Barrel age preference

With a BBA beer I want a few things. Barrel taste. Bourbon taste. ABV to go up.

So many beers I see that they are limited, rare, whatever because they are barrel aged. When compared to their base brothers I see the exact same ABV and to me that is a bit of a tell tale sign. Limited time in the barrel to hop on the hype train resulting in minute difference in flavor profile yet a huge increase in price... On those, I pass.

 

This really depends on the beer and the barrel for me. I chose 1+ year as an average. I have had some barrel-aged porters and stouts that have spent 3-6 months in barrels that really blew me away with how much flavor they had. At the same time, we have a local brewery specializing in barrel-aged sours who tend to leave most of them in for only 3 months. These beers are very clearly "not done" and it is disappointing every time.

 

It depends on the style of the beer and what was in the barrel in the first place.

 

For a RIS, 1 year in a bourbon barrel produces a strong toasted marshmallow quality that fits perfectly with the style. With 2 years, there is an intense oak flavor that can be amazing, but is very difficult to balance. If there is that balance, I definitely prefer the 2 year. For wild beers, I prefer the 2+ years, but that is more because of yeast/bacteria development than oak character. For regular stouts/porters/IPAs, I prefer 6 months max because beyond that the base beer is completely drowned.

 

I consider 6 months a minimum and one year preferred.

 

Put in the 3 month category. Of course it all depends, but my taste preference is for more beer than spirits. So if the length of time in the barrel equates to more of the alcohol leaching into the beer, then I prefer less of the hotness that tends to come with that. I love the oak, vanilla and other flavors that may come along, but when my beer starts tasting more like bourdon or rum than beer that's when I call it off.

BA could do with a barrel-aged beer style to categorize a lot of these beers. Not an extra category for every existing style but maybe one for each broad category, such as pilsners, hoppy ales, roasty/malty ales, etc.

 

Annual BA beer release would work for me as well.