http://8wired.co.nz/our-brews/bumaye Very much looking forward to getting my mitts on this (hopefully) tonight! Thought the Batch 31 was probably the best NZ beer I've ever had, so anything barrel aged by 8 Wired gets my attention quick fast.
Brilliant. I missed Beervana last year, but won't make the same mistake again this time round. I'm interested to find out the difference between bourbon barrels and pinot noir barrels. Guessing Pinot would be a touch more rounded without the sharp alcohol notes of the bourbon barrel?
Wine barrels keep a lot of the tannins. Where with bourbon barrels get a lot of vanilla, coconut and caramel notes. I think wine barrel notes are much more subdued than bourbon , that is me
I have been told that the beer is getting through (or is through) customs, put my orders in already - better do it for the Bumaye too!
Yep I heard Aus and NZ distribution started yesterday...not that it was in any of my locals quite yet. But shouldn't be long. A friend that tried it at a tasting a couple of months back said that it was great but very 'pinot-y' and he thought it would just get better with a few years on it.
As mulder said, wine barrels, pinot included, don't tend to overwhelm the base beer like some bourbon and whisky barrels do. And in the case of a huge beer like Bumaye (as opposed to, say, Hallertau Porter Noir at 6.6%) I'd assume it would be even less likely to dominate. I don't remember thinking the pinot notes were intense, but it was 9 months ago and only a 3 oz pour..
Got my hands on 3 bottles today. Interesting to see that he's opted for 330s... Then again, at 16%... Will try one in the next few days and report back.
Well...I tried some at work last night. It's big and it's boozy! Very strong burnt sugar/molasses . A beer to share, even in a 330ml bottle. Some very strong Pinot notes there, more so than I've tasted in any other beer. To me it's just not as complete of a beer as the Batch 31, it's more experimental. I enjoyed it a lot, but I think I'll enjoy it even more in a couple of years.
