In keeping with the theme of craft beer and craft spirits from today's broadcaste at the Alltech Craft Beer and Distillers Conference in the Conference Centre in Dublin, our beers for today borrow a little from each. Both beers are cask aged beers – brewed as regular beers, but then aged in casks, adopting an amount of the character of the cask’s previous resident in the process.

Our two beers for to-day are Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Aged Ale and Gulden Draak Brewmaster’s Edition.

Cask Aged Beer

Historically, before the advent of stainless steel, beer was stored and aged in wooden barrels. Stainless has made mass production much easier – it is easier to clean and maintain sanitary, and requires less maintenance. However, wooden casks impart their own character on a liquid. While stainless has improved brewing practices on one side of the equation, sadly some beers have lost character that would have been derived from the wooden casks in which they resided.

In recent years, a number of breweries have started a practise of cask conditioning beers. The beer is brewed as normal, and then aged in a wooden cask for anything from six weeks to six months. Some breweries use virgin casks – the wood used to make the cask directly imparts its own character on the beer, and this character can range from vanillin to spicy. In other instances, brewers have taken to using casks previously used for whiskey, bourbon, sherry, wine or any one of a number of other (usually stronger) alcoholic drinks. As one would expect, the previous resident of the cask imparts its own character on the beer after its residence.

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

Beer Style - Bourbon Barrel Aged Hydrid (Irish Red / English) Ale
Alcohol by Volume - 8.0% a.b.v.
Brewed by - Alltech’s Lexington Brewing Company
Brewed in - Lexington, Kentucky

Alltech’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Ale starts its life as a hybrid ale. This beer (pre-bourbon barrel aging) starts its life as a hybrid ale – brewed as a style mid-way between an Irish red ale and an English ale. The initial beer can be tasted in its own right – it is marketed as ‘Kentucky Ale’ (without the ‘Bourbon Barrel’ in the name.

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale presents as a bright, amber beer with a slightly off-white head. Aromas that initially present on the nose include woody oak fused with bourbon and vanilla. The aromas would have to be described as soft, but subtly complex.

On the palate, this beer belies the 8.0% a.b.v. alcohol content – it is an incredibly easy drinking beer for the strength. Smooth caramel from the caramalt used in brewing combines with earthy hop character from Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops. Hop character is relatively understated, allowing the malt, and more particularly, the bourbon character to shine through. Creamy vanilla and mildly sweet bourbon character are in evidence in the beer, rounding out the character of this beer.

Alltech boast both a distillery and a brewery. One of the particular characteristics of bourbon distilling is that bourbon has to be made with virgin casks – unused casks. Once used, these casks cannot be re-used again for bourbon. It is not unusual for bourbon casks to be re-used by scotch or Irish whiskey distillers. Building a core beer on bourbon barrel aging means that Alltech have a symbiotic relationship between the brewery and the distillery. The distillery uses its casks to age their bourbon, and then the casks are used a second time in cask aging the beer. In the course of aging the bourbon, the casks absorb an amount of alcohol / bourbon and some of this evaporates into the air (this production loss is sometimes referred to as the ‘angel’s share’ of the bourbon). By the time the casks come available for the brewery, an amount of alcohol will have been lost from the bourbon, but an amount will also be infused in the wood of the cask. Given that the casks are only used once, a proportion of this alcohol is reclaimed as it infuses back into the beer during cask aging. Alltech have determined that six weeks is the minimum time that is needed for their beer to age on wood in cask. Over the course of this six week period, the beer can rise from 6% a.b.v up to 8.2% a.b.v.

Gulden Draak Brewmaster’s Edition

Beer Style - Whiskey Cask Aged Hydrid (Irish Red / English) Ale
Alcohol by Volume - 8.0% a.b.v.
Brewed by - Alltech’s Lexington Brewing Company
Brewed in - Lexington, Kentucky

Gulden Draak translates from Flemish as ‘Golden Dragon’. The name for the beer comes from the golden dragon statue on the top of the Belfry in Ghent, Belgium. Legend has it that this statue was originally the figurehead of a ship in which the Norwegian King – Sigrid Magnusson – set out on a Crusade in 1111. It has been standing proud in Ghent for more than six centuries. Such an imposing statue deserves an equally imposing beer, and Van Steenberge’s Gulden Draak beer most definitely fits the bill.

Gulden Draak is a dark tripel. A beer brewed with approximately three times the malt bill of a standard table beer is referred to in style terms as a tripel in Belgium. Most tripels can be golden – often straw gold in colour. While Gulden Draak fits the profile in terms of alcohol strength (very much at the higher end of the normal alcohol range of 8% to 10.5% for tripels), Gulden Draak as a beer is a touch darker than one normally might expect for a tripel.

Once a year, Gulden Draak release their ‘Brewmaster’s Edition’. Gulden Draak, the Brewmaster’s Edition is a version of Gulden Draak that has been aged in whiskey barrels. Already a complex beer, this aging process adds layers of complexity to this delicious beer.

Aromas on this beer combine the promise of whiskey character wil spice from Belgian yeast. White pepper, creamy nutmeg, spicy cardamom are all in evidence on the aroma together with the promise of fruit in the taste and dark sugars. On the palate, an explosion of flavour initially greets the tongue, and yet this beer is incredibly sophisticated in its delivery of this flavour. Creme brulee – caramelised sugar combined with soft vanilla – combine with an immediate alcohol warming. Rich whiskey character develops into brown sugar, caramel and toffee flavours. As the beer develops, dark cherries and liquorice are very much in evidence. The beer has a level of bitterness that justifies its complexity of flavour, but it is perfectly balanced – allowing the malt, Belgian yeast and whiskey character to shine through. Subtle roast and smoke character come through in the finish, which is very surprisingly, medium to quick in its finish – the aftertaste is subtle, pleasant and lingering in the background, but leaving the beer incredibly moreish.

Van Steenberge – brewers of Gulden Draak – have brought the story of the golden dragon one step further with their new glass. With a shape influenced by the idea of a dragon’s egg, this glass is certainly a tribute to the wonderful character of this incredible beer.

The brewers of Gulden Draak, Van Steenberge, are one of Belgians stalwart brewers. Current owner/brewer – Jef Versele – is the sixth generation of his family to be brewing at their brewery in Ghent. Committed to the quality and heritage of his brewery, the Brewmaster’s Edition version of Gulden Draak is a celebration of the centuries of commitment that his family has made to the quality of the beers that they brew. This beer is available only as a limited edition, once a year.