The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer by Christina Perozzi & Hallie Beaune

Author:Christina Perozzi & Hallie Beaune [Perozzi, Christina & Beaune, Hallie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780399535345
Publisher: IB Dave's Library
Published: 2009-11-03T08:00:00+00:00

GORDON: Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery, Lyons, Colorado. An American Double IPA that packs a punch. Nice malty sweetness with notes of caramel and a big balance of bitter hops. 8.7% ABV.

FURIOUS: Surly Brewing Company, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. An American IPA with sweet toffee, citrus, and a balance of hops. Drinkable but big in flavor. 6.2% ABV.

ROYAL WEISSE ALE: Sly Fox Brewing Company, Royersford, Pennyslvania. Sweet and tart with notes of citrus and spice, low in bitterness. 5.4% ABV.

One man’s trash...Today craft beer has seen a huge resurgence of barrel-aged brews. The popularity of barrel-aging has been spearheaded by those brewers who are excited by the risks involved and seek the unique flavors wood can impart. They know it may take several batches before they figure out how best to age their beer. This often involves mixing different vintages of aging ale in the same way that Belgian brewers mix different-aged Lambics to create the perfect Gueuze. Barrel-aging is a commitment; it takes space, money, patience (sometimes you have to dump your beer and start all over again), and a watchful eye.

So what happens to a beer aged in a barrel? The wood is porous (as is a cork in bottle-aging) and lets in a small amount of oxygen. This is possible because the alcohol (or sometimes just water in the beer) evaporates slightly. This evaporated part is poetically known as the “angels’ share” (which, incidentally, is the name of a rare and beloved Belgian-style ale from the brewery Lost Abbey out of California). As this oxidation happens, chemicals are created that change the flavor of the beer. In beers that don’t benefit from aging, like lighter low-alcohol beers, oxidation can create a wet-cardboard flavor. In bigger, high-alcohol beers, oxidation can bring about a sherry-like flavor or sometimes a metallic flavor. The sherry flavor can be a nice addition to certain beers but may not be great in others. It’s a bit of a crapshoot sometimes. The sharp flavors of a hoppy or sour beer also tend to dull during this process, just as the sharp flavors of fruit or drying tannins can mellow out when bottle-aging wine.

Barrels used for aging beer tend to be oak and are often barrels that have been used to age bourbon or whisky, giving the beer flavors from these liquors and sometimes bumping up the alcohol percentage because of remnants of alcohol in the wood. Some daring breweries, like Russian River from California, make use of wine barrels that have been used for Chardonnay, Cabernet, or Pinot Noir, hoping to add a vinous complexity to their beer. Although other woods have been used, like cedar and chestnut, oak seems to be the easiest to work with and the most dominant in aging.

Barrel flavors are hard to control because one barrel may have different characteristics from the next. And if a barrel is used once to age a beer, then its second aging will often be dulled. For example, if the barrel had been used

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