Batch 51

Add this beautifully packaged beer to your treasure hunter list…

La Trappe for their Oak Aged Batch 51 has matured their Quadrupel for 18 months on very fancy Pineau des Charentes Rouge Cognac barrels. Sounds quite luxurious.

Featured Review – Lough Gill Barrel-Aged Beer # 1 – Trinity

Back to Lough Gill based in Sligo, Ireland and the second of three big beers on three different barrel types…

On to Trinity! The Bourbon barrel-aged oatmeal stout. The bourbon comes through in the aroma and it was a particularly heady latte head on this variant. As with Spear, the biggest flavor component is a maple syrup note. Here though is a balancing caramel note. Trinity finishes a bit thin and very sweet. I am hoping that the last beer will cut down on that.

The Lair

I have been following craft beer long enough to have been through the high IBU wars and the high ABV battles so it is with a bit of nostalgia for tgat time that I post about New Holland Brewing’s Dragon’s Milk, Triple Mash a riff on their Dragon’s Milk line that I only just heard about recently.  It is a “rich 18.7% ABV Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout” that is released early in the beer calendar year.  And I like seeing that breweries are still going big.

From Outside the U.S. – Part 1 – Duvel and Brazil

I am a big fan of Duvel’s barrel-aged program.  And the next one is a very unique choice.   Going the historical route with Brazilian cachaça from Brazil. Sorta like a rum relative.

Duvel snagged over 400 oak cachaça barrels for their cellars and after 8 months of aging achieved what they say is Duvel but with a “lively fruit punch, which then expands festively with notes of oak, dried nuts and vanilla.”  

If I do see the Duvel Barrel Aged, The Brasil Rum Edition. You know I will pick it up.

Barrels upon Barrels

The Bruery has a trifecta of bigggg beers coming out.  Let’s go low (but still high) to really high.

14.7% – Fireproof will be an imperial stout (Bayonet) aged in Port barrels that previously held Balcones Distilling Hechicheros single malt Whiskey barrels.

17.7% – Demon Water will be an imperial stout aged in Newport Craft Distilling Thomas Tew Rum barrels.

19.7% – The Malt Mill will be an imperial stout (Black Tuesday) aged in Westward Whiskey barrels.

The Birthday Beer 2023

I zagged to a classic this year and picked up a bottle (glass to you young folk) of Curieux from Allagash. Labeled as a golden ale but really a blend of barrel-aged Tripel with fresh Tripel.

Since I have had a couple Cur-8’s that Allagash did with Crowns & Hops, I had bit of a head start on re-visiting this classic of the beer canon. Pours a muddy orange color. Orange and a tiny touch of bourbon oak on the nose. Belgian yeast esters in effect in the taste department with a mini-mix of clove and banana show up. That bit of spice really ties it together. Does not taste over 10% at all.

Wheat 34

Wheatwine, stop if you have heard this before, doesn’t have its own space in the bottle shop cooler.  But when you can find one, it usually is a special release and one to try.  Such is the case with Karl Strauss and their 34th anniversary release.

Here are the details from the brewery, “To kick it up a notch for our anniversary, we aged ours in Chardonnay barrels with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc grape peels. Aromas of freshly baked bread and caramel dance with hints of oak from the barrels and subtle herbaceous notes from the grape peels. It’s full-bodied, with a luscious mouthfeel and a smooth finish.”