Scenes from the 2012 Barrel Aged Beer Seminar
Last night, I attended the Barrel Aged Beer Seminar and Tasting, part of a lineup of events for Portland Beer Week. The event centered around 11 different barrel aged beers from four different breweries, with a panel member representing each brewery: Ben Edmunds from Breakside Brewery, Mitch Steele from Stone Brewing, Matt Van Wyk from Oaksire Brewing, and Doug Rehberg from Widmer Brothers Brewing.
Like last year, it was a casual event with Ben Edmunds moderating the panel and asking questions about all aspects of the barrel aged beer process. Each brewer also talked about the flavor profiles and the process behind the individual beers that they brought to the tasting. It's a lot of fun to hear stories about the brewers, beers, and breweries, all while drinking some rare, complex beers. Instead of a lecture, it's much more of a conversation about barrel aged beers, punctuated by delicious examples.
It was a great event, with some superb beers covering a fairly wide range of styles. I've attended this seminar two years in a row and I'd buy tickets right now for next year's event if they were available.
Beers, in tasting order:
- Hwy 78 (Glenlivet Scotch Barrels*)—Stone Brewing
- Blended Kill Devil Brown (Rum Barrels)—Widmer Brothers Brewing
- Uncut Kill Devil Brown (Rum Barrels)—Widmer Brothers Brewing
- Very Ill Tempered Gnome (Rye Whiskey Barrels)—Oakshire Brewing
- 2011 Brrrbon (Bourbon Barrels)—Widmer Brothers Brewing
- Single Barrel Young American Lambic (Gin Barrels)—Breakside Brewing
- Barleywine (Brandy Barrels)—Oakshire Brewing
- Wheatwine (Bourbon Barrels)—Breakside Brewing
- 2010 Old Guardian Barleywine (Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels)—Stone Brewing
- Nutcracker Gingerbread Imperial Porter (Bourbon Barrels)—Oakshire Brewing
- 2008 Russian Imperial Sout (Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels)—Stone Brewing
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