Today we filled some kegs with two different barrel-aged version of the Pro-Am Barley Wine we brewed in Burien back in August 2008.
One was in a Syrah barrel from DeLille Cellars since November of 2008. The other was in a Heaven Hill bourbon barrel since April 2009.
Both are tasting awesome. We look forward to getting the kegs carbonated and ready to serve, perhaps as early as October 1.
Our batch #200 is in the fermenter in Burien. We dreamed up a recipe that we thought would be worthy of this latest brew house landmark. It is a bold and hoppy red ale loosely based on the 1492 Imperialist Red Ale that graced our taps some months ago. But with this batch we cranked up the gravity to 20.0 (get it?) and boosted the bitterness to 70 IBUs, essentially arriving at an Double Red Ale…We thought you’d approve!
Look for a dry-hopped cask of it in West Seattle the Third Thursday in August. It should be pouring in Burien a week or so before that. Stay tuned for details.
It’s that time of the month again…time to release another barrel-aged beer from our growing collection of rare one-off beers stored in the depths of our brewery in Burien.
In West Seattle we’ll trot out five gallons of blended sour beer. We took two different beers (Red and Blonde von Boorian) and aged them each for nine months in French oak barrels that had been inoculated w/ Brettanomyces yeast. This served to sour both beers, each in their own way. Then we blended the two together to create something that turned out to be greater than the sum of its parts.
Our Burien beer will be the No Doubt Stout aged in a Woodford Reserve bourbon barrel. There are mild hints of char owing to the way bourbon barrels are prepared and a wee bit of vanilla imparted from the oak. It’s not very boozy, but still begs to be sipped slowly and savoured.
Both kegs will be pouring starting Saturday, August 1st. Don’t wait too long, though. They usually disappear pretty quickly.
Two Fridays ago we trekked out to Woodinville, WA and met up with the winemakers at DeLille Cellars to taste them on a few of our beers, sample some of their wines, and haul home a few of their retired red wine barrels.
The result was that we left there with four barrels from three different barrel makers, all French, that we’ll use to age some of our beers in over the upcoming months.
At present we’re about ready to fill a few kegs with barley wine aged in a DeLille barrel that was used to make their 2003 Syrah. Once we get the kegs carbonated we’ll let you all know about a release date.
This month’s cask beer from Burien will be pouring in our West Seattle pub beginning at 3:00 on Thursday, July 16.
Patrons will be the first to taste, HELLMOUTH IMPERIAL IPA, the latest in our series of Imperial-style ales. It is essentially a dry-hopped version of our Imperial von Boorian, but brewed with our standard house yeast instead of the Belgian strain we use for the von Boorian series.
The name refers to “a focal point which serves as a portal between earth and Hell. The Hellmouth attracts demons and other supernatural creatures, becoming a “hot spot” for supernatural activity.” We thought that was a pretty good description of what happens when we ferment a 7% ABV beer in Burien!
Dry-hopped with Amarillo and Cascade.
Last night’s shenanigans in the Elliott Bay Twelfth Anniversary Beer Garden with Omar Torrez Band:
Omar will play under the WS stars again tonight. Don’t miss this opportunity to shake your groove thang…and it’s FREE!
Here’s a video clip of one of our new tanks being hauled into the brewery in Burien. Each fermentation tank will hold ~600 gallons of beer and roughly double our current capacity.
The tanks were manufactured by Interior Stainless of Summerland, BC. That’s Jim from Interior in the yellow shirt and Head Brewer Doug Hindman steering the fork lift. Lead Brewer, John Gerretson, operated the camera.
Check out these maps documenting Per Capita Beer Consumption
by STATE
CA = 28.4 gallons
WA = 28.7 gallons
OR = 31.5 gallons
by COUNTRY
USA = 81.6 liters (21.6 gallons)
Germany = 115.8 liters (30.6 gallons)
Czech Republic = 156.9 liters (41.4 gallons)
