Aging in with woods other than oak?? a new resource

Has anybody played around with these? http://www.blackswanbarrels.com/shop/

They are honeycomb styled pieces of wood that are supposed to increase surface area and therefore flavor extraction. The design is cool but what really excites me is the non traditional types of wood they are using. Here is a description of the flavor characteristics of each.

Wood Species Available:

Cherry

Butter brickle, ripe cherry, fresh grass, meringue, light fried bread/Belgian waffle

Hard Maple

Maple candy, light spice-nutmeg, cinnamon, syrup, bread/bakery, cream hint of cocoa

Hickory

Honey, BBQ, hickory smoked bacon, apple sauce, cocoa coconut

Red Oak

Red berries, toasted marshmallow, light grass, baking bread, butterscotch

Sassafras

Description coming soon!!!

Soft Maple

Yellow cake, light smoke, banana, nut, toasted bread, hint of orange spice

White Ash

Campfire, marshmallow, light grass, rising bread dough, light sweetness (adds different mouth-feel dimension)

White Oak

Vanilla, toasted coconut, cinnamon, pepper, sweet baked bread, caramel

Yellow Birch

Toffee, butterscotch, honey croissant, light lemon, tropical fruit

This is exciting to say the least. If anybody has used these, please give me a review. If not, maybe this will be welcome news to you. Regardless I'm going to buy some. The prices strike me as insanely low.

Thanks or the heads up. I am going to try this out


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IMO maple doesn't taste like much of anything. Oak is very strongly flavored. I'd be curious to see what some of the other woods taste like in a beer. And isn't sassafras like poisonous or something?

I made my own 1 gallon Variety Pack and split a 6 gallon batch of mead 6 ways and they all tasted the same to me. Eventually, i'll retry the experiment with beer and my remaining wood, but it was a really disappointing experiment.

BBBF said:

I made my own 1 gallon Variety Pack and split a 6 gallon batch of mead 6 ways and they all tasted the same to me. Eventually, i'll retry the experiment with beer and my remaining wood, but it was a really disappointing experiment.

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I've actually never heard of aging mead on oak. Maybe there's something about the chemical composition of honey that doesn't allow it to pull flavors from wood very well. I could be completely wrong, just spitballing here.

I've used their oak, and love it. I'm really curious about where they get their flavor descriptors though. Honey croissant? Seems like a little bit of a stretch to me.

TheZymurgist said:

I've used their oak, and love it. I'm really curious about where they get their flavor descriptors though. Honey croissant? Seems like a little bit of a stretch to me.

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have you used any of the other woods?

amcclai7 said:

have you used any of the other woods?

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I haven't, only their American Oak. Though I have no experience with other woods, I think there's a reason oak is chosen for the vast majority of barrels. I remember reading something on this a wile back, but I can't remember exactly what it said.

I have used their White Ash in a farmhouse cider I just created. It is a lot lighter in taste than oak. Much less woody but, it does seem to meet their discription. More grassy than anything. The mouthfeel seemed to change but, it is a little hard to describe. I recommend these for a much subtler flavor than oak.

Oak is used because it is plentiful and it is hard. This decreased cost because less alcohol escaped. Also, oak is a great flavor.