Adding Bourbon Shot for Pseudo Barrel-Aging

I've never mixed bourbon in exactly, but I've found this combo:
50% Anderson Valley Bourbon Barrel Stout
50% Storm King

100% Heavenly

I found the AVBBS to be lacking in body, it really gives the Storm King a nice BA flavor.

 

not the same but i suspect some of the horrid experiences come about because the experimenters are making boilermakers thinking their mimicking "bourbon barrel aged" beers. a few medicine drops of bourbon to a pint or so of beer is usually sufficient.

 

Chips are only good for about 2 weeks max. You could, however, soak some bourbon with cubes or staves for a longer period of time to achieve more of the vanilla flavors that most people like and then add that to beer in extremely small amounts when you want it.

 

Any specific Bourbon that was used in the Old Rasputin ? I'd like to try this

 

i did this as an experiment once- Old Rasputin and Eagle Rare since neither are that expensive, and it was ok, not great but it was not undrinkable either. You do want a a very small amount of bourbon - about a quarter of a shot....swish it in the snifter...and then pour the beer over it. Would I try it again-probably not as both by themselves tend to be better than the combination

 

i've done a few little experiments like this...

1) a little bit of crown royal in some speedway stout. it was ok, but like everyone else is saying you really only get some bourbon flavor and none of the oak/barrel aged notes

2) some chardonnay in my homebrewed saison. this was actually really good! next time i brew a saison i'm going to let some chardonnay soaked oak cubes sit on it for a while

 

the only time i tried something like this was with wells banana bread beer and a shot of 99 bananas. Not bad to try but not something i would drink every day.

 

I tried once to simulate BA in a homebrewed Irish Red Ale. I put one tea spoon in each one of a few test bottles. It was barely noticeable. I suspect that the flavors evolve in time in the bottles and are not as noticeable as a shot in the glass. If I try it again I would try with 2 teaspoons, or maybe 3.
I also extracted some oak in bourbon as several mentionned previously (soaking oak chips), the bourbon was nothing but tannins. It scarred me so I only put a few drops in a couple test bottles and wasn't able to taste anything in the final product. Should have tried more too...

 

I do this every once in a while with Old Rasputin or Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout amongst other things. I add about 1/4 a shot to a snifter and swirl it around the glass before adding in a big imperial stout. I really like it. It's not the same as a barrel aged beer, but I find it to be quite similar. Just don't use too much bourbon or your beer will be completely overpowered by the booze.

 

edit: you can calculate how much bourbon is added to comercial beers that are sold as both non-BA and BA. For example the dirty bastard jumps from 8.5% to 10.2% when turned into the backwood bastard. Wich is equivalent to adding 2/3 oz of a 40% whisky (almost 4 tsp) in a 12oz bottle or almost 1oz of whisky in a pint.
That's quite a bit when you think about it...

 

I'm gonna try this tonight actually, for some reason the thought had never crossed my mind.

 

Try soaking some wood chips in bourbon, or spirit of choice, then drop a chip into the glass with beer.

 

It won't really mimic a barrel aged beer. That being side, i prefer this or more so, having a sip of bourbon along side a lager, or in the winter and imperial stout. I actually have a strong distaste for barrel aged beers. I've had maybe a half dozen and despised them all. And then with the added cost, and the fact that the brewer ruined an otherwise decent beer, mimicking barrel aging is not something I'd ever want to do. But having a pour with certain beers works well, as the bourbon informs your pallette in a way that works with the beer being drank.

 

I've found that Old Raspy is a great beer to add bourbon/whiskey to. Mixes well, and it's cheap and easily available.

 

Blanton's, while not cheap, has a strong vanilla component, that goes well with stouts. For lagers, jim beam or whatever your go to is, works fine , i feel.

 

I think this is a worth while adventure providing neither the beer, nor the bourbon is particularly expensive.

With that said, I hit my homebrewed Imperial Oatmeal Stout with a splash of Beam once. I enjoyed it very much.

 

I have done this many times before, you can over do it to where the burbon overpowers the beer so not doing a full shot will help. But adding a full shot will help you get hammered quickly if you want. I've done this with scotch ales and stouts and have enjoyed them, this helps if you at a bar and they don't have any really great beers on tap, you can take anything and make it different!

 

There are three factors involved in barrel aging--wood, booze (bourbon, in most cases) and age. Since are not even close to getting two out of those three, the result is not close either. Wood and age alter chemical composition in ways a simple mixture cannot. Having said that, I've mixed a tablespoon of cognac and two tablespoons of strong espresso into a bottle of porter. And I would do it again, although cheap brandy or bourbon might actually be better than the more refined product--the nuances are lost in the mix. But almost any sensible combination of stout or porter with coffee and woodsy booze is bound to taste good--but it makes more of a beertail than a BA stout.

 

I do it all the time. At home, and in bars. I like what it does to a regular old stout.

 

1/2 shot , swirl, add beer, enjoy