Saturday, December 14, 2019
Three Denver Breweries Plow New Ground with Barrel Aging
Brian Grace said that he hears the sour and barrel-aging phase of craft beer may have reached its apex several years ago. Yet what Grace is doing now - and what several other brewers in the Denver area are undertaking in their study of barrels - may just prove that theorem wrong.
In fact, at least three brewers operating in the Mile High City are now taking their breweries' barrel-aging programs to new heights. And while this certainly does not encompass the whole of the experiments that are evolving in aging in the city, it gives a snapshot of what kind of ground still can be gained in an art that has been practiced for two decades but certainly has not jumped the shark.
Grace is the head brewer for Thirsty Monk's expanding national scope and is based in Denver. An alumnus of both Jolly Pumpkin and Crooked Stave, Grace started at Thirsty Monk about 14 months ago with a charge to develop a barrel-aged, sour-focused program for a three-state brewery that largely has been focused on traditional, non-biting Belgian recipes.
To launch the effort in Thirsty Monk's East 17th Avenue location, Grace brewed a Belgian dark strong ale with pluot and blackberry, aging it eight months in barrels and then five months in foeders tucked away in a south Denver warehouse. The resulting product is ready for public consumption, but it is being held back until early 2020 as the brewery figures out packaging and plans to get it to its Oregon and North Carolina locations. But Grace is satisfied with initial taste tests and believes he's onto a way to create new kinds of flavors for his traditional brewery.
"It's exciting. It's not intimidating as much as it is nerve-wracking," said Grace, who's already crafted sour mash beers for Thirsty Monk but has yet to do a classic Belgian sour like this. "You never know what you'll get with wild beers."
Kent and Greg Dawson of Briar Common Brewery + Eatery in Denver's Jefferson Park neighborhood had similar thoughts when they decided to dive into barrels. But the brothers made an even bolder move, putting aside one of the brewery's seven tanks shortly after it opened to age saison on Brettanomyces for 18 months then transfer it to French oak for another nine months to create Joyce and Brett, a beer that sparkles and works both as a smooth beer and as one that intensifies from its base style, becoming simultaneously drinkable and exquisite.
Those who head by the brewery now will find three barrel-aged beers on tap, including a porter and a Belgian dubbel in whiskey barrels. All three offer different perspectives on the barrel-aging process, but the Rochus porter aged 10 months in Wood's Whiskey barrels is a particularly pleasant sensation while still being boozy, contrasting well with Joyce on Brett and showing the many characteristics of the barrel.
"This is our first foray into barrels, and I had zero expectations," Kent Dawson said. "I just feel fortunate that they did turn out like they did."
Then there is Ratio Beerworks of RiNo, which is a relative barrel expert by now. The nearly-five-year-old brewery held its annual Genius Wizard Experience on Friday night, pairing food and art installations and, most importantly, six variants of its Genius Wizard Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, each one of them combining the smoothness of barrels with added ingredients that brought a solid (and shockingly booze-light) big beer to new heights.
The boldest of the bunch was the Aged Maple Pecan variant, which was the most daring in terms of its big sweetness but also the most rewarding because it took the flavor furthest from the base beer and made you consider the additive values of heavy sugar. But the Aged Mayan Chocolate (pictured above), which was served without carbonation, and the Aged Chai, which sparkled with a ginger back taste, also ranked among the more interesting beers produced not just by Ratio but by any Denver brewery this year.
Ratio, frankly, shows what a brewery can do when it commands mastery of barrels - add in bold flavors and take a beer that might be perceived as heavy to drink and make it exceedingly easy to enjoy. The variants will be sold in multi-packs at the brewery until they run out, and it's highly advised you get there to buy some.
But all three of the explorer breweries should be lauded for trying to add a new flavor into a brewing scene that is becoming increasingly crowded. Each effort gives a reason for customers to stop in and a window into what bold experimentation can do, and they remind drinkers why the Denver craft beer scene may be an old dog, but it's still learning new tricks.
