Welcome to post numero dos!
While ingredients vary greatly, most brew days look almost identical. We mash in, rest, lauter, boil and knock out. The timing for each process is largely the same. The same process with very different ingredients will yield a very different beer.
It’s always a nice change of pace when we break from the norm and play around with different ingredients or a different method for aging. Iron Hill has been making Bourbon Barrel Aged beer for years now. There are a few breweries that have toyed with Bourbon Barrel Aged IPAs, but they are few and far between on the market.
A little over a month ago we got a bourbon barrel that had been previously filled with Pig Iron Porter. The second use for these barrels is a lot more subtle than the first. There is still some bourbon character but more of the wood starts to shine through.
This is the fateful barrel:
We aged Rising Sun in this barrel for a little over a month. Rising Sun was originally brewed by Chris at our Maple Shade location and quickly became one of the most popular IPAs that we brew. This lightly sweet but intensely hoppy IPA is brewed with 100% Sorachi Ace hops for flavor and aroma. This hop has big notes of coconut and lemon and is a little woody.
Ruby wanted to barrel age an IPA and the Rising Sun was in the right place at the right time for this special treatment. Ruby also dry hopped the beer in the barrel with Citra hops. I run the risk of sounding like a huge beer nerd, but dry hopping a barrel is really freakin awesome!
Ruby is going to put one keg of this very special beer on tap on Thursday, 3/27 at 5pm. We only have a little bit of this beer, so this one keg will likely go quick. If you want to try it come join Ruby on Thursday evening.
Until next time,
Kevin
