Bitching ‘Bout Bourbon Flavored Beer

Some of the responses here seem to suggest that aging beer in bourbon barrels is equivalent to just pouring some bourbon into a base beer and then packaging it (even the title of this thread misses the point of the process). The objective of barrel aging, properly done, is to use the qualities of the barrel to complement and enhance the base beer—not to mask it or cover it up.

About half of my 50 highest rated beers went through some form of barrel aging, so clearly, for me at least, the process adds something of value. When I’ve shared some of my favorite barrel aged beers with non-beer-geek friends who had never tried one before, invariably they reacted somewhere between being somewhat impressed to being blown away. I don’t know—maybe some of you are just getting barrel aged beers from breweries that don’t know what they’re doing.

 

After ten years of fielding “Do you have any Blanton’s?!” phone calls, I hate Buffalo Trace but I can’t help respecting them a bit. They know how to build brands like no other American distillery, I swear.

 

This is a very good point.

I actually did used to, on occasion, like giving my glass a quick bourbon “rinse” before pouring some Russian imperials. Not to emulate a BBA beer, mind you, I just liked that taste. I liked using Elijah Craig (when it used to have a 12 year aged statement vs the “small batch” of today), usually with Founders Imperial Stout or Old Rasputin.

 

Many brewers keep it at the generic “bourbon” barrel, which could be any variety of horrible/bland/weird spirit. Sure, maybe it’s because the distiller “doesn’t want” it known that their barrels were used, or maybe it’s that “Bob’s Bourbon” isn’t really that special. I couldn’t get Ommegang to disclose which two barrels they used for their double barrel milk stout. Shy distillers or generic bourbon pressed as high end? I like that beer, so it doesn’t “really” matter to know. Sometimes it’s nice to know for future references and purchases. So, as will always be the case: drink what you like.

 

Reading those words gives me a headache and remind me of an old friend who I don’t know if dead or alive.

 

In NY, you can shop at liquor stores attached to Costco without membership, but the single NY liquor store owned by Costco is in Oceanside (state prohibits chain liquor stores). The two nearest me are privately owned and have independent stocking and pricing policies. In NY, prescriptions at Costco pharmacies are also available to non-members, but prices are slightly higher (usually still a comparative bargain).

 

That’s a fair point. It occurred to me that, with 95% of bourbon still being produced in Kentucky, breweries in that region might enjoy a logistical advantage similar to that enjoyed by Pacific Northwest breweries when it comes to fresh hop (or as some call them, “wet hop”) beers. Or perhaps conversely, that distance might make breweries farther away more selective about the barrels they’ll take, since the cost of shipping heavy wooden barrels across the country to make a batch of beer would be a consideration. I don’t know enough about how any of this works to hazard even a semi-educated guess, but I have to assume these are factors on some level.

 

I’m not sure I am missing your point though. You’re in Oregon, I’m in Washington—which means we probably have access to many of the same beers. Two of my favorite breweries when it comes to barrel aging, which you probably have access to, are Firestone Walker and Fremont. I can’t say I’ve gotten a bad beer from either of them. Now, palates are different, of course, and if you don’t like their offerings I guess I can’t offer you any assistance—but I’m just humbly suggesting that there are solid options out there and once you’ve found two or three breweries that make barrel aged beers to your liking, there’s no need to buy such beers from anyone else. And then there’s no need to start a thread bitching about beers you don’t like. That was the point of my first response, which a lot of people seem to agree with.

 

Do you really believe this?
If so, what in your opinion are the best bba stouts or barleywine.

 

Dude. You cannot find that anywhere in VA. Liquor is only sold at state run stores and BT is so popular here that the stores don’t have any on the shelves because it’s a “limited release product.” Then they do an email drop every other week or so saying that certain stores are authorized to sell their limited release products, which creates a mad race to the store to get buffalo trace, eagle rare etc.

It’s gotten so bad that the store closest to me can’t even keep Benchmark 8 in stock. It’s not listed as “limited release” it just flies off the shelf as soon as they get some in stock.

I don’t even bother trying to find BT products. I just drink Old Forester 86 and it’s whisky row variants

 

The unnamed brewery doesn’t happen to rhyme with Moakshire, does it? If so, I wouldn’t disagree. The last beer I had from them was probably a Hellshire from 10+ years ago, and there was a well known infection issue IIRC. Never again. Which supports my original point—fool me once etc., support breweries that make beer you enjoy, etc.

I should have added, most of the FW and Fremont barrel aged beers I’m currently consuming are between 5 and 10 years old (a few even older), from my private stock. They’ve generally aged beautifully—but I am definitely not an authority on what breweries are currently putting out (as evidenced by my apparent lack of knowledge regarding the recent decline of MOAS).

 

ill never tell

 

these were all really good.

 

Buffalo Trace

 

All of the fear beers from Oakshire have been absolutely phenomenal. They are quite sweet so if that's not what you enjoy then you're probably going to have a bad time.

The last fear beer I opened at a share, people were drawing parallels to King Henry.