Craft beer is best enjoyed fresh. Drink a fresh hop IPA the day it’s bottled or canned, and you’ll catch it at its absolute peak — never again will it taste quite so vibrant. Day by day, its lushness fades. Beer, unlike vinegar or Pop-Tarts, is not a fixed food product. So, why do brewers barrel-age beer? Because the porous wood of a barrel allows for slow oxidation, which can enhance the complexity of darker, malt-forward beers. The barrel’s former resident — whether wine, bourbon, or another spirit — also plays a key role. While bourbon is always aged in charred American oak, other whiskeys may use different types of wood. Still, American oak is the most common, contributing notes of vanilla, coconut, and leather. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of beer aged in bourbon and whiskey barrels in celebration of National Bourbon Day. Please stop by our craft beer and cider bar, bottle shop, and restaurant to enjoy the Peaks & Pints Beer Flight: Bourbon Day 2025.
Peaks & Pints Beer Flight: Bourbon Day 2025
Urban Roots All Possible Futures
12.5% ABV
Urban Roots Brewing crafted All Possible Futures barleywine using a double-mash technique to achieve an extra-concentrated malt flavor and aroma. The resulting beer offers intense caramel, toffee, and biscuity-bready richness from 100-percent Simpsons Maris Otter and Crystal malts. The beer was aged in Stagg Jr. Bourbon barrels in April 2022 and aged for two years, further intensifying the caramel notes and imparting bold bourbon, vanilla, and mild oak flavors. Between the age and the barrels, the beer developed a brown sugar-like sweetness swirling with all the fierce toffee and bourbon barrel character, ending in a mild chocolatey finish.
Bottle Logic Finite Universe
12.8% ABV
Stroll into a donut shop with Bottle Logic Brewing’s outrageous pastry collaboration with Odd By Nature Brewing from Maine. The Finite Universe is soft and silky, with all that glorious powdered sugar frosting sweetness right at the tip of the tongue and an unmistakable mid-palate hit from the 600 giant cake donuts it was finished through. It all comes full circle (or, in this case, a whole torus) with a bold roast that balances the palate with an almost coffee-like bitterness.
Breakside Somebody New in the Old West
14.1% ABV
Breakside Brewery’s Somebody New in the Old West is a complex, limited-edition barrel-aged imperial stout released in October 2024. It’s a blend of distinct barrel-aged beers — Double Rye Stout, Double Oat Stout, Imperial Wheat Porter, and Imperial Milk Stout — each aged 18 to 19 months in a mix of Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey barrels. The result is a whiskey-forward beer with layered notes of apple blossom, cherry, honey, vanilla, salted caramel, and rich oak. With a chewy, chocolatey body and a smooth bourbon warmth, it earned Gold in the Barrel-Aged Stouts category at the 2025 Oregon Beer Awards.
Fort George 2025 Matryoshka
14.7% ABV
Fort George Brewery’s 2025 Matryoshka is a barrel-aged imperial stout crafted from a base beer that has been matured for 12 months in Westland and Westward whiskey barrels. Released in February 2025 as part of the brewery’s annual Stout Month celebration, the beer offers rich notes of bourbon, cocoa, caramel, and roasted nuts, complemented by a silky, balanced body.
Fremont 15th Anniversary
15.4% ABV
This exceptional 2024 barrel-aged barleywine celebrates Fremont Brewing’s milestone with a blend of 18- and 30-month-old barleywine ales, meticulously aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. The extended aging imparts a profound complexity, showcasing strong oak character alongside rich layers of caramel, toffee, and brown sugar sweetness. Notes of molasses and vanilla enhance the malt backbone, while subtle hints of dried fruit, such as fig and raisin, add depth and warmth. The aroma is rounded out by nutty undertones and a distinct whiskey presence, creating a luxurious and robust drinking experience that balances sweetness, boozy warmth, and oak-driven spice.
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