Wax Wings Brewing (2024)

I thought that was going to be an outlier for the Anniversary Heights bottles but this one was no online either. I wonder if that is the plan going forward?

 

Also, no wax on the last two releases... How are people going to know the bottles are special?!? And I mean, it's in their name. WAX Wings!

 

LOL maybe Brody did more than brew, he must have been the website & wax guy too

 

Two new beers available for members to purchase…


Double Barrel Heights | DOUBLE BARREL-AGED STOUT | 14% (500mL bottle)

Double mash stout aged for 1 year in a Heaven Hill bourbon barrel, transferred to a Buffalo Trace store pick barrel where it finished aging. We loved the complex profile from the Heaven Hill barrel, the roasted notes of the base beer became softer, caramelized brown sugar. It was re-invigorated in the Buffalo Trace barrel resulting in a finished beer with deeper layers- bringing out notes of milk chocolate, fudge, caramel. We are extremely pleased with how it turned out.


Double Barrel Vanilla Heights | DOUBLE BARREL-AGED STOUT | 14% (500mL Bottle)

Double mash stout, aged for 1 year in a Buffalo Trace bourbon barrel. Transferred into a Maker's Mark store pick bourbon barrel where it finished aging. Conditioned on a blend of fresh vanilla beans. In sampling, we felt this was the perfect base to play off of a vanilla forward profile- soft texture, smooth light roast coffee and dark chocolate with great bourbon presence and tons of vanilla.

 

Double Barrel Heights and Vanilla Double Barrel Heights live now! 3pp / $30.00
https://waxwingsbrewingco.square.site

 

Looking forward to these. So happy we got a chance to pre-order.

 

Pear Brandy Harbors V & Maple Extract Harbours VI sale is live now! 3pp / $30
https://waxwingsbrewingco.square.site

 

Dang, that Pear Brandy friggin' got me. I somehow held strong and ignored the stouts from the other week. Much to my chagrin to see them both available still. Now I'm iSO of a proxy for the first time in a while. Sigh.

Now I also want that Starlight pear brandy...

 

Do Wax Wings barrel aged beers usually sit in the shop for a few days like this or is this unusual?

 

This is very unusual. Typically sellout same day the sale goes live

 

No complaints from me. I ordered 6 bottles to split with a friend.

 

I was happily surprised by it myself. Have always hated the fastest fingers races for online sales so it's nice that this has sat there for easy access as long as it has. Ended up grabbing four bottles myself. Excited to see how the Pear Brandy turned out and the DB Heights sound great.

 

Here's my perspective... WW was red hot for the majority of last year but then went almost all of '23 Q4 and '24 Q1 without a barrel aged release (outside of Santa cans). I think that pause has caused them to lose a bit of momentum on limited release sales as I feel the last few have hung around longer than anticipated. Beer's have still been killer, I think the timing though has just made the hype fall off a bit. We'll see what the future holds

 

let’s not tell anyone the beers are still good. I kind of liked looking at the site on a random weekday and finding a handful of barrel aged bottles available

 

I emailed time brewery, but haven't heard back. Does anyone know how long WW gives you to pick up? I'm hoping my proxy can pick up my Heights and Harbors at the same time, but they release almost 3 weeks apart.

 

The Heights pickup window is 10/5-10/20 & the Harbors pickup window is 10/26-11/9. I imagine they would hold your Heights bottles until the Harbors pickup if you can’t make the initial dates.

 

Thank you. Don't know where I missed this info.

 

Full disclosure: I've never had a single Wax Wings beer. Are all of their stouts, barleywines & other "big" beers sweetened or do they do these styles straight up?

Just curious...

 

I live about a mile from Wax Wings, but go there much less frequently than Bells and other local breweries. TLDR: Their taproom has no character and has been extremely inconsistent in the past two to three years.

• They generally only have 6-8 beers available - mostly Double IPAs and barrel aged stouts that make it hard to have more than one. This has improved recently with the addition of Kalamazoo's Finest and a few pale ales.
• No consistent food options. They had Hoppy's Chop Shop last year, but they constant ran out of food and have since replaced that with the occasional food truck. I know you can get Mi Pueblo next door, but they close at 8:00PM and often earlier than that.
• Lack of comfortable seating. You options are metal stools or picnic tables.
• Only two smaller TVs that you can only see from the bar.
• Outdoor space that consists of three picnic tables on asphalt.

I love their beer and desperately want to love their taproom, but the space is just cold and uninviting. Would love for them to add a beer garden with some astroturf, a few more TVs, and bring back Hoppy's, but until then I will be an infrequent visitor. They are easily the best beer in Kalamazoo, just wish their taproom matched it!