Beer-Barrel Aged Bourbon

Gimmick me says

Enjoy

 

Only other one I've heard of is Caskmates by Jameson and that I am eager to try.

 

Yes, I've had it many times. It's been around for 3-4 years at least. It has good caramel notes...was almost chocolate in flavor. It is available for sale in many Michigan grocers too so you don't necessarily need to stop into the Holland restaurant/show brewery to grab a bottle (although they pour some wicked good mixed drinks with their spirits as well as their beer). I have found it in bigger grocery chains in Wisconsin as well.

 

Red Hare in GA barreled their Gangway IPA in Jose Cuervo barrels and then Jose Cuervo returned the favor in their beer-aged casks. I can't vouch for the taste of either.

 

They also make a centennial hopped white whiskey called hopquila (named because it tastes more like tequila than whiskey)

 

I'd be super curious to try it.

 

It's a gimmick for sure, but I honestly think it's a pretty cool one. I haven't tried this or Jameson Caskmates, but I've heard positive things about the latter.

 

Since bourbon must be first-use casks...no refill...I'm guessing they make a bourbon normally and, afterwards, finish it in an ex-beer cask. I would think that any residual beer flavor would dull the flavors that bourbon aficionados are looking for. But, I'd consider trying it if it was cheap.

 

This is fairly widely distributed I think. At least I have seen it in both Indiana and Missouri stores.

I have tried it, and it's not bad. I can't remember the exact price point (~$30-35), but I remember thinking that it was overpriced for the product in the bottle. Better off dropping $35 on Four Roses Single Barrel or something similar if you are after bourbon.

 

Agree with everyone else. It is decent, but not amazing. Much better bourbons for the price which I think at the grocery store was $33ish. I think you can even get it at Costco for $30.

If you are that close to new holland in the summer. Take the tour. It is pretty decent with the usual beer tour stuff. You get a good amount of tastings from different products, info on why they changed certain things like lowering a beers ABV etc, dragons milk straight out of the tap on the wall in the barrel aging room, etc. then you tour he distillery part that includes a tasting as well (much smaller samples obviously) but I got to try pretty much everything in their liquor lineup. Tour was either $10 or $15 and came with a pint glass (non shaker).

I went before the reserve series existed, so maybe they even taste a bit more in that, I would take the tour again if they expended it in that way. None he less good tour with the distillery portion tied in.

The pub left a sour taste in my mouth after an experience this past summer. But I am willing to go back and try them again. We vacation in grand haven every year. But as we have added 2 kids of our own, plus my sisters two kids. It is more about wrangling them than drive an hour each way to holland to drink for a couple hours. Especially when I will gladly allocate half that amount of time for a 5 minute bike ride to oddsides and live it up

 

It's a decent bourbon, but maybe not worth the price. (I think I paid $35-$36 for it a couple of years ago at the pub, so it's probably more costly now.) I believe they purchase bourbon that is distilled somewhere in Indiana and then age it in used barrels from their Dragon's Milk. I never could detect any beer characteristics in the flavor of the bourbon.

 

i have a bottle that im working through. Im not a huge bourbon guy so i cant really speak about its quality versus other big bourbons. But i can tell you that i enjoy it way more than the low end bourbons and even more than some of the top shelf stuff I've had. its pretty tasty

That and it says "beer" on it, so that already gets me going for a bottle of booze.

 

Yup, that's what is says on the bottom of the label "Bourbon Whiskey finished in oak beer barrels"

 

BTW I'm calling BS on the Jameson caskmates story - Franciscan Well is a tiny brewery with a tiny distribution footprint, even moreso for their barrel aged stouts. The notion that they are barrel aging enough stout for Jameson to be able to stack cases of Caskmates 6 or 7 high in every liquor store in the country is preposterous

 

You may be correct. However, there is already so much marketing B.S. being tossed about nowadays with regard to sprits and (especially) beer, that perhaps they just figured that no one would notice.

 

Your guess is spot on.

However, the reviews I've read of it are not particularly glowing so I never bothered to find a bottle during our last trip to central Michigan.

 

They distribute that all over the place...keep an eye out in states that carry new holland, I'm sure you will sit it sitting around