Separate Entries For Different Barrels?

I voted yes. Fifty Fifty's Eclipse series is based on the same base stout being aged in different barrels. For me, I can taste the differences between those aged in different types of Bourbon for roughly the same amount of time. Those aged in different spirits are very different in taste for me.

 

This ^
If it's the same beer, in the same type of barrel, just a different brand, then just note what vintage/brand in the review.
If it's in a different type of barrel, then do a separate entry :
XYZ Stout - Bourbon Barrel Aged
XYZ Stout - Gin Barrel Aged
etc.

 

Only for marketing purposes, the bourbons influence is only as great as the barrel is wet, even then you’d never know the barrel or the distiller, there’s just not enough whiskey there to do anything but give some influence to the beer. And if the barrels are too wet the brewer will blend them down for fear of being too boozy, but even then there’s no way anyone can convince me the distillery barrels make a difference or any one could tell brand. Not possible imo.

 

Quality of ingredients is important for sure. BUT

If you choose old citra hops from a lackluster harvest instead of fresh, vibrant ones, the beer won't be as good. Doesn't warrant a separate listing, just a lower score.

 

I agree, but none of the barrels used ever held shit whiskey, I’d guess you’d be hard pressed to really find a truly shit bourbon. Sure some are better than others , but even better is subjective. Now shit Canadian blended whiskies are a real thing. Imo of course, lol.

 

Some good answers, and I can't disagree with anyone who says, "it depends"

I'll throw this in with a few others (specific to barrel aging):
Is the difference in similar barrels (i.e. different bourbons) expected to make a huge difference in makeup, enjoyment, etc. or simply to provide some nuance? Is the barrel really taking over the beer so much that it will turn a 4.5 beer into a 4.0 beer? Or does any other batch variance have more to do with that?

If the differences (across many reviewers) are more qualitative than quantitative (i.e. this is still a 4.25 beer, but slightly different than last year's 4.25 beer), things can be noted in a review and other BAs can gain confidence that 100 people have rated a beer vs 10 people rating 10 different, but basically the same, beers.

I guess one might ask, is the goal of the BeerAdvocate rating/review database to help others get an idea of a beer or to have a place for individual BAs to split out all their individual experiences with a beer? And can one or the other be accomplished in a way that doesn't affect the other?

 

You make good points. The person I was replying to made the claim that barrels that held whiskey for longer are better. Based on his claim I think my analogy works.

 

I think your right , but the barrels being used for beers aren’t significantly different in profiles. Now what if you dumped beers into a hot Laphroaig barrel I might agree fully. But that’s not the case here, Knob Creek= Craig= rye= Wild Turkey. They’re all too similar.

 

I'm not suggesting that ultimately its about distilleries house character like Haven Hill vs Buffalo Trace, it's about the time distillate spent in the barrel extracting flavor. And you can extrapolate that from the brand of bourbon barrel one purchases. Barrels only have so much love to give to their contents, and Bourbon flavor in beer is not from the distillate, but from what remains to react chemically in the wood.

You can't get that "new oak coconut" from an Eagle Rare barrel, even if you rebuild/retoast it, the wood simply cannot give you those flavors because the precursors not longer exist. So if a brewer, or anyone else for that matter, is looking to add that specific nuance, they should look elsewhere, and if they chose to reveal the source of that barrel, that's pretty neat.

 

@Todd
haha, soaking in, I get it

If the brewer decided to use a local crop of Citra from 2018, and made note of the farm on the bottle, I think it should warrant it's own listing. Total brewer transparency and recipe tweaks are great and I love the nerdy nuance, but I think we should just defer to the brewers intention.

Especially with the types of beers we are discussing (Lambic, BBA Stout, Barley Wine) they are limited, and often benefit from cellaring, making vintage differentiation important.

These are the questions.