As is the tradition on these occaisions, when I emerge from the dusty cellar that holds the barrique full of this beer I'll pop in and tell the tale of its progress
Went out and filled another keg of this beer a few days ago, as it has had a little time under pressure now... I had an opportunity to draw my first glass
in a couple of years this afternoon.
But first, some narrative on the process and progress.
I've got this barrel in an ancient 'Chais'... it's actually a wine maturation cellar that's alongside an old wine-pressing and fermentation room. The room has an earth floor, north facing room and has been used for wine production for >100 years. I *swear* it's picking up some significant mojo from its environment. More on this later.
The barrel has a blow-off tube from its fermentation days still attached. It means the whole thing is totally hermetically sealed and it's only when I come to service it and make a withdrawal from the bounty do I open it. So, surface dust cleaned away. A good solid spray with some PA solution and then after a few minutes I break the seal. This time I took a little mini USB endoscope for a proper inspection of the interior, the surface of the beer, the walls of the barrel - the whole deal. It all looked good.
That's it, draw down a kegs worth, flush the newly emptied space with CO2 and spray the bung and seal up again.
Flush the keg, set it to carb up at 1Bar for a few days and off we go to taste a couple of glasses of the barrel aged beer.
Uncarbed and straight from the keg..
Any alcohol 'hotness' has gone.
Residual sugars I remember from last time? Gone. Tastes drier.
It's now... silky silky smooth... like cold espresso. The roasty bitter edge is back.
Hops? It wasn't aroma-hoppy ever... but hop bitterness now gives way to a smoother roast bitterness.
Predominant flavours? Coffee, Wood, Leather... an earthiness... it tastes of a wine cellar.
The wine quality is pronounced. No mistaking what it was aged with.
The more volatile elements.. they're gone. I didn't get the vanilla I had last time.. and the stickyness. It's become something... different.. perhaps more sophisticated.
Opinion? This is my fourth significant tasting of this beer since the original brewday. It's been a great experiment and an exercise in supreme patience. I had a notion of what barrel aging would do and I was always conscious of the risks I was running with contamination and souring... but it just so happens I've hit the sweet spot at every turn.
So, still 160+ litres left. I'm not sure when it'll 'peak', perhaps another 2 years or so... and then I'll start to blend it with other brews I'm sure. I little bit of this will add structure and depth to much younger, more petulant beers.
Four years ago when I kicked this off... barrel aged beers were not too common... the world has moved on now. I know lots of breweries now have their own 'barrel programmes' and suchlike but I'd encourage any home brewer to bone up, do your homework and have a go. The results have been the single most rewarding experience of my now close on 30 years of brewing.
Baptism of fire? I'm taking a keg once more to the next national amateur brewers meeting/congress here in France in a few weeks - it'll get a review and critique from that audience and it's always interesting to get the input from other brewers.