like single barrel Boss Ryeway

Seems like single barrel Boss Ryeway

Straight Jacket in two different barrels blended together.

Double barrel

Only one that is somewhat complicated. Two different beers in one barrel blended with another barrel aged beer.

Adjunct double barrel VSOJ

idk. I'm just not seeing that these are super complicated. Just gonna leave it that we have differing opinions on what too much is.

 

Rev or someone else may have done some tastings of single barrels and picked one to use for barrel aging beers. Binny's (and some other liquor stores) sometimes have selected barrels that are bottle specifically for them after doing a tasting at the distillery. I have a Four Roses single barrel that was specially selected by Binny's that has a specific code and barreling/bottled date on it.

 

Firestone Walker??.....albeit not with the variety of barrels, more so with the blending together their other flagship BA Brews for their Anniversary Brew

 

Ahh good call! I was thinking of them as I was writing that and just forgot to put them in there. Their new one just dropped too and I'm excited to try it out.

 

Never saw that page. Interesting read and thanks for sharing. Makes me wonder what happens to the Sanctuary beers that don't turn out well. Can they just keep re-barreling and adding flavoring ingredients until they feel like they are on to something or does there come a point of such diminished returns it just gets dumped? Any chance you have any light you could shed @Veliksta1 ?

 

Two sanctuary beers will be at the January Deep Woods release, it looks like. From reading that page, it seems like they don't just do this with any beer/barrels. They actually select things they feel will go well together. So not sure how much they just keep re-barreling and adding to it.

Cursed Man

And then this one, which looks to be Boss Ryeway Select: Cuvee de Grace.

• In January, we’ve got a project that Scott calls “completely mental” [he means that in a good way] - Straight Jacket begun in a WhistlePig Boss Hogg Armagnac barrel, transferred to Heaven Hill bourbon barrels, and topped off with a bit of Very Special Old Ryeway. It’s been aging since late 2016, and is more than ready for its time to shine.

 

Finishing a Cafe Deth right now for the first time in a month+. This beer is just so damn good. The balance of the barrel, sweetness, and coffee roast on this is really impressive.

@Veliksta1 are you able to share what coffee Rev used in this? The packaging is pretty general in that it's a Chicago roaster.

 

Definitely Mikerphones fault

 

Fairly sure it's Dark Matter but don't know the specific bean origin/blend or roast (light or dark) that was used.

 

Had my first can of vsoj tonight. Aaaaand, yep, incredible. Gonna be tough to top that one.

 

You know that new emoji where the guy's brain is exploding? Sometimes you're tasting barrels and 1 barrel in particular generates that reaction among the team. It's so mind-blowingly perfect that we think it can/should stand alone and be showcased, rather than blending it in with the larger batch. That happened with a barrel a Ryeway to Heaven aged in a The Boss Hog Armagnac cask, as well as one of the Peerless Rye Whiskey barrels. The two "money" barrels as Marty called them were turned into draft so that you all could taste them as well.

Luckily I haven't heard of us having to do this yet with a Sanctuary beer, but if a beer didn't turn out well, it would go right down the drain. We would never add "flavoring ingredients" to cover up a flaw and almost never add anything to Sanctuary beers unless it was the intention from the beginning, like adding Vanilla Beans. We did over 1100 barrels last year and would never hesitate to dump a few barrels to avoid jeopardizing our programs reputation.

Here's a 2 minute crash course with the name of the two coffees and more info:

 

@Veliksta1 can you give us a sense of the quantity of Straight Jacket that will be going out to distro in Chicagoland? It was great seeing Deth's Tar & Cafe Deth stacks at my local Binny's & be able to pick up a few 4 packs over a few trips. Can we expect a similar quantity of SJ to be available in the wild?

Last year I needed to come into the city to get SJ at the brewpub because my local Binny's were breaking up the packs & selling by the can. Just want to plan accordingly as I won't be able to make the release next Friday.

 

So my question is if a few select barrels are producing mind blowing results, what does Revolution do, if anything, to document, measure, or study the barrels/conditions that yielded the results? Is it just a serendipitous "that was cool, let's share it" or is it a "how did we get that result, let's figure out why this barrel turned out so much better than all the others" ? It sounds like if you could identify these types of barrels that yield top results consistently you could elevate the barrel program even further.

 

Really good point. Making some assumptions, which may be bad. But I wonder if there is a little bit of lack of control on the individual quality of a specific barrel they get. Sure they try to get the best quality barrels possible, but they don't know if a specific barrel they are aging beer in is more special than the one next to it. But I would think that they log the position of the "money" barrel and can test that location with future barrels in that same location to see if there is a sweet spot in their building that produces exceptional results.