I am one for the details, specifically for beers that I have and getting all the information on them before enjoying. I looked through some stuff online - old threads, press release, reviews, etc. - about A Deal with the Devil but curious if someone round here has more information. A very generous BA has hooked me up with a batch 1 and 2 - I actually had batch 2 last year as it dipped into Chi and loved it. Curious about the type of barrels they used - I saw something on here about 1960 french cognac casks for the first batch, is this true? And what type of barrels were they for batch 1 and 2. Also, is a batch 3 for dec. 2015 on the way?
i don't have an answer for your question, but most of the information about anchorage and various ADWTD batches have come from anchorage's facebook page. cognac barrels sounds right.
There have been 3 batches released - Batch "0" was released at the Great Alaska Beer and Barleywine Fest in January 2013 - it won. Kegs were around town and still pop up from time to time - never bottled - this might be the batch with the 1960 barrels - very small release Batch 1 - bottled - cork and cage - brewed February 2013, bottled and released January 2014 - force carbed - small release in Anchorage bottle shops - gone by the end of Day 1. ABC specifically waited until after the Beer and Barleywine Fest to release to ensure locals had the best chance to get bottles Batch 2 - bottled - capped - brewed April 2014, bottled and released November 2014 - force carbed - large release - bottles still around at smaller bottle shops in Anchorage. Probably higher abv then 17.3% At the brewery this summer I saw barrels labeled ADWTD, so Batch 3 is in barrels but I have no idea when it is being released. Also I was in New Hamsphire on Halloween at a small new brewery that will be releasing a Cognac BA beer. The head brewer expressed a bit of friendly frustration that Gabe had all the Cognac barrels tied up. The brewer wanted 5 barrels and only could get 2.
an update from the Anchorage facebook: Looks like ADWTD is Anchorage-only this year.... Just tried a sample of this years release of A Deal With The Devil Barleywine.... Wow, it's pretty amazing. This years batch is very special, with all of the building going on around here we didn't have time to make a new batch for this year, but... Three years ago I stashed away some of batch two into a whiskey cask and it has been aging there ever since. This years release will be only 200 bottles. We will be having A Deal With The Devil Day at the brewery next month! One bottle only per person. First come first serve. More details to come! Cheers, Gabe
Holy shit, that will be special, and I thought getting b1 was going to be the hardest part! On paper a double barrel whiskey-cognac doesn't sound too appealing, but considering how great b2 was I'm sure they have found a way to improve upon it. Thanks for sharing
