The Wine and Cheese Place Barrel Aged Beer Collaboration #1
We have recently been selecting and purchasing our own barrels of Bourbon. We taste through a number of barrel samples and then choose which barrel we like the best. The Bourbon distillery then bottles the Bourbon for us with our own label and normally would clean and ship the barrel to us for display. But, we thought, why waste this perfect vessel for display purposes, why not use it to age a delicious beer? We asked the Bourbon distilleries if they would not wash, clean, or do anything to the barrel and just ship it to us as is -- they all said yes! The Wine and Cheese Place Barrel Aged Collaboration Series was born.
The Wine and Cheese Place Collaboration #1 with Schlafly
The St. Louis Brewery, Schlafly, paved the way for craft breweries in St. Louis. Without Schlafly, the booming St. Louis Craft beer scene that we are currently experiencing would not be happening right now. When this Collaboration Series first germinated, I approached Dan Kopman of Schlafly first because of everything they have done for us and for St. Louis beer scene. Dan and Schlafly were on board and the wheels were in motion on the collaboration series.
The Life of Buffalo Trace Barrel No.15
Here is the barrel the day it arrived to The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton, MO on August 5, 2011. We also got in 22 cases of Buffalo Trace Bourbon that were aged in this very barrel we hand picked after tasting through 5 barrels. This is barrel Lot 03 A 06 - Barrel #15.
We will officially call it Barrel #15
Both Stephen and Brennan watching the fill level of the barrel...
Brennan and myself watching Barrel #15 get filled, the aroma of Bourbon was amazing and intense as the Schlafly Quad was filling up the barrel...
Brennan watching it closely as it is getting full....
This is where the barrel will live in the aging room of Schlafly Tap Room for the next few months..
The formula for success....
Here is a look at the label that will hold this wonderful nectar...
Schlafly Bourbon Barrel Aged Quadrupel
"A Schlafly beer for
The Wine and Cheese Place"
Release Date: Yet to be determined. Schlafly Brewmaster, Stephen Hale, will taste it monthly to determine when it is ready for release. He predicted anywhere between 3-6 months of barrel aging. Currently it has been in barrel for about 2 and half months already!
Production: Very limited production. Depending on evaporation we should see 20-24 cases of 750ml bottles of beer.
Price: Yet to be determined ($11-$14 / 750ml)
Where to purchase: The beer will be available at all 4 of The Wine and Cheese Place locations plus online at www.wineandcheeseplace.com
How do you find about the release:
Check out information on the next collaborations....
#2 TWCP and Perennial Artisan Ales:
Heart of Gold Wheat Wine aged in a Knob Creek Barrel
This will be Perennial's first barrel aged beer!
(already in barrel since October 6, 2011)
click here to read more
#3 TWCP and 4 Hands Brewing Co.:
Russian Imperial Stout brewed with Goshen Espresso and Whole Vanilla Bean aged in an Elijah Craig Barrel
This will be 4 Hands' first barrel aged beer!
(should be put in barrel in November)
click here to read more
#4 TWCP and 2nd Shift Brewing:
You get to choose which beer which will age in a Buffalo Trace Barrel
This will be 2nd Shift's first barrel aged beer.
(waiting for the barrel to arrive, should be 6-8 weeks)
click here to vote on the beer
more to come in the future....
The Wine and Cheese Place stocks over 1,000 different beers and
also has many of them available online for shipping
2 comments:
This sounds amazing, can't wait to hopefully try this.
I have only tried one barrel aged ale, Kentucky Bourbon Ale. I suspect the ale is average at best, but they can get away with it because it strongly pulls the bourbon taste out of the barrel. It is a delicious beer. One's not enough, but two is too many. I cannot wait to try a good beer aged in this hand selected cask! It sounds like this is very limited release and hope to have a chance to get my hands on it.
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