Let's talk about barrel aging beer

Damn it. You're right, thanks for that. It's like the kegs of soured BCBS were being released in Chicago as cherry pie bcbs or some such nonsense, that's a marketing ploy right out of every corporate America play book.

 

I've never trusted a "cherry flavored" stout since BCBS '15.

It just so happens one of my first trades ever was for BCBS '15, back when BCBS was difficult to get in my area. That 'soured' the taste even more, knowing I had traded away quite a bit of money to get those bottles that ultimately got dumped. I was ineligible for a refund too since I didn't buy the bottles myself.

 

Keep my beer out of barrels please.
If I wanted to taste whiskey, I'd drink whiskey.
The barrels overpower the malt/hop harmony in my opinion. It's a way to cover up an otherwise shitty beer.
Belgian sours are exempt.
But not in whiskey barrels for Christ's sake!
There have been several beers I was going to purchase until I read..Barrel aged in bla bla bla barrels. Yuck!
I can see aging a Barleywine in oak.
Even then I prefer it not to be.
I just gotta unload my frustrations somewhere. I know many of you will disagree.
What's next? A Woodford Reserve barrel aged Wit? Or Blonde ale?
Next thing they'll be aging beer in Tabasco barrels!

 

Id be down for a Tabasco barrel aged chelada.

 

Damn when is one of the slushy makers gonna age a lime and pineapple slushy sour in a tequila barrel?

 

In today's innovative "craft" brewing industry it is difficult to think of an outrageous, seemingly impossible ingredient or process to use as a sarcastic example without some brewer having both thought of it and done it already.
Tabasco Barrel Aged Chili Pepper Ale
Six Rivers Brewery

 

That beer has been listed since 2015, yet no one has reviewed it. I wonder if that says something.

 

Nasty!

 

There was a sort of chili beer arms race between them and their neighbors, mad river brewing company, over the course of the early 2000s. This was the pinnacle that I'm aware of..

However both of their versions were undribkably hot by thr time I became aware of them circa 2008/9. When I lived in blue lake and visited mad river regularly I would sometimes get their chili beer mixed 1:3 with their regular pale ale. It was a nice accompaniment to pub food at that level

 

there was clear evidence then & certainly now there is history that continues to support & prove the logic that the underlined is false. the reason it was necessary to establish those bogus leads (bottle caps, bottling lines, tanker trucks, equipment etc.) is because Goose Island needed a theory that would support their selective refund policy. think about this carefully. if they admitted the infection was barrel related, it would no longer be possible to only honor/ offer refunds on specific dates, limiting their losses. admitting it was barrel related meant the whole entire release was potentially contaminated & they'd need to either refund everything or face a backlash for not doing so.

if you notice when all was said & done aside from announcing they would flash pasteurize going forward, the one other major detail that surfaced quietly was that they were going back to exclusively using Heaven Hill barrels. they didn't mention upgrading any bottling equipment or tanker trucks or anything related to the excuses the public was offered.

lastly if you simply look at it logically there is this fact that can't be gotten' away from. each of the variants that spoiled were aged in the same general *bourbon* barrel supply. there's 2 variants that didn't spoil. Rare - which was aged in a specific sub-set of 35 year old Heaven Hill bourbon barrels & Regal Rye which was aged in a set of rye whiskey barrels.