Fremont BBA Dark Star 2017

Sweet; any word on variants / ancient one?

 

Just add this to the Fremont thread

 

Since Ancient One took two years in rare barrels I doubt a 2nd batch would be ready this soon. Also makes it less ancient if it pops up again this soon. That said I love Spice Wars, so anything along those lines would be good for me. A vanilla bean Dark Star would be perfect.

 

I still miss the 22 oz bottles of regular Dark Star oak aged with hazelnuts and smoked peppercorns.

 

You can release a 24 month aged beer every year. Obviously barrel availability and space might be issues but it wouldnt be any less ancient lol

 

Getting 35 year heaven hills barrels isn't easy.

 

I'm visiting seattle at october 3rd. would it be possible to get a bottle or taste those vertical tap some days after the release D-day....?

 

The vertical will probably be gone, but you'll have no problem getting bottles or trying this year's KDS on tap.

 

Well thats a shame, its an amazing beer.

 

I was on the edge of a conversation on this topic yesterday, among folks who would know, and the prices of any decent barrels are getting near the prohibitive level. The consensus seemed that for small breweries, a barrel program is a labor of love, more than a profit center. Some money will be made, but it's not what folks outside think it is. When a brewery is spending multiple hundreds of dollars per barrel, and even if they've only got 20-30 barrels, and then the beer sits there for up to two years, that's a lot of cash tied up, before we even start talking about fancy labels and nice packaging.

IMHO, we're going to start seeing less BA beers packaged from the small breweries (tap only), while the bigger breweries, yes Inbev (10 Barrel, Elysian, GI), start to dominate that sector.

 

My hope is that with the surge of PNW distilleries we might be able to offset the trend of big breweries buying up barrels, but that might be a pipe dream.

Although it'll be 20 years before they have any 35 y/o barrels lol

 

You can do different barrels too, doesn't have to be 35 year Heaven Hill barrels.

 

Doubtful they will ever make one. Bourbon requires the use of charred new oak, and generally doesn't age anywhere near that long because the oak tends to be overpowering by that point. You see very few that pass the 15 year mark.

In this case, the marketing spin was Heaven Hills had found these "lost" barrels but even if this was a deliberate experiment, it was a failed one. Not only does a large percentage of the bourbon evaporate (by this formula, there would be 15.5 gal per 53 gal barrel after 35 years), but they also never sold the bourbon from these barrels because it wasn't any good.

Since this isn't Bourbon Advocate, let me get this back on track and say more Spice Wars please

 

Interestig @WA_Brian.

I thought the "ancient" aspect was more that it was aged longer than the normal batches; which in the end seems to be one of the main factors in the difference

 

Just tried it tonight athe SLU Whole Foods; excellent as always!

 

Not to go off topic (too much) but how was the event? Was tempted to try my luck at picking up a bottle of B2000 but wasn't keen on fighting peak hour traffic on the 520.

 

I wasn't keen on heading to SLU at 5 either so stopped by at 8 and the event was over other than the tap list.

3 cases at a Whole Foods? Not sure how long that would last, werent any left at 8 tho lol.

 

THE 520? This isn't California.