Blackbeard's Blackhorn Release Details (NJ)

Hot off the heels of our very first barrel aged release – Barrel Aged Javahorn – we are just days away from our next release.

The team over at Gary’s Wine & Marketplace have been big supports of us since day one, so when they asked to partner up to create something unique for their customers we were ecstatic! Gary’s had just received a single barrel’s contents of Mount Gay Spiced Rum, and offered us the barrel to concoct something fun.



Having done a number of different treatments to our beers in casks over our first few months in business, our minds went straight to Blackbeard’s Blackhorn. Using our flagship American Black Lager as a base, we added coconut and vanilla along with some oak spirals. With these casks, the beer typically only ages for a few days to a week before tapping, and the flavors imparted just over that short period were great. We knew with some time and patience, we could really have a fantastic beer utilizing the Mount Gay barrel.

Blackhorn spent almost a year to the day inside. An initial dose of coconut at filling lent a slight twang from the lactic acid in the coconut as the beer aged. A final addition of coconut closer to bottling lent itself to more prevalent aromatics and a touch of vanilla helped to round out the spicy, oak flavors imparted by the barrel.

Every last drop of Blackbeard’s Blackhorn has been hand bottled, hand labeled and numbered and wax sealed. The single barrel along with some greater losses due to the absorption from the coconut has us with 212 bottles that will be made available EXCLUSIVELY at Gary’s Wine & Marketplace on Saturday, November 1st.

Release times/locations:

• Gary’s Wine & Marketplace Wayne – 12pm to 1pm
• Gary’s Wine & Marketplace Madison – 2pm to 3pm
• Gary’s Wine & Marketplace Bernardsville – 3:30pm to 4:30pm

The team at Gary’s is deciding on how many bottles go to each location which we are not privy to. Our suggestion – COME EARLY!

Swing by and snag one of these fine, limited bottles. Bob will be on hand at each location talking about the beer and sampling a variety of our regular and seasonal offerings. We look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers!

 

Sorry that you feel that way. Not sure how much you know about us but we are just over a year and a half old and we filled those initial barrels for the BA Javahorn almost a year ago...so especially back then we were still trying to figure things out. There is a touch of twang to it that to me almost blends with the beer's roasted and chocolately notes to give it a belgian dark chocolate feel in addition to the coffee/vanilla.

I will say - the draft and bottles were from two different barrels so there is some slight differences between them (we don't yet have the ability to blend barrels back together at this scale).

If you're not into sours - be them pungent or delicate - then I would suggest you skip Blackbeard's. Coconut has a good amount of lactic acid in it, which over time, in the barrels, has intentionally imparted a nice twang.

Glad you enjoyed the new changes we've made. Blackhorn has always been my personal favorite of our regular brews and I think with the new recipe tweaks (read: almost 3 times the hops) its on a whole new level.

 

@FenderOffset238 - we have no reason to believe that the bottles should be over carbonated. Everything was packaged in a very controlled environment and what little funk was imparted by the barrels shouldn't run any risk in the bottles as there are not a significant amount of sugars left to be consumed.

As mentioned above, we had two different barrels - one that went to kegs - one that went to bottles - so there are some slight differences that may be seen from the draft @mikeburd1128 discussed.

Hope you enjoy and appreciate the support. Cheers!

 

@mohawk5 - sorry to hear they were playing games, we always like to get feedback on how our accounts handle special releases and keep things like this in mind for future allocations, these beers are brewed for you guys out there - not to sit aging in the back. Also - its a Black Lager - the beer was aged for close to a year and we didn't produce a stout until this past February...and it was only 4.0% - we will likely wait to really let loose and do some high gravity offerings once we get into our own facility (target Fall 2015) - at this time we are kind of hamstrung by what our contract site can do.

 

@mohawk5 - again my apologies - we have no control over that and often give them UPC/pricing info ahead of time to prevent it. We have a bunch of events where it will be poured so hopefully you can try it then.

 

@FenderOffset238 - we try to be as in tune with our customers as time permits...without you guys we'd be no where. While we do listen to shameless bashing, constructive criticism is always the better route - and of course - we love when people praise what we're doing. Cheers - look forward to hearing what you think!

 

@brentk56 - Good luck! My significant other would kill me if I attempted something like that. Hope to see you there!