Barrel aged Oktoberfest?

Oak aged. Forewarning - it's not very good.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/689/61554/

 

Please no...

Not every style needs to be barrel-aged, least of all styles that thrive on subtlety.

 

Honestly the style as is works, I really hate to see a 14% BA Oktoberfest. We have plenty of the BA stuff sitting around as is.

 

I remember there being a lot of confusion when FW Oaktoberfest (not to be confused with Live Oak Oaktoberfest) first came out that it was aged on oak. It says on the packaging and site that it was fermented in stainless. If you check out the reviews for it many users confidently state oaky/woody notes...confirmation bias is a funny thing.

I for one wouldn't mind a beer finished in oak casks like the days of old. Not a stronger oktoberfest like Avery The Kaiser (yuck) but just a traditionally brewed one, conditioned in oak casks. I know it imparts very little (if any) flavor but I'd just love to see a oak barrel filled with that delicious malty amber (or pale) fluid without having to fly to Germany

 

Why can't people just be happy with good beer? Then there's this:

 

Oak flavor development normally wouldn't happen because most of those barrels are lined with pitch. An unlined barrel would definitely impart a lot of flavor. I've been playing around with Oak Barrels for primary fermentation and you get a LOT of oak flavor that way. I love the flavor that comes from it, but a lot of drinkers are confused by it saying it doesn't taste like oak thinking oak tastes like bourbon. I wanted to lager some of our Festbier in new oak this year, but I think the flavor is just too polarizing.

 

I had The Kaiser once and thought it was decent. I do enjoy Oktoberfests in general possibly more than the average BA.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the insight. One more question that I think you already answered when you said "new oak".....are you utilizing charred barrels (like whiskey barrels) or are you using fresh, un-burnt wood? I always have a tough time getting fresh oak notes from my beers. Cedar seems to do a better job as it is a more fragrant wood (and more noticeable to my palate at least). A local brewery Spellbound makes a nice Palo Santo Porter that uses Palo Santo staves to impart the woody flavor. Anyway, I like seeing "fresh" wood being utilized in beers more than the tired trend of bourbon/whiskey barrels (unless you can get your hands on one of those beautful Whsikey Del Bac barrels haha).

PS- a buddy of mine @AZBeerDude72 sent me some Amarillo Single Hop and other Tombstone beers. I don't even like amarillo that much but you really changed my mind on that one. I've never had the flavors from amarillo that you were able to coax out of that hop. Great job all around, keep up the good work!

 

I use a blend of toasted oak barrels. I use Medium+ and Heavy toast and then blend them together. I've also used toasted oak spirals that I added at the first day of fermentation and those beers have been very oak-y as well.

Glad you enjoyed the beers! The Amarillo I use in the pale ale is one of our selected lots of hops, so it is unblended and when I smelled that lot, I had to have it. Without the lot selection, I don't think I would use Amarillo as the variability is all over the place and a lot of what I've tasted in recent years has a peanut like flavor to me. All of our contracted hops are individually selected lots which makes a huge difference when trying to create a distinctive flavor and with getting access to the highest quality hops available each year.

 

BA Oktoberfest. Sounds counter-intuitive. But I'd be willing to try it before passing judgement.

 

How many liters will it take?

 

I don't think anyone uses untoasted wood. Though I've never tasted a beverage from untoasted wood, I believe it would be pretty gross and wood-y tasting, as opposed to the more restrained lactones and vanillin that you get from the toasted wood.

http://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/whats-in-wine/oak-lactones

 

I tried an oak aged beer that coors made a couple years ago. (yeah, odd for them), It tasted like straight up sawdust. I have to assume it was untoasted wood, it was like licking a sawmill.

Edit: it may have been labbatts prohibition series, only one I could find that looked familiar.

 

Well, may as well pastrify them as well. Oktobreakfast - brewed with coffee & maple syrup!

 

You can get that type of (off) flavor from over-oaking, especially if you use oak chips instead of actually barrel-aging.

 

Let’s DDH it with sauerkraut and call it a day

EDIT: Oh, and lactose. You can’t DDH without lactose. It’s a rule.

 

Sierr Nevada had Superfest on tap at the mills river brewery not long ago. It’s an imperial barrel aged version of this year’s collaboration. Didn’t try it so I can’t attest to how it tastes, but if it pops back up I’ll give it a go.