The rise of Barrel Aged beers
Posted by Rick Kempen, beer ambassador for Beer&cO on 28th Mar 2024
Wood aging, or lagering beer in wooden barrels - it has been one of the most image- and taste-defining trends in Beerland in recent years. In the past, when everything was better, people did no different: beer, like wine, was mainly prepared and stored in wooden barrels. The fuss with earthenware was fun for the Greeks and Romans, but such amphorae simply don't hold enough liquid, and if they do get big enough they become unmanageably heavy. So for centuries beer was brewed in wooden tubs and lagered in wooden barrels. But note that this was purely for practical reasons. There was no question of doing this to add extra flavor and character to the beer. How different it is now!
The taste of wood
Each wood species has its own character and composition. Not every type of wood lends itself to making barrels, for example: the paint structure must be sturdy enough to remain waterproof; at the same time, the wood must be "pliable" enough to make barrels out of it. Oak lends itself best to this, time has shown. That oak contains tannins: tannic acids, which you also find in the skins, stalks and pips of the grape. Red wine often has a high amount of tannin: you taste it in the mouth as a slightly bitter taste, and it gives a somewhat stiff mouthfeel. The tannins from the wood are absorbed into the liquid resting in the barrel. In addition to that aforementioned flavor effect, especially with American oak, another flavor substance is released that reminds you of vanilla. Sometimes you smell it more than you taste it.
New or used barrels
Not every beverage is suitable for laying down on "fresh" wood, or unused barrels. And even with Bourbon, a process precedes it: the barrels are roasted inside, ranging from less than a minute to more than five minutes. It helps to bind sulfur compounds to the carbon created by scorching, and certain sugar compounds in the wood are caramelized - these impart color and flavor to the bourbon.
Barrels used to age beer naturally always give off the flavor of the liquor that previously sat in them. Ranging from bourbon to wine, cognac, rum or calvados: anything is possible, and each barrel gives off its own flavor. For example, Brouwerij De Koningshoeven uses constantly changing barrels for its quadrupel, which becomes Oak Aged differently each time.
We find another variant at Rodenbach: there are 294 casks, boulder-sized wooden barrels that can hold as much as 65,000 liters. The wood does not serve as a flavoring here, but as a refuge for billions of fungi, bacteria and yeast cells. Not only do they feel perfectly at home there, they are the ones who give Rodenbach beer its characteristic vinous (wine-like) taste. From the light-bodied Rodenbach Classic to the impressive Rodenbach Grand Cru, the characteristic sweet and sour element comes entirely from the single-cell organisms that live in the large wooden barrels!
Other ways
There is a disadvantage to barrel aging: the contact surface of the liquid with the wood is limited to the inside of the barrel. It means you need more time to take full advantage of the flavor release. A more efficient method is to use wood chips, or sticks twisted into a spiral shape: you multiply the surface area where the beer can "work" with the wood. This method is widely used in both the beer and wine industries.
If there is one beer that fully reveals all the finer points of this distinct process, it is Cornet. The beer is brewed at the Proefbrouwerij De Hoorn, just like Brewery Palm located in Steenhuffel. In 2014, Palm restored the 300-year-old village farmhouse and built microbrewery De Hoorn. There they experimented a lot with herbs, hops, fruit and wood - also testing various ways of aging beer. When lagering Cornet, toasted oak chips and shavings are added to the aging tanks: the beer then extracts tannin from the wood, which you taste back in the subtle vanilla flavor that characterizes this beer.
Festivals
Barrel Aged beers are not only found in stores or pubs: special festivals are even rigged for them. And at "regular" beer festivals you also see more and more attention to these elite beers: the barrel-aged, wood-aged samples with a sweet and mellow edge. Wood-aged beers are often high in alcohol, and that makes these beers the "rough husks, white pips" of the beer world. They look menacing and imposing, but usually taste elegant and extremely sophisticatedly balanced.