Beer Barrel Aged Bourbon

Right there are a bunch of "finished" bourbons on the market, Angel's Envy, Fillibuster, etc who finish in Port/Wine/whatever barrels.

 

Mostly, but it's a little more complicated than that. The Bulleit brand was originally owned by Seagrams and distilled at their Four Roses Distillery. When Seagrams dissolved, Diageo bought the Four Roses distillery and the Bulliet brand. Shortly thereafter they sold the distillery to Kirin, but contracted with Kirin to continue having Bulleit distilled there. That contract ran out a year or two ago.

 

OMG! somebody who actually knows a bit of history & speaks factually?

another thing most people didn't realize. under that contract, 90° Bulleit bourbon was FR Yellow Label - the only difference between the two was the amount of water/abv they were respectively bottled at.

 

I think the ratio of four roses two mashbills was a bit different as well. It will be interesting to see how Bulleit Bourbon changes once the Four Roses juice runs out. Beam's high eye mashbill is pretty close, but who knows if they are selling it to Bulleit.

 

I can't recall who made it but had a bottle of bourbon that spent time in barrels that housed Utopias, and currently have a bottle of bourbon that spent time in Troegenator barrels. Utopias version was good, nothing stellar. Haven't opened the Troegenator one yet.

 

Bourbons legal definition:
Aged in new oak charred barrels
At least 51% corn
Cannot be distilled above 160 proof
Can't be barreled above 125 proof and some change
No age requirement to be labeled Bourbon, To be labeled as Kentucky it needs to be aged in KY for a minimum of one year.

 

fwiw, i think it was in part because he knew his retirement was around the corner & in part because the Bulleit contract was already closing out, but that statement i made (Bulleit & Yellow Label are/were the same except for the bottled proof) is a quote that came directly out of Jim Rutledge's mouth. there were somewhere around 40 other witnesses crammed into Elixer when he made this statement.

 

Good to know. Now it means that I finally know the rye percentage of yellow label. The makeup of the five yeasts strains will probably always remain a mystery.

 

Took the words from my mouth. Pretty crappy.

 

Not Bourbon, sorry.

 

Is the top still spinning? Inception.

 

Another dumb gimmick in the boutique spirits and "kraft" beer industry...nothing but pasteurized tripe and marketeers, oh the humanity.

 

Anyone know which cooperage; oak stave source; and toast level beer barrels get? Wondering if they are more like wine barrels or whiskey barrels.

 

The barrels used by most or all breweries are pre-used and either held spirits or wine. Since they can't be used again Bourbon Barrels were once, and may still be, the cheapest and easiest to acquire. Some breweries are also able to acquire used wine barrels. Since it is considered a "selling point" and can affect flavors each brewery will usually announce the generic name for the prior liquid. (Brand name is often not known or can't be used.) New barrels are much more expensive than used and so are very seldom, if ever, put into use with beer. Similarly few, if any, barrels are recondtioned for use with beer.

 

Right but go back to the original post. I believe these barrels were purchased new by the breweries for the first fill to be beer which brings me back to my previous question.

 

Read that long ago, not long after it was first posted, but the history of the barrels is not made entirely clear. We do know that they bought charred new barrels for their distilled spirits for use in making bourbon (otherwise they wouldn't be making Bourbon). It then seems they re-used the ex-bourbon barrels to barrel age their Dragon's Milk Stout.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/335/5428/

Now it seems they are re-using those stout barrels as finishing barrels for the Bourbon.

 

I see. I'm sure one day a brewery will buy new barrels for some crazy expensive beer and use that as the marketing gimmick - I thought that's what this was.

 

That would be a pretty expensive marketing gimmick given the price of new unused barrels compared to pre-used barrels. Many of the breweries that are going just for oak flavor will age the beer on oak chips.

 

The Bruery last year released the Arbre series, in which they released the same base imperial stout in three different toast levels of new oak barrels. They were about $20 a 750 if I remember correctly.

 

I think it is a waste of a good whiskey to put it in used beer barrels that were probably bourbon barrels in their first lives.