Abnormal Brewing - Summer 2017

Different physical barrel and I believe there will be different treatments from each one. I believe barrel #4 had some vanilla put into it.

@HeyBeerMe can confirm though, although he is away from that project now so anything can change.

 

holy fucking shit. new levels of disgustingly overpriced beer. big. fat. NOPE.

 

Lol!! fuck you Abnormal

 

I'm still more annoyed by their pick up window than the pricing.

 

Abnormally high prices. $26 for 375, annormal brewing are Aholes.

 

Derek needs that new brew house MONAY. Help a brotha out lol

 

From a production perspective, is it really so overpriced? Abnormal could have released two barrel aged beers in the time it took to age this beer. The complaints about price seem based entirely on the consumer's perspective. Granted, the consumer's perspective matters, but let's not pretend there isn't another side to this.

 

I've never had Pappy but American whiskey drinkers apparently worship the stuff.

I can't tell the difference between a stout aged in High West barrels and one aged in Buffalo Trace, but maybe Pappy is different?

 

You'll find a lot of threads debating whether Pappy barrels are that much better than other barrels. My inclination is no. Maybe a beer put in a very fresh and wet Pappy barrel would taste noticeably different, but even then, I doubt the difference would warrant the Pappy (barrel) worship that you mentioned.

 

No one can. Anyone that claims to be able to is full of it.

 

I would say so. They continue to increase the price, as this will be the priciest release so far. And the bottles just keep getting smaller and smaller. 22oz to 500ml to 375ml.

R I P

 

At over $2/oz, this is some of the priciest stuff I’ve ever seen. I know Pappy barrels must be more expensive to acquire than something with lesser name recognition. But seeing as how Abnormal has always been an industry leader in price gouging, I’m guessing the price would’ve been lofty either way.

 

that and its not a shareable format wtfff

 

What is that? A beer for ants???

 

Seems to be a lot of misconceptions with this beer. I’ll clear them up...

There were five barrels of emptied 20 year old Pappy van Winkle that I received almost three years ago. One we sold to Urge (who already came out with two beers from it) and four went to me. The contents that was put into these barrels was the fourth batch ever brewed at Abnormal and was a huge stout that was undrinkable when it was racked into the oak. Undrinkable and highly boozy on purpose because I wanted to make something that could age in the barrel for a long time and not get that overly oxidized raisin like character after it was done. I wish I could’ve released it earlier but I needed the beer to taste as good as it could be. 8 months after filling the barrels I sampled them...too hot. 12 months later...still too hot. After the same experience sampling them at 14 months I just said, “fuck it” and let them age for 24 months. Two years after the fill date I sample them again and what I tasted was completely different. Complex layers of vanilla, oak, bourbon and chocolate was what I got. Now they were ready! But instead of blending them all together I wanted to showcase each barrel, as they were each uniquely great. The fourth barrel, however, was my least favorite of them all so I decided to blend it down with some leftovers of the base stout and treat it with Tahitian Vanilla Beans and Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee roasted by Mostra. I’m with you guys and think the pick up window should be way longer but it also caters more to the local crowd who can make the pick up more easily than someone in LA. As for the price, it’s expensive, but it’s also a luxury product that you don’t need. If you don’t think it’s worth your perceived value then be fiscally responsible and don’t buy it. But for those who do find this series worth buying I hope you enjoy it with a great group of friends. So to summarize the details of these upcoming releases, four Imperial Stouts will be released from four different 20 year old Pappy van Winkle barrels. Barrels 1-3 are unblended and untreated whereas Barrel 4 was blended and treated with vanilla and JBM coffee. No draft for barrels 1-3, everything will go into bottles. All beers were completely finished and set into kegs before I left. The only things Abnormal had to do is bottle and sell them however they wanted.

I’m pretty sure I’m one of the most open and honest brewers you’ll know of. Ask me anything about my beers, I have no secrets. If anything, people will disagree with me on pricing, package size, or release details but I assure you they are highly calculated decisions to keep the business going in the direction that it’s supposed to. I hope you guys have been enjoying the beers that I made down in SD because I’m looking to create even better stuff at Moksa.

 

@HeyBeerMe I'm curious, if you don't mind, how do barrels 1-3 differ? Was there a goal you had for each barrel or was it hard to control the direction they took?

Btw, I actually really liked barrel 4 when I had it at Abnormal's anniversary. And good luck with Moksa! I'll drop by when it opens.

 

The originally goal was to blend them all together but because they were all good, and slightly different, I thought it would be cool to let people try each barrel separately just as I did. Barrel one is my favorite, lots of chocolate and most vanilla like compounds out of all the barrels, barrel three had a little bit of a smoke quality to it, barrel two...I forgot but it was different different than the rest. All barrels have the same base beer and were held at 60 degrees for 24 months.

 

That went pretty smooth.

 

That was fast...

 

well that sold out quickly rip beer prices