Do you like barrel aged IPAs?

Drank Doom for the first time yesterday and I really liked it. I thought the bourbon and barrel were balanced well with both the hop bitterness, and with the sweet almost creamy caramel candy. I know it sounds like an odd combination, but for me the 3 major flavor components complimented and blended together. The strong bourbon nose was a plus. Founders did an amazing job, I think.

 

I was about to say pretty much the same thing, but I was thinking of Black IPA/ Cascadian IPA.

Both of those, and the BA'd IPA, have good and bad examples. I'd enthusiastically say I "like" good examples of all three of those styles (I like good examples of every style). There's a pretty tight window where a BA'd IPA tastes good, and I feel the same about most barrel aged beers that are under 12% abv. It's got to age long enough to get some oak, but not so long the hops are gone, and then get to the glass quick. Any deviation from perfection serves a subpar beer, which is why this style is tough for a lot of people.

 

Indeed. However, before the advent of stainless steel vessels (and the rise in popularity of glass and eventually aluminium vessels), wooden vessels were what beer was both fermented and shipped in. Not necessarily aged, mind you, but transported in. So, in a way, ALL beer spent some time in wood and was, therefor, wood aged. Sort of.

 

I bought a single of Doom without any preconceptions and found it to be outstanding. Yes, it's pretty alcoholic and bourbon forward, but it has a ton of subtle hop character and a nice, resiny finish. It has a lot of over-the-top elements that work well together and keep things in balance. For my money, this is what a barrel-aged IPA/DIPA should be.

 

As long as you don't expect a DIPA and just evaluate it as a beer (or as a barleywine or old ale), you'll be OK.

 

But not in Bourbon Barrels.

I have a homebrewed British IPA inspired by Ron Pattinson's work. It was oaked with raw honeycombed wood, and Brett C was added. It is now in a keg aging, and the Brett is making it bone dry. Not much Hop flavor or aroma, bitterness is still there. Not at all like IPAs that just about everyone would expect. My guess is that most on this forum would declare it to not be an IPA.

 

I've done a little homebrewing but am far from a brewing expert, so please forgive this flyer of a question: Would it be possible to dry hop a BA IPA after it comes out of the barrel? If so, that would mitigate the dissipation of hop flavor and aroma while the beer is aging.

 

Since the early 1800's (maybe earlier? ...paging @jesskidden) brewers lined their barrels [and wooden fermentation tanks] with pitch to avoid/reduce beer being effected by wood and oxygen.

 

Sure. I would definitely punch up the aroma and probably add some flavor as well.

 

I have never had one, but my question is: Since IPAs ideally need to be consumed fresh to preserve the hop flavor and aromas, and most IPAs receive a dry-hop additional after fermentation and a bit prior to bottling/releasing, are these barrel-aged IPAs brewed, fermented, added to the barrel to age, and then dry hopped after the aging in the barrel within the same timeframe prior to bottling as they normally would? Or are they fermented like normal, conditioned, dry-hopped to the point where the brewery is happy with the result and then aged in a barrel for X amount of time?

 

Although I obviously cannot speak for every beer, I would suspect that barrel-aged IPAs are either dry-hopped after being barrel aged or not dry hopped at all. Dry hopping before a lengthy episode in a barrel would make little sense and would effectively be a waste of hops/money.

 

Sure, it could be done. You can add hops at any time, even run it through a Randal.

 

In the lager (and, eventually, the ale) breweries of US, the wooden "trade vessels" - barrels, half barrels, kegs - were lined with pitch, as were the later carbon steel and the early aluminum kegs.

The much larger fermentation and lagering/aging vessels made of wood were typically coated with some other material - enamel, lacquer, Mammut, etc., because of the difficult in applying the hot pitch to the ever-larger tanks.

https://sites.google.com/site/jesskiddenparttwo/home/pitch

In Europe, things were different - see the discussion among US brewers in the early 1900s about the strong taste of the pitch in Pilsner Urquell and how even their smaller aging casks were pitched while according to the Adam Scheidt brewer (second article in the first linked page), their fermenters were unlined.

In the UK apparently pitching the casks was uncommon (possibly due to the fact that pitch was soluble in beer of a higher abv that was common at the time. Also they used, IIRC, a different type of oak than in US).

 

I loved Doom. The bourbon and hops complemented each other.

 

One or two weeks was as long as Mild would stay in a barrel. I wouldn't consider that wood ageing.

 

Not everyone had wooden fermenters. Slate was fairly common, especially in Yorkshire. In Britain casks weren't usually lined. They didn't really need to as they used Memel oak which imparts very little flavour. Unlike American oak which British brewers considered unsuitable for beer casks.

 

Didn't care for Doom, but a barrel aged IPA Sierra Nevada had at Mills River two years ago or so was fantastic. So it depends...

 

Neither would I. Not intentionally, at least. Just playing word games.

 

Doom to me tastes like Backwoods Bastard sort of so hell yes I love it.

It's nothing I could session, but if you get a 4 pack and have it over a few weeks or something it's wonderful.

 

Too much barrel - no thanks.

White Oak Jai Alai is fantastic, but Doom hasn't really wowed me. It's fine, but the barrel is overwhelming.