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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.
It is not really a trip to Paso Robles without visiting at least one distillery.
First up was CalWise Spirits just down Ramada Drive from Firestone Walker. That is important because they get their wash from them. CalWise does gin, rum, whiskey and liqueurs. I tasted a little bit of everything. Most impressive to me were the gins. Their flagship and their blood orange worked well for me. And I bought a bottle of their Vermut for cocktail use at home. Distiller and tasting tour guide Leo gave a lot of info about the distillery and what they liked and even played the new Ben Folds album was I was sipping.
Second was Bethel Rd. Distilling next to Castoro Cellars and Peachy Canyon. It is a lovely indoor / outdoor space with grapevine views. All of their spirits come from grapes and brandy is their forte. I sample three brandies from neutral to flagship to VSOP. I was quite surprised by the first, expecting a harsh vodka bite but it was delicate. The VSOP was another winner. The gin was great as well, enough for me to buy a bottle.
I don’t normally post about popular or whale beers but I do post quite frequently about collaborations so, here we go…
Bottle Logic and Green Cheek have joined Orange County forces for a sour meets rum experience.
“We aged Birds of Paradise in Barbadian rum barrels before steeping the liquid on a vibrant blend of dried orange and grapefruit peels to mimic the citrus-driven bitterness of the cocktail’s Aperol component. A tempering tropical sweetness of fresh pineapple alights on the palate with a peck of fresh lime juice, all culminating in an integrated-but-obvious 14% exhale.”
Who here hasn’t been on this list at some point this year? But maybe it isn’t such a bad place to be if there is a Victory barrel-aged beer available for you. I think 11% abv will leas to more naughty, not less.
“Rum Barrel Aged Winter Warmer small batch ale gives off alllll the vibes; a luscious medium bodied copper ale, with warming notes of vanilla, rum, brown sugar and cinnamon that will seduce your taste buds. “
I just saw a photo of the bottle for the fifth batch of the Duvel Barrel Aged series. It has all sorts of fun design touches from the box, to the etching in the glass, the little sticker over the cap. Not to mention the beer inside. Here are those details: “ Duvel master brewer Hedwig Neven wanted to reinvent the ‘barrel aged’ concept and went looking for a rum distillery instead of bourbon barrels. He found it on the other side of the ocean, in Barbados, a world away from the brewery in Puurs: The West Indies Rum Distillery.”
If only it would come stateside.
This month I have a second cool label, this one from Green Cheek in Anaheim.
Such a cool name and the color scheme works really well and knowing brewer Evan, this will be a heck of a beer.
I recently selected a Rum accented barleywine for a “hypothetical” taster tray from Le Castor and now, one a little closer to home is on the horizon from AleSmith. I love seeing anything barrel-aged that isn’t whiskey or bourbon. + love the pun name.
Not Triple Threat but Tripel Treat. The ocular one on the Adelbert’s Brewery label has come up with a tripel in rum barrels. I know bourbon and whiskey are the norm (and quite good) but I always appreciate when a different spirit is used. And since, LA gets a stray Adelbert deliveries, I might just see this one on a shelf.
If you enjoyed the cans of Maui Brewing’s CoCoNut porter then this might pique your interest. They have a version aged in RUM barrels!