A significant chunk of their deserved reputation for quality has been generated by their range of extra-ordinary barrel aged beers.  These mature for between six months and a year in the aged, stained barrels which are stored in vast racks from floor to ceiling.  A chart on the front panel of each barrel notes the brew date, added ingredients (usually yeast and fruit) and expected finish date.

Founder and current Director of Brewery Operations Tomme Arthur coped well with the descending horde of brewers, judges, beer geeks and hopheads when I visited in 2008.  It was part of a massive series of events in and around the World Beer Cup.  Expectations were high because American beer aficionados had spoken with such reverence about Lost Abbey (whose tagline is appropriately “for saints and sinners alike.”)

They try to do at least six barrel aged beers a year though they are quite open that these are only released on a “when-they-are-ready basis.”   The current range include Cuvee de Tomme (11% brown ale aged in bourbon barrels with raisins and cherries), Red Poppy Ale (5.5% fruit beer aged in oak barrels with sour cherries), Duck Duck Gooze (5.5% mix of young and old barrel aged beers) and The Angel’s Share (12.5% strong ale aged for at least a year in bourbon or brandy barrels).

I don’t recall the exact price of these beers but it was astronomical in both New Zealand and American dollar.  When I asked the down-to-earth Tomme whether the price scared off customer, he simply waved his hand at the racks of barrels and said virtually everything was already sold.  They struggled to keep up with demand despite having moved into larger premises.

One of the brewers there that day was Luke Nicholas, head brewer at Epic Brewing Company.  As a noted and distinguished hopaholic, Luke was initially sceptical of barrel aging saying it was trendy but not really that big.  Over time however, he began to wonder about using time in wooden barrels to flavour a beer. 

The tipping point was reading Pete Brown’s most excellent book “Hops and Glory” in which he travels with a wooden barrel of IPA to recreate the historic journey from England to India.   Pete’s conclusion was that the barrel and the journey changed the entire character of the beer.

Luke tested this theory with last year’s Epic Journey, two twenty litres oak barrels which were filled with Armageddon IPA and put onto the InterIslander ferry for six weeks.  The resulting beer picked up oak and tannin while losing some of the hoppy edge.  Luke explained at the time “the barrel was a bit of a gimmick to start out but the whole experience was actually fun.  The barrels really changed the beer in a way I didn’t expect.  The process was interesting but also a bit scary and creepy, leaving it all to the wood.  You don’t have that control and there are a lot of unknowns.”

It was a fascinating beer but with only 40 litres ever available, most people missed out.  Now there is a second chance to try a barrel-aged Epic with the release of Barrel Aged Epic Armageddon (7.2%).  It is on tap at Malthouse right now. 

This batch has been aged in huge, brand new and unfeasibly expensive American oak barrels (medium toast, from the Napa Valley for the barrel-spotters out there).  Standard Armageddon IPA spent around a month in the wood and was also periodically dry hopped.  The result is a resinous, oily IPA with plenty of citrus (tangerine), wood (oak, vanilla) and controlled hop bitterness.  Fundamentally, it’s a surprisingly delicious cross between Armageddon and a plank.  The title of this post was taken from a one word Twitter beer review by Mr Mike Forbes

The Impish Brewer now admits that using barrels is interesting and can add flavour though it certainly brings with it a fair share of challenges.  He confidently predicts there will be quite a few little barrels at the Beer Awards and Beervana in August.

Moving seamlessly from oak to offal, there are still a few places available for the Scottish Beer, Whisky and Haggis evening on 12 May.  Sadly, neither ‘Scotchtoberfest’ nor ‘Happy Haggis Day’ seemed to have caught on as names* but it should be a great event. 

Proceedings start at 6:30pm in Malthouse but the actual tasting will be conducted at an outside venue by two noted experts and me.  Bookings are essential for this event – even Colin the Handsome yet Softly Spoken Proprietor cannot just pop into the Starmart** and pick up some more gourmet haggis if people turn up unexpectedly.  Drop an email to the state-of-the-art booking facility haggis@themalthouse.co.nz by Friday 7th May to secure your spot.

* Unlike ‘The Impish Brewer’ which is an internet sensation and regular global trending topic on Twitter
** Or whatever the hell it is called this week

Cheers


Beer Writer
Real Beer New Zealand
Beer and Brewer Magazine

Links

Lost Abbey – http://www.lostabbey.com/ 
Tomme Arthur – http://www.lostabbey.com/about/our-people/#tomme
Epic Brewing Company – http://www.lostabbey.com/about/our-people/#tomme
Impish Brewer – http://imp.epicbeer.com/ 
Malthouse on Twitter – http://twitter.com/malthouse
Malthouse Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wellington/Malthouse/7084276173
Real Beer – http://www.realbeer.co.nz/blog/blog.html
Beer and Brewer Magazine – http://www.beerandbrewer.com/