What is the hype behind barrel aging?

With the right beer, it makes it amazing. With the wrong beer, it makes it a mess.
Curiously, Backwoods Bastard has tasted like both of those things to me from bottle to bottle.

 

Barrel aging requires experience and a good barrel source at the very least. Many brewers have tried and failed. It is in itself a separate art form apart from the brewing process. It may work for you after another 1000 points under your belt.

 

This is one of those threads where @utopiajane, @TongoRad, or @Roguer chimes in to say something more profoundly and eloquently than me, but here goes nothing.

First, opinions are like assholes... You know the rest.

Second, none of said bad opinions are fact.

Third, both sides of this coin are worth the same. There are indeed people who do not care for wine or spirits at all, and further more, could not bear the thought of combining with a perfectly good beer. True dat.
However, there are people who enjoy all of those items separately, and together. There are even people who don't care for one, the other, or all above that do enjoy these attributes in beer.

For example, I do not drink coffee, and mostly despise wine. I love Founder's Breakfast Stout (among many others) and Clown Shoes Billionaire and Deschutes Mirror Mirror which are both aged in Cabrenet barrels off the top of my head. Some beers and spirits (as well as tons of other ingredients) can play really well off of each other. There are plenty of poor examples out there, and taking any base beer and throwing it into a barrel does not make it better by default. There are some excellent beers that I think were worse after aging.

My last point would be that not understanding "hype" could indeed be something that you acclimate to eventually, or not. Nothing wrong either way. Drink what you like. All I am saying is that I have been drinking what I would call "quality" beer for 5 or 6 years, and when I joined this site last Jan after stalking everyone for a year, I didnt get the "IPA" hype. My how things have changed in the last 12 months. I have thoroughly enjoyed a lot of beers that almost turned me away from real craft brews in the past. Mainly because I never say never, and will try anything. I still don't like sours, and most farmhouse ales, but I better try them all to be safe By the way, I like the user name OP

Edit: have you tried Weyerbacher Insanity or Dogfish Head Burton Baton? Nice oak flavor without any spirits

 

*Applause*

 

So far my experience has been an enhanced alcohol profile in the finish. Likely from not-so-adept brewers who may have been on the barrel-aged bandwagon. I did not get the wood, did not get the bourbon (both tries were bourbon barrels), just got the alcohol bump. I really want to taste a beer that gives me those profiles (awaiting suggestions...).

As such I will give the two RR beers (supplication, consecration) a shot when I find them to see if the wine side comes through. On a note directed at the OP, I happen to really like Pinot and Cabernet (and woody bourbons) and as such I hope to enjoy brews that have theses notes. But my expectation is that these will be highlight notes, not Sparkling-Pinot-with-hops.

OP said he doesn't really like wine or whiskey, so this becomes an issue of personal preference and a willingness to attempt to expand the palate. The adventurous will go into uncomfortable spaces with flavor more than one time, but eventually we have to acknowledge when we simply don't like something. I have tried about five different Absinthes, ranging from what I am told is crap to the real deal. It all tasted like black licorice. The Swiss stuff had some notable citrus and herbal notes... hiding behind a lot of black licorice. I hate black licorice. I tried. I really tried, and not only got an assault on my palate but really wasted in the process. I don't like being wasted anymore. So I had to admit that as hip, cool, retro, rebel, whatever Absinthe is, I am not.

So at some point, OP can happily and with confidence and calm declare he's just not a barrel-aged guy. Life's too short to drink beer you don't like (after reasonable attempts to expand one's horizons). You can be plenty sophisticated and not like something that other self-styled sophisticates enjoy.

 

That's like a "like" with a hug!

 

In the way you are couching the overall discussion and some of the words you are using to get your point across that you do not like it. It is.
Anyhoo.
Liking wine or spirits helps, but it's not terribly necessary to develop an appreciation for ba beers. All the barrel is is another way of introducing flavor to the beer. If you can handle beers that introduce things outside of the four basic ingredients of yeast, grain, water and hops; the barrel should just be considered another component in that range of ingredients.
Consider the Hairy Eyeball; which appears that you gave a rather good rating for. That beer would be heavenly thrown down into a bourbon barrel that isn't overly wet with residual alcohol from the distillery. With everything it has going on for the palate, it'd just add another dimension in appreciating it. It'd probably taste like a hot mess if the barrel was too wet though.

