Wine Barrel Aged Beers

Deschutes Mirror Mirror, Humboldt/Nectar Black Xantus, lots of sour stuff (e.g., from Russian River).

 

I visited Russian River a few years back and was impressed with their wine barrel offerings. Don't ask me what they were though.

 

Bitter Monk from Anchorage. Nice Chard notes terrifically complicated beer

 

Prairie Artisan Ales has a surprisingly great tasting red wine barrel aged imperial stout.

 

please allow me:

http://russianriverbrewing.com/brews/beatification/
http://russianriverbrewing.com/brews/consecration/
http://russianriverbrewing.com/brews/supplication/
http://russianriverbrewing.com/brews/temptation/

 

Just an FYI, DFH 61 is brewed with syrah grape must, but it never touches the inside of a wine barrel.

As for suggestions, the Russian River sours (as mentioned) are a great place to start. Goose Island Madame Rose was also just released (Oud Bruin aged in wine barrels with cherries) and should be easy enough to come by.

Stille Nacht Reserva is another excellent wine barrel aged beer, and Tired Hands has some excellent bottle releases that have been aged in wine barrels. You would need to trade for any of these though.

 

A lot of Anchorage beers see the inside of a wine barrel... Darkest Hour split time between rye whisky and pinot noir barrels, Love Buzz was in pinot noir barrels, and Tide and Its Takers, Whiteout Wit and Bitter Monk (as noted) spent time in chardonnay barrels.

Russian River wine barrel beers are Supplication (pinot noir), Consecration (cabernet sauvignon), and Temptation (chardonnay) at least that I'm aware of. I didn't think Beatification spent time in wine barrels, just oak...

Others that come to mind:

Deschutes--in addition to Mirror Mirror, The Abyss (bourbon and pinot noir), Green Monster (pinot noir), The Stoic and Not The Stoic (rye whiskey and wine), and The Dissident (pinot noir).

Odell--although they don't seem to specify what types of wine barrels... Amuste, Footprint RegionAle (only 10%), and DeConstruction

And of course, the "sister beers" from Goose Island: Lolita, Juliet, Halia, Gillian and Madame Rose.

Bottom line is that there aren't any easy-to-get and/or cheap wine barrel aged beers, unfortunately.

 

Thanks for refreshing my memory...

 

Bush de Nuits on Nuits-Saint-Georges barrels.

 

Among the many great ones mentioned... All the new Almanac sours are aged in indescript wine barrels..

Dogpatch Sour (wine barrels and cherries
Valley of the Hearts(one of my favs)
Farmers Reserve Blackberry
Farmers Reserve Pluot(plumXapricot in wine barrels)

etc. All very great sours, although wine aging is for "many months" as Almanac claims so its not an extremely present wine characteristic like the RR sours. Definitely worth a try though.

 

Almost all lambics are wine barrel aged also.

 

Had Mirror, Mirror on tap. A truly wondrous experience.

Deschutes Class of '88 Belgian Dark Ale should be added to the list (Merlot); although, I, personally, didn't care for it. Others have given it quite high marks.

 

Victory White Monkey, white wine not red wine barrels, but the base beer is pretty awesome.

 

Victory Red Thunder is a baltic porter aged in red wine barrels.

 

Victory Red Thunder is an affordable and readily available option.

 

There are many good options from Mikkeller, Evil Twin and To Öl also.

 

J.W. Lees Vintage Harvest Ale is my favorite English barleywine, & they release a batch aged in port barrels. Excellent stuff.

 

Bruery sucre has two wine barrel variants this year.

 

Allagash Interlude.