It's not always cut and dried. I recently added a 2025 vintage Winter Ale to this brewery's list. Why? because the 2019 and 2022 releases were added that way and I was trying to carry on some consistency. Is is a different beer? I don't know because I haven't tried the earlier beers. Judging by the earlier reviews they seem to be describing different beers, but again we are guessing unless there are clear differences in the brewers description or if you have actually tried the different versions and verified them as different.
But we definitely split up vintages of they use different types of barrels. Different bourbon barrels, for example, probably wouldn't result in a new listing. However, brandy versus bourbon definitely would.
Yes, but typically only when the spirit type differs or if it's double barrel aged versus aged only once. Bourbon one year and then Scotch, rum, brandy (etc.) another year would result in a new listing.
Maybe, maybe not. My understanding is that most of it is done post primary fermentation, ie; when it's beer, not wort. Let's use the office coffee pot as an analogy: There's a pot of coffee, and you pour a cup, and that's how you're going to drink it. I pour a cup, and leave some room for sugar. The next person puts cream in. The next, cream and sugar. The next, a couple pumps from a flavoring bottle. We're all drinking the same coffee, right? It came out of the same pot, after it was brewed. The addjunks were added in the container (cup/barrel/keg), so while it tastes the way the individual prefers, it's, at its core, the same coffee. As Hannibal said to Clarice "Remember your Marcus Aurelius: of each particular thing, ask what is it in itself. What is its nature?" Well, in spite of of the peppers, cocoa, coffee, bourbon, and wood, at its core, that stout is a stout. the addjunks are incidental. Think of a dry-hopped IPA. Should they be listed as a different beer from the base beer? Now, my understanding is also that sometimes things like pastries and cereals are added in the boil, mostly to reduce the chances of infections.
Thanks for the detailed reply, and yeah, you're right. I hadn't had enough coffee this morning before I replied to your thread. As a former homebrewer I should have known what happens. I agree that some flavoring can occur during the boil, and some during primary fermentation, but i'll guess that most flavoring of beer occurs during a period of secondary fermentation, especially if there is sugar involved with the flavoring ingredients, or in a bright/lagering tank or a barrel if the beer is a barrel-aged style. I should force myself to NOT reply to posts in the morning until I've had two cups of coffee.
