Cuvée de Grâce: A Story of Stories
There isn’t a single bourbon barrel at Revolution Brewing that you can taste to get the full story of its future. Each of our barrels is a purpose-built component made for blending into just the right final profile. Deth’s Tar and Straight Jacket are spiritually the same beers they’ve always been, but they’ve become increasingly complex as we expanded and enhanced our blending practices over the years. The depth and precision of the Deep Wood Series is something we’re very proud of. And that practice comes to its apex each time we stand before our towering barrel stacks, eye the multitudes of styles, ages, and oaks, and decide that it’s again time to create a Cuvée de Grâce vintage.
The Cuvée de Grâce Blend
Cuvée de Grâce is a meticulously crafted blend of 36 oak barrels. And for the first time, we had access to rum barrels that came to us after use as bourbon finishing barrels. As always, each barrel is tasted, tested, and profiled to offer its most compelling self to the final product. Blends are an alamgamation of so many factors that each one is unique and never to be replicated. The 2021 edition of Cuvée de Gráce features these incredible components:
- 11 barrels of Deth's Tar, sweet component – Fudgy, ridiculously aromatic with vanilla and marshmallow notes, and quite nearly thicker than our love for Oatmeal Stout. Every bit of this component comes from rum barrels.
- 7 barrels of Ryeway to Heaven, dry component – This exceedingly dry Ryeway provides the delicate balance and intriguing spice to complement the sweeter elements in the blend. Six of these are from bourbon barrels, and one is a rum barrel.
- 14 barrels of Straight Jacket, sweet component – This isn’t quite V.S.O.J. Not enough time on it for that. Let’s call it V.S.O.Jr. The sweet toffee and caramel notes are everything you want from an English Barleywine and more. Eight of these barrels are bourbon, and six are rum.
- 2 barrels of Thundertaker – We kept a few barrels from the 2020 Deep Wood kickoff, and we’re glad we did. The harmony between Canadian rye and chocolatey stout notes give just the right accent.
- 2 barrels of Ryeway to Heaven/Straight Jacket blend – Mostly Ryeway topped off with a bit of Barleywine to fill volume. The perfect midpoint between our Ryeway and Straight Jacket components.
Back Into the Woods
Rum barrels bring new highlights and an entirely different dimension to any barrel-aged beer. What they don’t bring a lot of is the overwhelming lumber character that we’ve come to love in our beers. So we turned to one of our wine-industry friends in California for some supplemental oak to give the final product that arboreal roar we prize in every Deep Wood project. We tried a few different offerings, but what stood out to us (and became the centerpiece of these rum barrels) were two unique oaks sourced from ancient French forests.
- Fontainebleau – From the former royal hunting grounds outside of Paris comes one of the most renowned oaks in the world. The barrels treated with this oak show a warming toasted character and intricate baker’s spice.
- Tronçais – Originally planted under Louis XIV and used to supply the French navy, this close-growing oak explodes with bonfire and infuses a bruleed sugar character.
In all, we oaked a third of the barrels in Cuvée de Grâce (just over half of the rum barrels) for a blend that’s French in character, traditional in approach, and incredibly American in the big, bold result. Burnt sugar, sweet vanilla, and molasses on the front end meeting dried fruit at the back. Each sip is a slightly different path through the winding and intricate oak forest.
A lot of oak and more spreadsheets than you’d guess went into creating what we believe is a truly special Cuvée. Soon you’ll get to find out for yourself.
The Release
Public preorders for Cuvée de Grâce will begin on our webstore Tuesday, April 13 for pickups beginning Friday, April 16. All preorder pickups will be done via curbside, though both the Taproom (3340 N. Kedzie) and Brewpub (2323 N. Milwaukee) will be open at reduced capacity for indoor service. We’ll have Cuvêe de Grâce on tap at both locations, and maybe a to-be-revealed draft-only variant.
Cuvée de Grâce
Barrel-aged Cuvée Ale
Standing before the multitudes of meticulously stacked barrels in our brewery Taproom may rightly give one a sense of order, of place, of purpose, of fastidious intentions being slowly and silently realized. It's said that nature, however, prefers chaos. Cuvée De Grâce seeks to create a cohesive, balanced beer from some of the most disparate and unique barrels at our disposal. Never to be recreated, each blend is a celebration of our most cherished traditions as brewers.
Alc. by vol. – 15%
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How much does the beer cost?
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Four-packs of Cuvée de Grâce will cost $40 plus tax. There is a limit of three four-packs per customer.
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How will this release run?
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Preorders are for pickup at the Revolution Taproom (3340 N. Kedzie) only, either for curbside pickup or in-person pickup. Given the capacity restrictions at the Taproom, curbside pickup may be the easier option. There are no pickups available at the Brewpub (2323 N. Milwaukee).
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Can I come in to try Cuvée on draft?
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Yes! We're open at both the Brewpub and Taproom in limited capacity. We do not take reservations at either, though you can get yourself on the Brewpub waitlist via our Yelp page. Cuvée de Grâce will be on tap at both places.
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What if I miss my pickup time/date?
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No problem -- we'll hold your order for up to ten days.
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Will this beer go to distribution?
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Cuvée de Grâce will see some distribution in Chicagoland.