Craft Brew Week starts with three days of barrel aged beer. First on Monday is the 2011 TableRock/ Sockeye collaboration Dubbel Trubbel. This strong Belgian ale has been in a bourbon barrel for 14 months. Next on Tuesday we’ll feature another 14 month old brew, the Ascension Imperial Pilsner. This lager has been in a Wood River Cellars Chardonnay barrel since last February, and its sneaky strong so watch out! Wednesday, we’ll close out this run of “wooded” brews with Port Barrel Aged Winter Cheer. We added currants to accentuate the port flavor and balance the tartness imparted by the barrel.
The next two days are designed to show off the power of yeast. First on Thursday is Imperial Black Saison. This was a batch of Black Hops that was pitched with Belgian saison yeast. Unfortunately there’s no Black Hops to taste side by side, but there is no doubt about the difference the yeast made in this brew. Friday we will get the chance for a side by side with Imperial Belgian IPA. This is a batch of Hopocalypse pitched with Belgian strong ale yeast. Try one and then try a Hopocalypse and you’ll never know that you’re drinking the same beer just fermented with a different yeast. We didn’t yield a lot of this one so come down early.
And finally on the weekend we’ll debut two brand new recipes brewed on our pilot system. Saturday it’s Oyster Stout. Yeah, there were oysters used in this brew, 15 of them to be exact. They were added with 30 minutes left in the boil and add a briny flavor to this Irish Style stout. And to cap it off on Sunday we have Roggenbier, a German Style rye beer. The use of almost 50% malted rye and a classic Bavarian Hefeweizen yeast gives this rare German brew an intense spicy flavor.
