Breweries naming which bourbon brand they source for barrel aging

I'll defer to your expertise. I suppose I really had no basis in saying that a different bourbon or barrel won't affect taste, because I've never tried the same base beer aged in different barrels side by side. I have tried a beer or two that has been aged in different barrels for different batches (Community's Legion for one) and thought I liked one better than the other, but I chalked up most of the difference to probably being the result of it being a separate batch of beer and maybe just one of those days where it tasted better for whatever reason.

I guess the better point for me to make was I don't really care what barrel was used and I'd rather pay more for a good beer aged in whatever barrel than for a mediocre beer aged in a Pappy barrel. I stand by the assertion that the marketing department (or person) at some breweries would use the bourbon's name to charge a little more.

Like you said in a later post, the barrel from a great bourbon won't save a bad beer. I guess that's the point I meant to make.

 

(512) Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter prominently advertises that they alternate annually between Maker's Mark and Jack Daniels barrels. This is one of my favorite Austin area beers, if not the. Based on memory, though, they taste very much the same to me--I don't think I could tell the difference between a JD and a MM batch...

 

But but but...I swear I tasted the soul of Jim Beam in the beer!

 

I used to be all excited about this, then Bluegrass Woodford BA Stout happened. I LOVE Woodford, but that beer was honestly horrendous.

 

Unfortunately, no. Just an assumption that if something costs more, why aren't breweries marketing the hell out of it?They need to recoup some expenses somehow.

Good points. I get confused a bit, and usually feel if a brewery is trying to play with words, they may be up to no go... The brewery in question is Marble in Albuquerque. Earlier releases mention front and center Bourbon Barrel Aged. Then its just Barrel aged. Now I see on labels a mention of Ale aged in Oak Barrels, with a mention of reserve barrels (could they be talking about their reserve ale beer, which they say is aged in bourbon barrels *but its own label also just says ale aged in oak barrels). Color me intrigued. It's always been a really good beer but the word play confuses me.

 

Well its not entirely up to the brewery which words to choose but we could certainly expect that if the beer label says Bourbon Barrel Aged the beer was aged in used bourbon barrels. But if the next year they have trouble sourcing enough bourbon barrels (as has become increasingly the case in recent years) they could be using barrels from some other spirits and simply say barrel aged. But in all cases they the beer(s) are being aged in Oak Barrels, since all the barrels, regardless of the spirits they once held or how oftey the've been used are made from oak. So, for example, Ale aged in Oak Barrels could be something in which the reserve ale was blended into with the other stuff aged in other barrels or what were once bourbon barrels but have been used often enough they no longer count as such.

But as noted earlier, there are several breweries that offer Oak aged beers and that doen't require barrels at all.

 

I liked this one. It had oak honeycombs that were added. Not the barrel character, but the wood.
http://foundersbrewing.com/latest-news/2014/founders-american-homebrewers-association-conference/