What Makes a Good Barrel Aged Beer

Barrel-aging can have direct and indirect influences on the flavor of a beer:

Direct: wood tannins and flavoring from any residual spirits in the barrels can have a small or large effect on the flavor depending on the length of the aging. In terms of barrel-character, I like to see some vanilla/caramel notes from the charred oak, some mild tannic woodiness, and a noticeable but not overwhelming presence of the spirit previously held. Bad barrel-aged beers for me are ones that have far too much or far too little spirit presence, and have an overly tannic, woody bitterness to them (these often taste "washed out" to me).

Indirect: aging in barrels will result in oxidation (how much depends on how long the beer was in the barrels and how tightly the barrel is sealed). I do like getting a hint of sherry-like oxidation in malt-forward barrel-aged beers sometimes.

 

What beers have you had aged in gin barrels?

 

I think this is the last one I had that I really enjoyed:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/72/86497

Of course, you're not going to find many, as not many people age their gin in barrels

 

A great base beer.

 

Brettanomyces!

 

Ownership

 

Also, what portion of the beer has been barrel aged. They can range from 100% barrel aged to as little as 25% barrel aged blend.

 

Why would you want to ruin makers mark like that???

 

Unless intentional (bugs or wild yeasts added) a BA Stout shouldn't have a sour taste to it. Sounds like you got an infected bottle!

 

Rogue's John John with Juniper is what I was thinking of, and it was aged in Spruce Gin barrels. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/132/60094

It seems like there was another version of John John that was aged is a different kind of unusual barrel, but I can't find anything about it.

 

Hype and availability mostly

 

When the qualities of the wood used add to the beer, help it blend, and make it better. When using bourbon or other liquored barrels, a lot of the time they just increase the hotness of the thing, washing away some of that amazing base flavoring. If you can marry the alcohol, the base, and the nuances of the wood itself, you've done it right.

 

Hiding the abv, imho, helps.

 

In my opinion..

Good beer and good barrels.

 

Wow, I didn't even think of that, because I've never had an infected bottle. I actually powered through the bottle and it was awful. I won't be doing that again now that I know that's a possible sign of infection. Thanks!

 

Yup...thick, creamy mouthfeel. Flavors of vanilla, caramel, toffee. The flavors will come with time in the barrel but the base beer needs to be suitably thick

 

I picked up a 4 pack of that the other day and you're right, it is terrible. It's awfully thin and has a slight but nonetheless unpleasant sourness to it. No real barrel character, just a note of whiskey. It's as if someone dropped half a shot of whiskey into a mediocre watery stout

 

Then add barrel.

 

What i look for in a good Ba stout is depth, body, and how much the barrel is apparent in the beer. Balance plays a role as well in terms of drinkability, but the first three things is what does it for me. Being "too hot" upfront is something that changes over time and is a fun characteristic to experiment with.

 

You could certainly do that, though a shot is far too much. While it can produce the desired effect it does not adequately duplicate the barrel aging process. You certainly do not pick up the oak presence or allow the beer to mellow and meld with the spirits.