Bourbon Cask Ale

Anheuser Busch makes a Bourbon Ale once a year that I really like (1 of 2 beers I like from them). Has anyone had experience in making something like this beer? I assume I would need a bourbon barrel during secondary fermentation?

Brewme said:

Anheuser Busch makes a Bourbon Ale once a year that I really like (1 of 2 beers I like from them). Has anyone had experience in making something like this beer? I assume I would need a bourbon barrel during secondary fermentation?

Click to expand...

A lot of people use bourbon soaked oak cubes, shavings, or chips in secondary to get that effect....Yesterday I did a search on it on here for a beer I'm brewing...if you do a thread search you will find a ton of info on it...You can even use Jack Daniels Oak Chips, but you still have to sanitize them.

And I'm wondering if AB actually cask ages their beer, or goes the same route I'm talking about....


Of course if you can lay your hands on a bourbon barrell that would be cool..

Here is what I found on it...

For those who appreciate a smooth, robust brew with rich aromas, this seasonal offering is brewed with dark roasted carapils, caramel and two-row barley malts and imported Hallertau and Alsace hops. It is then aged on bourbon oak casks and whole Madagascar vanilla beans.

The North by Northwest brewery in Austin has a whiskey stout that is nothing more than a stout aged in old whiskey barrels. Basically it just combines the two best things to ever hit my mouth. It is a really good brew but if you dont like whiskey (like my wife) then you wont like it.

Brewme said:

Here is what I found on it...

For those who appreciate a smooth, robust brew with rich aromas, this seasonal offering is brewed with dark roasted carapils, caramel and two-row barley malts and imported Hallertau and Alsace hops. It is then aged on bourbon oak casks and whole Madagascar vanilla beans.

Click to expand...

am I the only one that thinks "aged on" means they use chips just like we were saying?

seawort said:

am I the only one that thinks "aged on" means they use chips just like we were saying?

Click to expand...

In my head, it is a giant fermenter with a few actual barrels thrown in full of weights.

In reality, who knows.

chriswilkes33 said:

The North by Northwest brewery in Austin has a whiskey stout that is nothing more than a stout aged in old whiskey barrels. Basically it just combines the two best things to ever hit my mouth. It is a really good brew but if you dont like whiskey (like my wife) then you wont like it.

Click to expand...

Woah. Really?

When it is on tap PM me. I will buy you one for clueing me in.

I love NxNW.

carnevoodoo said:

In my head, it is a giant fermenter with a few actual barrels thrown in full of weights.

In reality, who knows.

Click to expand...

Most wines these days are aged in stainless tanks using oak chips.

Who knows. As long as it tastes right....

seawort said:

am I the only one that thinks "aged on" means they use chips just like we were saying?

Click to expand...

Considering that's how "beech aged Budweiser" is done I'm not surprised...I know that plenty of craft brewer's actually use barrels, in fact there was a thread about it yesterday, a micro brewery was going to give some barrells away...But Inbev/Annheiser Bush? I doubt that the pencil neck geeks in accounting would allow for what would be required....but the sure as heck allow their marketers to have free reign to describe it that way. I could be wrong...

But it doesn't matter...unless you have access to toasted oak barrels, the best bet to get the same effect is the way mentioned before, when I said there was a ton of threads explaining how to do it on here....

I'm doing it with half a batch of my Old bog road brown ale...I threw in a pound of rauchmalt when I brewed it last weekend, then I'm going to rack half the batch into one of my 3 gallon fermenters over some toasted oak chips soaked in bourbon...

I'm thinking with some time it may be something special.

Revvy said:

Considering that's how "beech aged Budweiser" is done I'm not surprised...

Click to expand...

This is done for completely different purposes. It is not for flavoring, it is to help flocc the yeast quicker. By spreading the chips on the bottom of the lagering tanks, the yeast have more surface area to settle on and won't be in the final product. This is one of the reasons why they're able to get the beer out so quick to the public.

And really, what's so different about oak chips/cubes than a barrel rather than aesthetics? With oak chips/cubes, you can easily adjust surface contact amounts with the beer - resulting in quicker or slower leeching of the wood-flavoured compounds as the brewer desires. With a barrel, you're locked into a set surface. Barrels are also harder to sanitize and keep the staves with a tight seal. Finally, with chips, you can easily get a fresh char if you desire.

PseudoChef said:

This is done for completely different purposes. It is not for flavoring, it is to help flocc the yeast quicker. By spreading the chips on the bottom of the lagering tanks, the yeast have more surface area to settle on and won't be in the final product. This is one of the reasons why they're able to get the beer out so quick to the public.

Click to expand...

Yes, I'm fully aware of that...but that's not how the marketing department portrays that to the non brewing public who doesn't know any better...That's what I was getting at.




This is a great piece on AB and their "marketing" http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/fred4.html

A/B's response is equally interesting....http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/abletter.html


It's not too different from their marketing of Bud America Ale as having "caramel malts & cascade hops" like their saying on the radio ads....Even light lagers usually contain some low lovibond crystal malts in it....



Anyway, midwest supplies has several different options for oaking beer...http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdBySubCat.aspx?SubCat=1460

and I think it was texlaw who used jack daniels chips in a beer of his.

I am a fan of that Bourbon Cask Ale as well although I don't get it much because I can't re-use the bottles. I seem to remember a thread where someone soaked oak chips in bourbon for 2-3 days then dropped them in a secondary fermenter. Also, didn't someone say they just added 1/2 cup of Jack Daniels to their bottling bucket for the same effect?

AS Revvy stated the Jack Daniels smoking chips are a very good alternative. They are made from used oak barrels that have outlived their usefulness for aging bourbon. These chips carry a bourbon flavor as well as oak. I have used them in several beers and prefer them to the oak cubes or spirals.

Fat Guy Brewing said:

I am a fan of that Bourbon Cask Ale as well although I don't get it much because I can't re-use the bottles. I seem to remember a thread where someone soaked oak chips in bourbon for 2-3 days then dropped them in a secondary fermenter. Also, didn't someone say they just added 1/2 cup of Jack Daniels to their bottling bucket for the same effect?

Click to expand...

Last week I added some oak cubes into my secondary. Then when I bottled yesterday I added 16 ounces of Jack to give it that extra something. The sample tasted excellent. Now we'll wait and see how it comes out.

beerthirty said:

AS Revvy stated the Jack Daniels smoking chips are a very good alternative. They are made from used oak barrels that have outlived their usefulness for aging bourbon. These chips carry a bourbon flavor as well as oak. I have used them in several beers and prefer them to the oak cubes or spirals.

Click to expand...

What did you do to make sure they were sanitary enough to use?