Sticky Barrels

I spent Friday truckin up and down Western Avenue ferrying oak bourbon barrels from Goose Island Fulton to our building. Goose brewed a huge batch of Bourbon County Stout this year and they only use the barrels once for this beer, so they are donating them to other breweries to make room for the next batch. I took 60, some to cut for planters and some to fill with beer when the time comes.

Goose drilled bung holes in the top of the barrels and stored them upright in stacks of four per pallet to age and soak up the bourbon hiding in the wood. Inevitably, some barrels leak when first filled before swelling up in a day or so and becoming water tight. While at Goose, the sweet dripping beer from the barrels above coated a few of the barrels below and then air dried leaving a molasses-like goo. It will wash off just fine, but for the time being it's adding a nice sweet smell to our building. There's also a little beer left swishing around in a few barrels. I might just....

We've got BCS on tap at the Handlebar for a few more days for the somewhat unbelievable price of $10 a snifter. At $200 a 5-gallon keg it's the most expensive draft beer we've ever bought, but it is worth its weight in gold or something like that.

Into wood aged beer? Head to FOBAB next Saturday!