Monday, April 29, 2013

Bourbon Barrel Aged Bois -- Part 1 of 5 of Our Anniversary Beers

Five years ago, I couldn't have fathomed what The Bruery is today. We've reached this point due to a lot of hard work, allowing creativity to steer our direction, being constructively critical of ourselves, and taking on significant risks along the way. The next five years should be just as exciting. I'm so thankful for the wonderful people I get to work with who put their heart and soul into their work, and our customers who support our brewing habit! -- Patrick Rue


May is our anniversary month and we are excited to release Bois (pronounced "Bwah!"), our fifth anniversary ale this week! This beer is brewed in the English-style Old Ale tradition using our house Belgian yeast strain and then blended using the solera method, where a portion of each of our anniversary ales is saved in our barrels and blended in with the next year's production, providing more complexity and depth of character that comes with age.

In our fifth year, we've decided that using just one kind of barrel is not enough for this beer. Five separate small batches of Bois have been quietly resting in five different kinds of barrels: bourbon, rye, brandy, new American oak, and French oak.

The Bruery bottling line Bois 5th anniversary
So what kind of differences will you see between these batches? We're studying each type of spirit and barrel for the month of May to discuss just that. For week one, we're going to look a little closer at the beautiful world of bourbon.