Category Archives: Barrel Aged

Pubcast 397 – The 7th Annual Barley Wine Classic

It’s hard to believe we have been recording our annual barley wine show for 7 years, but yes, we have shown this style some love since our first one was recorded in the now gone but not forgotten, legendary John’s Tavern in Winfield. We have tasted and reviewed over 40 barley wines from across the USA, and this year we have another 7, plus 2 from the UK!

This year, Art History founders, Tom & Cindy Rau, graciously agreed to allow us to record the show from their Geneva Lager Works production brewery location, and are part of our tasting panel, although Cindy comes along later as she has AHB biz to deal with! Joining them are co-host Chuck Fort from Church Street Brewing, Ed and Mike Seaman from the Broken Brix Fermentation Emporium, and ex-tavern landlord, John Karwoski. It’s a panel of brewing experts who may or may not be familiar with the ancient style of barley wines.

Listen in to hear what they have to say about the style, and then they’ll arbitrarily rate their favorite one, with all due respect to all the others we taste! Cheers!

The Lineup:

  • Barrel of Monks Brewing, Boca Raton FL.
    • Trip Sitter, 7th Anniversary English Barleywine, 12% ABV
    • Trip Sitter, 7th Anniversary BBA English Barleywine, 12.5% ABV
  • Harvey’s Brewery, Lewes, East Sussex UK
    • 2013 Elizabethan Ale, English Barleywine, 7.5% ABV
    • 2023 Elizabethan Ale, Sparkling English Barleywine, 7.2% ABV
  • Riverlands Brewing, St. Charles IL., J.A.M., American Barleywine aged for 24 months in Four Roses Bourbon Barrels.
  • New Image Brewing, Arvada CO., Wood Reserve Series: Port Scotch BA, American Barleywine, 13% ABV
  • Church Street Brewing, Itasca IL., Barley A Prophet, English Barleywine, 10% ABV
  • Prairie Street Brewing, Rockford IL., BBA American Barleywine, 12% ABV

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Pubcast 259 – Colorado Brews Part 2

This week we add on to show 256 where we reviewed a number of brews from Denver, Colorado, and this time we have 3 more bombers from breweries in and around Denver, and one from downstate Colorado. We’ve headed out to record this show at Church Street Brewing in Itasca, where we assembled a plethora of brewers and consumers. As well as my 2 co-hosts, Lingo and Chuck, we have head CSB brewer T.J. Bachorz,and owner Lisa Gregor, plus hovering on the perimeter is new assistant brewer L.J.

We start our show with a warm-up brew, Church Street’s Dunkel, a dark lager that segue’s nicely in to our first CO brew from Great Divide, The Smoothness. Then we work our way through some barrel-aged bombers from the Denver Beer Co., Elevation Brewing, and finally Crooked Stave. At the end hear which is our favorite!

Brews reviewed:

Church Street Brewing, Bob’s Your Dunkel, Dark Lager,
Great Divide Brewing Co, The Smoothness, Dark Lager, aged in Jameson Caskmates barrels, ABV 8.7%
Denver Beer Co., Anniversary VI, barrel-aged red sour ale with cherries, 7% ABV
Elevation Brewing Co., Signal de Botrange, Farmhouse Ale aged in Rombauer Chardonnay Wine Barrels, ABV 9%
Crooked Stave, Origins, Burgundy Sour Ale aged in Oak Barrels, ABV 6.5%

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Pubcast 241 – Viva Vivant?

The Brit joins up again with Mark Naski, beer consultant and BJCP judge, and we head down to Hopvine Brewing in Aurora to meet up with head brewer Ken McMullen. Our focus beers this week come from Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI. 4 cans were donated by pod-guest and craft beer lover, Tom Ryan, who visited the brewery on his vacation. We have 3 Brewer’s Reserve and 1 limited edition to review, all which look to be unusual styles, but do they match up to the attractive packaging and reputation of the brewery?

To close out the session, we throw in a bottle that the Brit has been aching to open and share. From Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO., we have Brazzle, a golden raspberry barrel aged sour.

Beers reviewed:

Brewery Vivant, Grand Rapids, MI

Million Pound Grisette, grisette ale, 4.75%
Nuit Serpent, Black IPA, 6.3%
Civilistic, Belgian Style Stout, 5.8%
Devastation, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double IPA, 11.6%

Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO

Brazzle, Sour Golden Raspberry aged in Oak Barrels, 5.4%

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Pubcast 236 – More Brewing Company

One of the most anticipated breweries to open in the suburbs is More Brewing Co. located in Villa Park, Il.  Head Brewer Shaun Berns won a GABF Gold Medal for his chocolate stout while at Ram Brewing, and now he brings his talents to an independent brewery that offers great beers and great food.
This week, the Brit sits down with Shaun after a hard day’s brewing, and we sip a couple of brews and chat about the journey to open the new location, brewing his first beers while construction was going on, and he has an exclusive announcement about their first bottle series.

Shaun chats on other topics such as beer takeovers, pricing product, and their new canning line which is being installed as we spoke. Head over to More and find out for yourself why this brewery holds much promise for the craft beer drinker!

We also get Shaun’s opinion for an Instant Brew Review, which turned out to be a little longer that the word ‘instant’ suggests, as Sonny, one of the owners joins us to get in on the tasting.  Our brew for this is Sierra Nevada’s Barrel-Aged series, Trip in the Woods, called Islay Fog, a salted caramel scotch-style ale.

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