Europeans have been putting beer in wooden vessels for hundreds of years. Before industrialization, beer was fermented in wood, stored and shipped in wood, and poured directly from wood. Beer spoiled often. Life sucked. By the mid-20th century, most breweries had happily traded their temperamental wooden barrels for the reliability and convenience of metal tanks. Then, breweries realized how kind wood can be to beer that’s treated properly. Sure, it’s expensive, and predicting when a batch will be ready is tricky. But, results are rarely disappointing — such as aging beer in wine barrels. Wine barrels induce fruit flavors and usually make a beer’s mouthfeel more vinous and dry. Barrels made of French oak, as opposed to American, create a subtler character in beer, often spicy and tannic. Today, Peaks and Pints ages its daily beer flight in wine barrels in what we call Craft Beer Crosscut 3.19.18: A Flight of Wine Barrels.
High Water Le Petit Diablotin
6% ABV
High Water Brewing aged its cherry and pomegranate Pom Cherry Bomb fruit beer in American oak red wine barrel three years before blending it with sour barrels that were aged for two years and one year. A healthy mix of Brettanomyces, Pediococcus and Lactobacillus was added into the barrels and nature was allowed to takes its course. Some of the pomegranate and cherry notes have faded but a complex mélange of wood and fruit notes still dominate the finish. Part of the Calambic series, Le Petit Diablotin, “The Little Devil,” is an American sour ale has flavors of straw, cherry, light pomegranate, light vinous notes and a hint of oak with a crisp dry tart lingering cherry finish.
Mirage Drie Valleien
6.1% ABV
Former Wingman Brewers and Buoy Beer Co. brewer Mike Dempster opened farmhouse-focused Mirage Beer Company late last year in Seattle. Mirage’s first bottle, Drie Valleien, is a 6.1 percent saison aged in Pinot Noir barrels from the Willamette Valley with wild cultures from the Senne and Sonoma Valleys. Nose is modest Pinot Noir earthy grape with a hoppy saison underneath. On the tongue, it’s wonderfully musky, deep and creamy with a soft fruity character — strawberry, grape and maybe a hint of tart cherry. Nice bitter note emerges at the finish.
Deschutes Cultivateur Provision Saison
7.5% ABV
Deschutes Cultivateur Provision Saison, from the Bend, OR-based brewery’s experimental Pub Reserve series, takes its inspiration from typical farmhouse saisons — only this take on this style is more complex from barrel-aging the ale in Pinot casks to bring forth a mix of saison, Brett and sour styles. The result? It’s complex and refreshing, with rustic notes typical to the style, but with woodiness from the barrel and a sourness that doesn’t overwhelm. The orangey cloud of liquid in the glass testifies that it’s unfiltered, with apricot and grass on the nose, as well as a hint of hay. Expect tartness, but also a bit of spice and overripe fruit that lingers with a farmhouse funk. A lot going on, for sure.
Deschutes 2017 The Dissident
10.5% ABV, 25 IBU
With apologies to The Abyss, this oud bruin is a favorite of Deschutes’ Reserve Series. The Dissident is a Flanders-style sour brown ale, sometimes referred to as an “Oud Bruin” (old brown) beer. It’s an earthy beer, soured through the use of a percentage of beer brewed with wild yeast. Deschutes brews The Dissident with Oregon Montmorency cherries, and it is fermented and aged in pinot noir and cabernet oak barrels for 18 months. A wonderful dark cherry aroma immediately fills the room followed by strong oak presence and spicy, earthy yeast are present behind the cherry. The Dissident has great tart cherry flavor that is complemented by notes of red wine, oak and vanilla. The use of dark Belgian candi sugar provided a bit of molasses.
Green Flash Cellar 3 Series: Oculus Sauvage
10.1% ABV, 101 IBU
Talk about experimentation: Green Flash Brewing combined its Belgian-style Trippel and American Imperial IPA, added black and red currants, inoculated it with Brettanomyces, then aged it in red wine barrels for 12 to 24 months. Brewed with Amarillo, Summit and Nugget hops, the resinous hops characteristics are refined by barrel-drawn notes of vanilla and French oak tannins. Wild, dual yeast fermentation imparts a barnyard funk with hints of apple orchard that linger in the finish.
