Some things are worth the wait. With this edition of our Brewer's Corner, I want to talk to you about our barrel program, and what's coming down the pipeline this summer and beyond.
Since we opened in 2019, every time we brewed an imperial stout, we would fill and stash away a couple of bourbon barrels out of each batch. Two barrels here, two barrels there, over the course of that first year. SLOWLY, we began to build our stock up, but our first few releases were small by necessity.
As we got a better handle on our production schedule, we started putting a couple of full batches of stout into barrels to build supply further. During the pandemic shutdown, we took some of that dreary down time to further build up our supply of barrels. Now, we were able to do a few more releases, adding a third, sometimes even a fourth barrel per release, getting more beer into more people's hands. We even got some fun collaborations with some of our favorite brewers into barrels for future releases.
As time went on, we were able to tailor unique stout recipes specifically designed to stand up to the barrel aging process, such as the base for our non-adjunct stout, Tranquil. We were able to source barrels that are unique and from highly respected distilleries, and we've got a few that we're particularly excited about. As of this writing, we have over 80 barrels filled with stout, porter, a gose, and an experimental Acid Rainbow in a red wine barrel that we threw a ton of wild yeast into. 80 barrels will seem like small potatoes to some, a ton to others, but for us, we worked hard to carefully build and manage that supply.
That brings us to our Barrel Aged Summer, which may actually turn into a Barrel Aged Year. The fruits of our labor over the past year and a half are now beginning to pay off and we have a whole bunch of barrels that are ready to be pulled, packaged, and drunk. Over the course of the coming months, we plan to release a new barrel aged beer every month, possibly even more than one. Some barrel aged versions of some of your favorite stouts over the past year will see the light of day, including some pretty exciting collabs, and we'll have a few new ones too. We've been able to let these beers sit in the barrel for the proper amount of time, some being a year, others up to 18 months. Patience is the key when building these programs, and while that's not always easy, it pays off.
Barrel Aged Ice Cream Carton
Our first release of your Barrel Aged Summer: a Neapolitan Stout brewed with cacao nibs, strawberry, and vanilla, aged in hand selected Wild Turkey bourbon barrels.
The first release of our Barrel Aged Summer is Barrel Aged Ice Cream Carton. When we pulled the beer out of the Wild Turkey Bourbon barrels, our first thought was bourbon infused fudge. We're adding cocoa nibs to this beer, but it almost didn't need to. In addition to the nibs, big doses of strawberry and vanilla round out this Neapolitan Stout. We feel like the barrel aging treatment is a big improvement to what was already a delicious stout.
This release will happen IN-PERSON at our brewery in St. Charles, Illinois, at noon, Saturday, May 28. We’ve been longing to return to in-person, out-the-back bottle releases for quite some time. Join us, grab your bottles, and hit the taproom afterwards to try this and 15 other beers on tap.
Keep tabs on our social media for more info on additional Barrel Aged Summer (and then some) releases. There's going to be some fun stuff rolling out, and we can’t wait to share it with all of you: guests, friends, and collaborators.
- Eric Bramwell, Head Brewer and Co-Founder, Riverlands Brewing Company