There’s a decent chance that when you hear the phrase “barrel-aged beer” your mind tends to immediately conjure images of bourbon or other whiskey barrels and dark beers like stouts and porters. And while you’re not wrong to think that, there’s a lot more to barrel-aged beer than simply bourbon-flavored bangers. While the fall is definitely a time for the aforementioned whisky barrel-aged beers, brewers are also experimenting with tequila, wine, and other barrels as well.
There are so many barrel-aged beers on the market, it’s tough to pick just one.
“Now, that’s tricky,” says Enrique Vittorino, brand manager at Wynwood Brewing Co. in Miami. “It’s like asking ‘what’s your favorite band?’ which is an impossible question to respond to, at least for me. Sometimes you want Rush, other times High On Fire. Don’t forget about Casiopea. What about early Genesis?”
The same goes for barrel-aged beers. Picking just one is a tough ask. Still, we decided to try. We got twelve brewers and craft beer experts (including Vittorino) to tell us their favorite barrel-aged beers to drink this fall. Keep scrolling to see them all.
Bottle Logic Fundamental Observation
Ryan Joy, lead brewer at Green Flash Brewing Company in San Diego
ABV: 13%
Average Price: $26.99 for a 500ml bottle
Why This Beer?
Fundamental Observation BA Imperial Vanilla Stout from Bottle Logic. While I tend to enjoy non-adjunct BA stouts more, this one expertly blends the traditional barrel character (oak, char, bourbon sweetness) I love and the florally, perceived sweetness that comes from the vanilla beans.
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Chris Spinelli, co-founder and brewer at Roc Brewing in Rochester, New York
ABV: 14.4%
Average Price: $13.99 for a 16.9-ounce bottle
Why This Beer?
I do enjoy Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. I particularly enjoy the different variants each year. It has a great chocolate and oak flavor from the beer and the barrel. It was the first and it’s still one of (if not the) best.
Weldwerks Starry Noche
Zach Fowle, advanced Cicerone and head of marketing for Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. in Phoenix
ABV: 15.6%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Starry Noche, the annual pastrified version of Weldwerks Medianoche barrel-aged stout. I first tried it a year ago, and the flavor was so rich and intense that I think it might still be stuck somewhere in my soft palate. Composed of multiple vintages of Medianoche that are then conditioned with toasted coconut and hazelnut, it’s a beer so thick you almost have to drink it with a spoon. The flavor’s akin to a bourbon hazelnut chocolate graham cracker mocha milkshake.
It’s decadent AF, but worth every tasty calorie.
Cucapá Tequila Barrel Aged Ale
Arantxa Garcia Barroso, brewing manager at Lagunitas Brewing Company in Chicago
ABV: 10%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Cucapá Tequila Barrel Aged Ale. You get the best of both worlds: beer and tequila. This beer gives you agave notes, along with the characteristic vanilla and oak aroma present in an aged tequila with a fantastic finish of malt profile and great mouthfeel on the aftertaste.
3 Sheeps The Wolf
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone® and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
ABV: 13.5%
Average Price: $16.99 for a four-pack
Why This Beer?
The Wolf by 3 Sheeps Brewing is my barrel-aged beer of choice. It balances the warm wood tannins of the bourbon barrel with notes of sweet caramel and dark chocolate. The drinkability is dangerous with this one, too. This is one of those BA stouts you want in a larger format, but not quite because you want to share it.
Real Ale El Guapo
Amy Cartwright, co-founder of Independence Brewing in Austin, Texas
ABV: 6.3%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
While I do not drink barrel-aged beers all that often, I liked Real Ale’s El Guapo, a Gose aged in tequila barrels. I love margaritas and this beer had great hints of smoky tequila with hints of salt. It’s the kind of beer that reminds you there’s more than just bourbon barrel-aged beers out there.
Burlington Beer Mahogany and Tweed
Alex Swanson, brewer at Finback Brewing in Glendale, New York
ABV: 12%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
While maintaining all the potency of contemporary imperials, the lower roast and cognac barrel allow for more nuance in both the malt character and yeast expression. The maple is well balanced, not dominant or cloying, and doesn’t distract from the beer’s other elements. The overall impression is hearty and warming, but svelte in a way that makes it more deeply satisfying than any contemporary imperial stout could hope to achieve.
The Bruery Roble Blanco
Aaron Halecky, brewmaster at Great Basin Taps & Tanks in Reno, Nevada
ABV: 15%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Roble Blanco from The Bruery. Modeled after a margarita, which is one of my favorite beverages outside of beer, and I really do appreciate tequila. The complexity of the sour base beer coupled with the use of lime zest gives a different dimension of tartness for the salt to balance out in comparison to just the standard lime juice used in a margarita.
Similar, yet very different.
Oskar Blues BA22 Vol. 8
Enrique Vittorino, brand manager at Wynwood Brewing Co. in Miami
ABV: 12.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Back to the task at hand, I recently had Oskar Blues BA22 volume eight, and it was just perfect. A rich, roasty, and balanced beer. This imperial stout gets its bold flavor from being barrel-aged in two different barrels before being blended together. It gets sweetness from port barrels and peppery spice from rye whiskey barrels.
Allagash Interlude
Rob Day, vice president of marketing at Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers in Framingham, Massachusetts
ABV: 10.6%
Average Price: $21.99 for 750ml bottle
Why This Beer?
Hands down Allagash Interlude. The flavors dance between great wine and great beer which is why I like the liquid, but the reason it’s my favorite is because it was the first real beer that got my now wife interested in beer.
Brooklyn Black Ops
Ian Brown, head brewer at Biggerstaff Brewing in Atlanta
ABV: 12.4%
Average Price: $24 for a 740ml bottle
Why This Beer?
I don’t drink a ton of barrel-aged stuff, but I remember always loving Brooklyn’s Black Ops. Just an amazing imperial stout that wasn’t cloyingly sweet and overbearing. Boozy but drinkable. This 12.4% ABV imperial stout is barrel-aged in Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon casks.
Side Project Rye Beer: Barrel: Time
Ryan Pachmayer, head brewer at Yak & Yeti Brewpub and Restaurant in Arvada, Colorado
ABV: 15%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Whatever Cory King is blending over at Side Project, particularly the Beer, Barrel, and Time beers when they are released. Collectors/traders sit on those, but in my experience, they’re best within a year, maybe two tops of release. The amount of flavor and the huge mouthfeel in these are impressive, without coming across as a syrupy mess, which can definitely happen when you’re talking about finishing gravities that would be considered fairly high starting gravities on a normal tap list.
A great pick is the recently released Side Project Rye Beer: Barrel: Time 2022 Blend. This rye whiskey barrel-aged imperial stout is known for its sweet chocolate, vanilla, and spicy rye flavors.
