<100% Liquor Barrel-aged Beers

W00tstout!

 

I just had a bourbon barrel aged Belgian imperial stout yesterday ABV 12.5% made by stable 12 brewery. It was amazing!!!! All the right flavors were there but it was liquered up it almost ruined the fun flavors of the beer...! I'm brewing a smoked chocolate porter right now, I decided to keg 5 gal of it to drink now and the other 5 gal is sitting on white oak wood chips that soaked in scotch. I sample it every week to find the nice balance of Booze and beer...

 

I like my BA beers boozy. With that said, I just had 3 Taverns Departed Spirit. To me, it wasn't boozy enough, but still had some woody/oaky characters. It too was an Belgian Imperial Stout. You might like that.

 

One that comes to mind fitting at least part of your description is:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/423/45541/

But I've no idea if it gets out to CA, so availability there might be a problem. The brewery website does have a distribution finder so that might help.

 

This trend will reach an apex when someone comes out with Bourbon Barrel Boilermaker brand.

 

Sierra Nevada barrel aged Narwhal is pretty "dialed back" and not boozy. You could find beer aged in 2nd or 3rd use barrels (less boozy) or simply wait 1-2 years to drink a barrel aged stout (like Parabola) and the heat typically dies down. I had a 2 year old Lost Abbey Track 10 with no heat, just woody barrel noted

 

You could also look for beers that spend less time in barrels (3 months vs the typical 8-12) as it will impart more of the barrel noted and less of the boozy quality that you are not a fan of. Mad Fritz (in napa California ) does this, although you can only get their stuff at the brewery or a few bars throughout that area (st Helena, yountville, napa proper). I am sure that their are other breweries that do this , however, I just can't think of any off the top of my head

 

More like a nadir than an apex. LOL

 

This is one I look forward to every year.

I think that the problem is that everyone, Americans in particular, tend to look for the extreme in everything.

 

On that note, I was thinking maybe some of the Innis & Gunn brews would be a good choice. I believe most of them are only in the barrel for around 2-3 months, so they're really not heavy on the booze/liquor flavors.

 

Consider either beers that were blended, or ones that were done with soaked spirited cubes/chips/spirals, or ones that were not aged very long.

 

Decent suggestion, but not always true. The avery gold foil stouts (Uncle Jacob's/Tweak/etc) are only BA'd for 3 months, but at brewed to 16%+ which extracts a huge barrel presence into the bottle.

I think the OP should look for lower ABV ba stouts/brown ales, something like Anderson Valley Wild Turkey BBA Stout, it's like 7%. I don't know the science exactly but I believe higher abv extracts more tannin. Think how dark all bourbons are, yet a chardonnay wine that's oak aged is still relatively yellow.

 

Imperial Stout makes it out your way, but it's not 100% barrel aged. It's typically a blend of 2/3 whiskey barrel-aged and 1/3 fresh beer. Bourbon Barrel Quad, from the same series, is 100% barrel aged.

 

Uncle Jacob's is aged for 6 months.

 

You are somewhat correct in the ABV, although I think some of that is the beer is just hotter in general, giving more perceived bourbon notes. But the wine comparison doesn't really hold. Much of that has to do with the toast level they put on the barrels themselves. Different levels allow whatever you put into the barrel to penetrate the wood more/less, which affects the color as well as imparted flavors.

I would agree thought, lower ABV, less barrel time will result in a less boozy product as perceived by your palate

 

A follow-up to drtth's post; Most of Boulevard's BA beers are blends and are therefore less than 100% barrel aged

 

XOCOVEZA charred was delicious and tasted like a slightly richer version of the O.G. Xoco but I didn't get much bourbon flavor at all