 

Q&A w/ Guy with No Brain:

Guy: I HATE IPAs. WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE THEM?

Answer: I'll tell you dummy, people just like beer because how it makes you feel; and now, it comes in various styles and tastes. More commonly, this question is asked about IPA's and barrel-aged variants before any brain-use is involved. I also wish we could go back in time to 5:16pm, Today.

 

You said it very well, but I'll expand on this part a bit because it seems to play into what is being perceived as 'hype'. And it's not just barrel-aged beers that are guilty of this, but the many flavored ones as well.

A lot of times, my main shop will bring in a new beer, and the guys there will make sure to bring it to my attention; most of the time it is some kind of BBA and/or flavored beer. This is a major way that a brewer gets noticed these days, especially a new one, and is able to get product on the shelves. Customers are naturally intrigued by something unusual, and will oftentimes associate that flavor or technique with something truly great that they've had before- the assumption that this new thing will be tasty as well. Naturally, as with everything else, the skill of the brewer plays a huge role in the final outcome, and many times these guys just don't have it.

So- the question seems to be, are we caught in some sort of feedback loop at the moment? Many BBA and flavored beers are certainly anticipated highly even before they've been released. Good or not, chances are they will sell fairly well. And so, the incentive to go down that path to being noticed continues; and it seems that more shelf space goes their way.

I can see how somebody would notice a lot of that curiosity and excitement- especially if it's mixed in with a lot of anticipation for the classic and limited releases- and wonder what the hell is going on. Couple that with perhaps only trying some of the lesser examples, and I'm sure many people are asking the same things that the OP is wondering about.

 

Needs barrel aging!

 

Good point. Shelf space, or getting picked off said shelf has to be the biggest issue overall for breweries right now. Especially newer/smaller ones. I was actually just thinking about this the other day while walking up and down the coolers. I was amazed at how many excellent beers I was looking at that I hadn't purchased in months, or even years. Is it because there are too many good beers already to pick between, or because we have all had a majority of them and are looking for the newest/ next best thing?
Without getting too far off topic, I would say somewhere in between. While it can be difficult to choose Black Butte vs Edmund Fitzgerald for example, many times it's neither because I am going for a seasonal/special release while I can. This is bad when it becomes the IPAs that are being passed over. It is causing a lot of great beer to go to waste. I checked every Resin I came across that day and they all said best by July 15. I feel like we may have reached the saturation point. I hate to say there is too much beer, but...

 

I agree with this point, but I think its interesting and funny that every time someone makes it, they use the verb "throwing". Throwing it into a barrel, as if inferior brewers just carelessly chuck their beer into the barrels from across the room.

 

Totally agree with your explanation. For further reference, see the thread about Firestone Walker...

 

Go find and drink an Eclipse Elijah Craig 12 year.

 

Sigh. You clearly couldn't HAVE been drinking beer ...

 

For me the barrel aging seems to differ slightly from one time to another. I can have one and be blown away how good it is, then have the same beer 4 days later and just think it's okay, next time blown away again (from the same 4 pack). I don't know if it has to do with your mood at the time, what you've eaten earlier, or other factors but BBA stouts seem to do this more than other styles. Maybe it's just me...

 

Its not hype if it's done right.

Some beers like Eclipse use different barrels and each beer has different flavor profiles. They are good beers but tend to be on the expensive side.

On the other hand a beer like ( http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/619/70718/ ) this barrel aged amber is barrel aged, more expensive but does not have a good rating. If your first barrel aged beer is not a good one you may have a bad taste in your mouth.

 

The hype is bourbon (majority that is aged it seems). But don't discount wine barrel aged (chardonnay belgians- GOOD stuff, pinot barrels for a foreign dry stout- amazing). Even bacardi rum barrels for a barley wine- quite amazing!. Tequila barrel aged IPAs- Solid stuff. Even virgin oak staves aren't off limits (the wood from the barrels is thrown into the fermenter in small pieces). It's almost all woody flavor without any sort of alcohol. Then one could age one beer with the staves and move them into a next beer. A true evolution could come about in just 5-6 years time.

Some of these flavors are so subtle, one can wonder where they are or why its twice as much $$ as the other beers. I feel bourbon is the easiest distinguishing factor in having people know exactly what they paid for.. Not that their palettes aren't fine tuned but the majority rules out for now.

 

You're breaking your own rule.