Toppling Goliath collaboration with Binny's Beverage Depot

You technically should be tasting the oak and barrel char. In a strong alcoholic beer, it may taste as though it's boozier due to the character the oak imparts, but it's rare if ever do I think "oh that tastes just like Elijah Craig" or whatever.

 

The Central Store in Moline, IL uses the same distributor as Binny’s and gets the largest selection I’ve seen on the west side of Illinois. They also drive to Chicago twice a week to pick up stuff. I heard they’re the only place getting Phase 3 brewing outside Chicago. They’re a verified venue on Untappd and update the menu regularly. A bit closer than Chicago for you in Dubuque.

 

If that were the case then any charred barrel would impart the same flavor regardless of wine, rye, scotch, rum, calvados, bourbon, etc. I think we can all discern the taste of the spirit in most popular BA beers.

 

Also, not all use American Oak IIRC.

 

The suggestion that someone would need to say: "oh that tastes just like Elijah Craig" to prove the validity of spirits influencing the flavor of a barrel aged beer feels specious. How many people can blind taste a whiskey and tell you it's Elijah Craig? Not many. How many of those people are craft beer geeks who are tasting EC barrel aged beers with you? Even fewer. How many people could blind taste a plain stout with a few eyedrops of EC and identify it? Few. How many people could blind taste two stouts, one with eyedrops of EC and another with Rittenhouse Rye and tell that they were DIFFERENT (even if they can't identify which is which)? Close to everybody (assuming you have access to whiskey, this is a pretty easy experiment to try at home).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I take "you technically should be tasting..." to mean that, because it's "illegal" to add spirits, and therefore 'wet barrels' just means not completely dry and desiccated barrels, that you're calling into question whether beers ACTUALLY taste of their distinctive spirits. I don't think there's compelling evidence to suggest it's likely that brewers dump all the liquid out, if there is any (based on interviews with brewers who've talked about their practices) or that if they do, that people still wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

And since it's possible to know what these various oaks taste like, it's also possible to discern what's beer, what's wood, and what's spirit. The distinctive flavor of a rum barrel aged beer, for example, is not a wood expression.

 

"Enough booze for a party" via pouring in 1 gal of water, rolling it around, and then dumping out a gal of water with as much charred barrel and a little bit of bourbon? I've never been to a party where people are looking for dirty water with a bunch of barrel soot and a little booze mixed in, and if you've ever seen what comes out at the end of a barrel dump, you'd know what I'm talking about, it's not pretty (which is why distilleries don't do a bunch of effort to get every last drip drop out).

That sounds like like a TON of work to get crummy, dirty booze, when they could just go to the quote unquote "store" and buy suitcases of beer or Kentucky Gentleman or Velikoff or whatever.

With all due respect, that story stinks to high hell, and doesn't even come close to passing the sniff test IMO. Sorry if I come off rude but when you re-referenced that, I gotta say something. I think he was puling your leg.

 

Lots of useful information.

Since the Distiller dumps I doubt many Brewers who eventually wind up with those barrels even bother with dumping. Inspecting what they got? They'd better....

 

I agree that he could have been joking, but that's not a good idea when doing a tour unless you make it plain it's a joke. (Trust me on this, I once upon did some guiding...)

Yes. That's what the guy told me and he had experience. Did you go to school in the Lexington area? If not you can't be sure it didn't happen....

BTW the water is not Dirty unless you pour dirty water in. The moisture on walls and ends of the barrels and in the pores of the wood is high proof Bourbon. Also any soot was gone long before the Distiller filed the barrel and if not it would have come out and been bottled along with in the Bourbon you buy by the bottle. (Remeber the glug glug effect when pouring out the Bourbon, lots of agitation of liquid there.)

As for the frat boys doing that work for free booze, what else are pledges for?

(Bet you were never a frat boy. )

No offense taken what-so-ever.

But there are problems with your sniff test such that a bit of reconsideration might be needed. The story didn't flunk yet because your story contains inferences that don't 100% match reality.

So I'll stick with believing the guy since he was from the area and gave the most detailed comprehesive tour I've had of a Distillery. (This was not my first. BTW) But thanks anyway.

 

Look at everything that comes out from the original 'gravity' dump... and you're talking about sloshing it around to get every nook and cranny? I didn't mean dirty, I mean pieces of char, pieces of wood, sediment, etc. Just watch this video:



What you are saying doesn't make a lick of sense, and your statements about soot not being in the barrel when the liquid goes in, is totally incorrect. Sorry man, your guy was pulling your leg (and you're not very knowledgeable about bourbon production). It's okay though!

 

I’ll watch for sure, always open to learning but am also curious. OK, the soot is in there along with bits and pieces that also come out and that don't wind up in the bottle of bourbon. If the distiller filters or something similar before bottling to give us nice clear liquid.in the bottle is there an obvious reason why the frat boys could not improvise a filtering, say with a coffee filter? Curiosity is strong.

 

Thanks for the video and none of the tours I've been have showed us that part of the process...

But I've watched the video and still have questions. Lots of junk comes pouring out for sure. So certainly something remains inside with what ever liquid has not dripped out. With more than one barrel to empty it doesn't make much sense that they barrels would be allowed to sit to the very last drop.

Bring in the frat boys and their water. For sure, from that video, it seems there'd be still some junk left in the barrel. But it still seems that after the water treatment is finished the barrel could be sitting there dripping for a while. Then the liquid filtered and consumed.

BTW I do appreciate what you have to offer here. As I said I'm always open to learning from my mistakes or poor assumptions...

 

Never underestimate the ingenuity of frat boys planning a party.

 

Can't wait for people to hoard them then charge $500 a bottle down the road.

 

Barrel rinse is the classy step up from drinking mouthwash or huffing solvents...

 

https://www.binnys.com/blog/post/toppling-goliath-barrel-slayer

MSRP for this is $80

No shame.

 

The brewery is selling 1 per person @ $50 on Nov. 9. They’re calling it Stout Stock. Assassin 2019 will be available same price and limit. Stout Hawk (Collab w/Horus) $40/3 person/per line pass and 2 MDs not sure price on those.