Nectar Ales, the once owned brewery by Firestone Walker, makes an appearance on the show this week with Black Xantus. This massive 11% ABV Imperial Stout is barrel aged and infused with local organic/fair-trade coffee from Jobella Coffee Roasters.
One of Allagash’s annual releases, Interlude, combines a crisp Saison with red wine barrels. To top it all off, brettanomyces (brett) is added into the barrel too, giving the beer a tangy, funky edge. We have the quite young 2012 vintage but if Allagash’s reputation means anything, this beer should certainly be a treat.
Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) could very well be the first American beer ever put into bourbon barrels. Their one-off variants of their base BCBS range from a 23 year old Pappy Van Winkle barrel aged variant, to their newest release, Cherry Rye. The Cherry Rye was aged in Rye Whiskey barrels with fresh whole Michigan cherries.
Lavery Brewing Company out of Erie, Pennsylvania is probably one brewery most of the USA (and world) are unfamiliar with. Their Devil Bird Holiday Ale, a winter release, is an 8.5% ABV Imperial Porter aged in fresh bourbon barrels. According to Lavery, it is “based on the Irish tradition of carrying a dead wren through the streets on the day after Christmas.”
For our 50th episode, we open a set of beers we’ve been holding onto for a few years. The Stone Vertical Epic series is a series of beer released each year starting with the elusive 02.02.02. Through some purchases on the shelf and trading, we were able to gather six years to taste, 07.07.07 through 12.12.12.