In fact, at least three brewers operating in the Mile High City are now taking their breweries' barrel-aging programs to new heights. And while this certainly does not encompass the whole of the experiments that are evolving in aging in the city, it gives a snapshot of what kind of ground still can be gained in an art that has been practiced for two decades but certainly has not jumped the shark.
Grace is the head brewer for Thirsty Monk's expanding national scope and is based in Denver. An alumnus of both Jolly Pumpkin and Crooked Stave, Grace started at Thirsty Monk about 14 months ago with a charge to develop a barrel-aged, sour-focused program for a three-state brewery that largely has been focused on traditional, non-biting Belgian recipes.
To launch the effort in Thirsty Monk's East 17th Avenue location, Grace brewed a Belgian dark strong ale with pluot and blackberry, aging it eight months in barrels and then five months in foeders tucked away in a south Denver warehouse. The resulting product is ready for public consumption, but it is being held back until early 2020 as the brewery figures out packaging and plans to get it to its Oregon and North Carolina locations. But Grace is satisfied with initial taste tests and believes he's onto a way to create new kinds of flavors for his traditional brewery.
"It's exciting. It's not intimidating as much as it is nerve-wracking," said Grace, who's already crafted sour mash beers for Thirsty Monk but has yet to do a classic Belgian sour like this. "You never know what you'll get with wild beers."
Kent and Greg Dawson of Briar Common Brewery + Eatery in Denver's Jefferson Park neighborhood had similar thoughts when they decided to dive into barrels. But the brothers made an even bolder move, putting aside one of the brewery's seven tanks shortly after it opened to age saison on Brettanomyces for 18 months then transfer it to French oak for another nine months to create Joyce and Brett, a beer that sparkles and works both as a smooth beer and as one that intensifies from its base style, becoming simultaneously drinkable and exquisite.
Those who head by the brewery now will find three barrel-aged beers on tap, including a porter and a Belgian dubbel in whiskey barrels. All three offer different perspectives on the barrel-aging process, but the Rochus porter aged 10 months in Wood's Whiskey barrels is a particularly pleasant sensation while still being boozy, contrasting well with Joyce on Brett and showing the many characteristics of the barrel.
"This is our first foray into barrels, and I had zero expectations," Kent Dawson said. "I just feel fortunate that they did turn out like they did."
Then there is Ratio Beerworks of RiNo, which is a relative barrel expert by now. The nearly-five-year-old brewery held its annual Genius Wizard Experience on Friday night, pairing food and art installations and, most importantly, six variants of its Genius Wizard Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, each one of them combining the smoothness of barrels with added ingredients that brought a solid (and shockingly booze-light) big beer to new heights.
The boldest of the bunch was the Aged Maple Pecan variant, which was the most daring in terms of its big sweetness but also the most rewarding because it took the flavor furthest from the base beer and made you consider the additive values of heavy sugar. But the Aged Mayan Chocolate (pictured above), which was served without carbonation, and the Aged Chai, which sparkled with a ginger back taste, also ranked among the more interesting beers produced not just by Ratio but by any Denver brewery this year.
Ratio, frankly, shows what a brewery can do when it commands mastery of barrels - add in bold flavors and take a beer that might be perceived as heavy to drink and make it exceedingly easy to enjoy. The variants will be sold in multi-packs at the brewery until they run out, and it's highly advised you get there to buy some.
But all three of the explorer breweries should be lauded for trying to add a new flavor into a brewing scene that is becoming increasingly crowded. Each effort gives a reason for customers to stop in and a window into what bold experimentation can do, and they remind drinkers why the Denver craft beer scene may be an old dog, but it's still learning new tricks.
Labels: Barrel aging, Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Crooked Stave, imperial stouts, Jolly Pumpkin, Ratio Beerworks, Saisons, sour ale, Thirsty Monk, whiskey barrels
