Barrel Breed: Barley Wine (2016)

The Goat brewers have been playing around with oak barrels for a few years – we are fascinated by the influence oak can have on beer, or whisky and wine for that matter. In 2015 we brewed our first barley wine in old whisky barrels from Lark Distillery in Tasmania and were pretty chuffed with results, especially when it won Best in Show at the Australian International Beer Awards.

For our 2016 Barley Wine, we’ve again smuggled some old French barrels over from Lark. For years these barrels have been delivering their distinctive colour and flavour characteristics to fine whisky and now, as beer barrels, the remaining whisky trapped in the oak imparts its flavour into our beer. The heavily oaked whisky is drawn into the beer, imparting distinct vanilla/whisky sweetness to both the nose and palate.

This beer has been carefully selected from the best of the individual barrels, lovingly hand transferred for blending, hand bottled, hand sealed and hand packed. This year’s release sits at 11.3% abv with rich, complex characters of toffee, caramel and marmalade and a warm, smooth finish. Aging will mellow the bitterness and bring the malt forward to create gentle, sherry-like notes. Show Less