Bourbon Barrel beer: Need advice.

Backwoods Bastard imo is the gold standard for bourbon barrel aged beers- so good.

 

Just buy Bourbon Barrel beer you see, if you like the style. Some are better than others of course but it's hard to find a bad one.

 

This is the reg SC, it's not BA, the BA SC is released in Aug/Sept. It's still a madhouse as it's still a brewery only release.

 

Backwoods Bastard and Oaked Arrogant Bastard are both superb. For me Oaked AB is easy to obtain as well. I highly recommend it.

Also if your can get yours hands on it Bells Black Note Stout. Limited release. I have one from last december that I am hoping to crack open today.

 

There are lots of online stores that sell Eclipse which is excellent, if a little pricy. Abyss is also pretty to get as is most Firestone Walker stuff like Parabola, and Sucuba.

 

Why stop at just stouts?!? The bourbon county beers, Westbrook did some bourbon Mexican cake, try the clown shoes anniversary releases that are BBA, Firestone walker and alesmith get some bad ass bourbon beers, thirst dog Siberian night aged, evil twin just released the first ever bourbon biscotti break at 27$ a bottle, north coast old Rasputin as well. The founders doom was great, backwoods bastard was just released and sweet respute will hit the shelves next month... Southern charred by stone make it there?

 

We don't get a lot of really good BA Brews here. Wulver, Thirsty Dog when they're around, Evil Twin Big Bad Baptist. I stock up on Lindey Park, Event Horizion, and BA Sexual Chocolate and trade it mainly for BCBS which is my favorite, but I've also managed BCBCS, and a Cherry Rye too. You just have to plan ahead a bit. We don't get FW, Cigar City, Alesmith here, we won't get BC here this year either, some is going into SC. Overall not a great place for a guy with a BA itch.

Best advice is to grab Event Horizon, and any stray Lindley Park that's still around and there is in Boone and Asheville, and post an ISO for BCBS. Easy. And keep some of the above around too, they're excellent at a very reasonable price point.

 

Very Angry Beast - Clown Shoes
Wheaton Woot Stout - Stone
Backwoods Bastard - Founders
Barrel Aged Framinghammer - Jack's Abby
And of course, BCBS

You'd probably have to trade for Jack's Abby and Clown Shoes but it'll be worth your while.

 

For something different try Boulevard Love Child #3 (a sour partially aged in Bourbon barrels) and Bourbon Barrel Quad, a/k/a BBQ (their 6th Glass quad aged, partially I think, in bourbon barrels with cherries). Both are fantastic.

 

I can think of only two beers that are BA and are available here year round. Hoppin Frog and Nebraska. That's it, anything else from anyone else has to be traded for unless you drive to VA or SC. Everything else is special releases when they're available, and even those aren't all that numerous. NC isn't a great place to get BA brews.

 

How did no one mention Boulevard's Bourbon-Barrel-Quad?

 

I saw 4-5 cases sitting on the floor earlier this week, it's not selling all that well.

 

I know...same here. It's just weird because it's got 3 really big things going for it.

A) It's a quad, which people love
B) It BBA, which people freak out over
C) It's pretty much the ONLY BBA Quad I can think of.

Why the sudden lack of respect for this beer?

 

If you can find it- grab it. My favorite.

 

That's surprising. It's a popular beer here. In one store, it sold out the first day.

 

There are lots of excellent Bourbon Barrel Stouts. Be sure to look at http://beeradvocate.com/lists/style/84 for high rated Bourbon Barrel stouts.

Important: choice of glass. I often taste Barrel aged stouts from a Balloon glass, although a snifter is very popular.

 

Where at in NC? Boulevard doesn't ship to SC at all and I'd love to try that one

 

If you are close to Asheville, Wicked Weed Brewery has a nice barrel program that compares well to the national standards. Enjoyed a very nice BA stout there in Sept (a couple of times!) that I don't see on the current tap list, but I hope will be back soon.

 

Total Wine on High Point Road, and Bestway, both in Greensboro.

 

As far as I know they're been stocked for two weeks now, didn't look at the price I wasn't interested. With Event Horizon coming up I'm backing off stocking up on anything.