Lower ABV Styles:Īny beer style that is not a sour and is lower ABV, may not work well in a barrel-aged format. This would be the case whether you’re brewing with pellet hops or whole cone hops. The necessary time required to pick up enough barrel character would mute any hop aroma and flavor. Hop aromas are extremely volatile, and fade quickly over time. This is because these styles showcase hop as the main flavor component of the beer. Pale Ales, IPAs, DIPAs, and other hop forward beers are not well suited for barrel aging. While the above examples outlines styles that are well suited for barrel aging, there are some that would not work as well. Bacteria and wild yeast also have the ability to metabolize the wood and convert it to ethanol, which further enhances their flavor and aroma.
The longer you age a sour beer, the more funk/sour qualities you get. However, if you are intentionally souring your beer, the microbes that you are using will lower the pH of the beer, which will inhibit the growth of bad bacteria that would turn the batch bad.Īlso, the time needed for bacteria like lactobacillus and pediococcus to develop coincide with the time necessary for barrel aging. Most sour beers fall below the 8-9% threshold discussed earlier. While keeping oxidation at bay is the norm for most beer, it’s an accepted part of the beer style for higher ABV beers like Barleywines, Imperial Stouts, and Belgian Quads. Second, beer styles that have higher ABV are styles that can incorporate oxidized flavors into the beer. The higher alcohol content acts as a barrier for microbes that would normally turn beer bad. These beers are generally aged in barrels for approximately 6-9 months, or even longer. There are a number of reasons for this.įirst, higher ABV beers can withstand the harsh environment of a barrel. Here is a handy list of beer qualities that make them excellent styles to age in spirit/wine barrels.īeers that contain a minimum of 8-9% ABV or higher are better suited for barrel aging than their lower ABV counterparts. While, in theory, any beer can be ‘aged’ in a barrel, there are certain beer styles that automatically lend themselves to being prime candidates for barrel aging. It can be a highly rewarding project that will leave you wanting more! Not All Beers Are Created Equal in Barrel Aging While you may think barrel aging is something you cannot accomplish as a homebrewer, you need to think again. This melds the character and flavor of the wood with the beer, while adding a distinct flavor and aroma profile of the specific wine or spirit used previously. To up the ante, breweries and homebrewers are also going one step further, and are using wood barrels that have been previously used for spirits (whiskey, bourbon, tequila, rum, etc.) and wine (chardonnay, merlot, pinot noir, etc.). Nonetheless, with the expansion of the craft beer revolution that started in the 1970s, more and more breweries adopted aging beers in wood barrels to give a unique character to their beer. However, with the advent of stainless steel and lack of diversity in the beer world after Prohibition ended, wooden barrels became a thing of the past in American beer discourse. Historically speaking, all beers were barrel aged, given that beers were served directly out of wooden barrels and even stored in beer caves for long periods of time (caves were optimal places for storing beer because of their constant cooler ambient temperatures).
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