The Beer Circle » Better From The Barrel?
Better From The Barrel: Prairie and Pirate Bomb!
From the same tasting that brought you the video gem of Greg and I taking down Stone’s Crime, I now bring you the latest in the Better From The Barrel? series featuring Prairie Artisan Ales‘ Prairie Bomb! and Pirate Bomb! Prairie Bomb is an imperial stout aged on coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla beans and chili peppers and stored in a 12oz wax bottle. The beer is relatively sought after, fitting a recent trend of imperial stouts … Read entire article »
Filed under: Beer, Better From The Barrel?, Imperial Stout, Newport Distilling Company, Prairie Artisan Ales
Better From The Barrel: Hardywood Gingerbread Stout
A few weeks back I made the trip down to Richmond, Virginia to check out Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and their bourbon barrel aged Gingerbread Stout release. It was a bit out of my way, but the thought of a gingerbread stout aged in bourbon barrels carried me through. The line wasn’t all that long when I rolled in, and I had my beers (and glasses) within an hour. After which, I pulled off a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Beer, Beer Release, Better From The Barrel?, Hardywood Park, Milk Stout
Better From The Barrel: Stone’s Vertical Epics
Churchkey’s night of Vertical Epics not only featured Stone’s yearly special releases all the way back to 2003, it had a few of the offers aged in various barrels as well. Having never had a true barrel aged beer from Stone, I saw this as a unique opportunity to discern whether or not any were better from the barrel! Churchkey had the 07.07.07 Belgian strong pale ale (BSPA) and the 09.09.09 Belgian strong dark ale … Read entire article »
Filed under: Beer, Better From The Barrel?, Oak, Stone Brewing Co., Strong Dark Ale, Strong Pale Ale, Wine
Catoctin Creek Distillery – Barrel Source for Virginia / DC
Barrels, Barrels, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Barrel, Barrels. every where, Nor any drop to drink. – borrowed badly from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner It seems that every brewery has a barrel-aging program but where do the barrels come from and what did they previously hold? Luckily for barrel-aged beer fans in the Washington, D.C. area, Catoctin Creek Distilling Company in Purcellville, VA. is supplying a growing number of DC-area breweries with their used barrels … Read entire article »
Filed under: Better From The Barrel?, Catoctin Creek Distilling Co., DC Brau Brewing Co., Distillery, Mad Fox Brewing Co.
Better from the Barrel: Stillwater Artisanal Ales Folklore
Stillwater Artisanal Ales is an interesting brewer to say the least. They operate under the “gypsy” brewer moniker (of Mikkeller fame) and brew beers at different breweries across the land. They have really cool label art–which you can see in the pictures below or at their website–which follows their modus operandi that I found on their Facebook page: The goal of Stillwater Artisanal is just that, living art. Although packaged within a medium often overlooked for its … Read entire article »
Filed under: Beer, Better From The Barrel?, Bordeaux, Stillwater Artisanal Ales, Strong Dark Ale
SAVOR: Better from the Barrel: Sierra Nevada / Dogfish Head Life & Limb 2 at Churchkey
Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head are two breweries that we here at The Beer Circle are familiar with, and you should be too. I went to Churchkey for the second straight night to check out Sierra Nevada’s tap-takeover, featuring no less than 55 Sierra Nevada beers on-tap at one time. Slightly overwhelmed, I grabbed a glass of their collaboration with Dogfish Head: Life & Limb (the second running of the beer), and it’s bourbon barrel … Read entire article »
Filed under: American Strong Ale, Better From The Barrel?, Blend, Dogfish Head, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Better From The Barrel: Kuhnhenn Fourth Dementia (4D)
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company is not a brewery I can say I was very familiar with until a few months ago when I was offered a few of their beers in a trade. After looking up the kinds of beers they were involved with, and the well above average ABVs (and ratings), I was sold. Today’s post fits nicely into our Cellar column and our Better From The Barrel column as I have Fourth Dementia and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Beer, Better From The Barrel?, Cellar, Heaven Hill, Kuhnhenn Brewing Co., Old Ale
Better From The Barrel: Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine
First of all I would like to introduce a new column to The Beer Circle: Better From The Barrel! In this series of posts, our writers will taste a beer and barrel aged version of that same beer to determine which is better. You may ask, “wasn’t there a post on Flying Dog Gonzo and BA Gonzo before that did the same thing?” The answer is yes! and it is being retroactively added. This post will … Read entire article »
Filed under: Beer, Better From The Barrel?, Blend, Cabernet, English Barleywine, Heavy Seas Beer
Better From The Barrel: Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
Update: This post is being retroactively fitted to run in our column “Better From The Barrel?” The story of how Flying Dog got its start is as strange as the labels that grace their bottles. In 1983, a series of events in the Himalayas involving under prepared hikers, an unfaithful Sherpa, a scared-shitless donkey, and quickly consumed contraband led to the creation of the Flying Dog philosophy. That’s right, philosophy. It wasn’t until 1990 that beer came into … Read entire article »
Filed under: Baltic Porter, Beer, Better From The Barrel?, Flying Dog Brewery, Porter, Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey
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