Is Oak Aged Enough?

I would advise not making your mind up based on one beer, especially if that beer is Wake Up Dead; in my opinion, it's a pretty blah example of an imperial stout.

Great Divide Oak Yeti is considered very good (some would say the best of the Yetis), so I'd say give that a shot. There are other examples. We don't need liquor in every beer for it to be great.

 

Burton Baton says yes, it's enough.

 

oak aged is enough in my books, adds another level of complexity to styles where putting it in a barrel would overpower or just clash with the base beer.

 

Spanish Cedar is used, Cigar City was one of the first I know of using it. Spanish Cedar is actually in the Mahogony family. Regular cedar is toxic.

 

Too much wood just kills the beer, more so than too much barrel, but i love whiskey too. Cigar City's brew done with Spanish Cedar was way too much it was like sucking on fresh cut wood, didn't like it at all.

 

Good to know...

 

Yeah I had one of their Big Sound Series beer, it was too much...

 

Plenty of Oak aged beers that kick ass. I like Oak aged yeti more than their Barrel aged version.

 

Others have mentioned CCB's use of Spanish cedar. This past year they did a collab with Hoppin Frog, a maple aged porter. It was fantastic. I actually preferred it to oak, but that also may have been due to the base beer.

 

I can certainly relate to that, I had a Four Roses BA Gubna on tap a month or two back and the oak taste was simply overwhelming. Not bad per se but way too distracting to be considered a success.

 

I'd say yes. Bedi Bedi That's all Folks

 

Drink what you like, and don't over think it. Leave that for the brewers, and cellar people.

 

According to DFH Palo Santo Marron, it is enough.

 

My favorite wheatwine and one of my favorite beers period is Boulevard Harvest Dance, which is aged on oak spirals. So yes, it can certainly be enough.

On another note, Boulevard used to make a doppelbock (Seeyoulater) that was aged on Spanish cedar spirals. Was delicious.

...except that not a single centimeter of oak touches that beer. The wood is from palo santo trees, not oak trees.

 

Agree 100%. I love the superb wood and big vanilla notes you get off of a lightly toasted, fresh American oak barrel.....ahhhh