I ate at a restaurant in Lexington today after speaking at a meeting, ironically, they served Kentucky Ale Bourbon Barrel on tap, it sounded very interesting so I ordered a glass...WOW! it is absolutely great! after two glasses I was very "happy".
I asked the waitress a dozen questions, explaining that I was a home brewer. She couldn't answer many questions, but a bartender came out to talk to me, he told me that he use to be one of the brewers and after talking for a little bit, he gave me the following details:
A regular pale ale base malt
Caramel 40
Caramel 80
Fuggles
Goldings
ABV 8.4%
I asked him if I could use bourbon soaked staves and he told me that they would work perfectly, but to stay away from the oak chips as they will impart too much oak, too fast (I use the same basic advice when making wines, oak tends to impart too much too fast), staves would be easier to control during fermentation.
I'll use Marris Otter as my base malt and Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast (1084) since it is marketed as an English Ale and Irish Ale.
I bought 3, 4 packs at wally world to bring back to NY, and a bottle of makers mark to soak my staves
In the mean time, i'll try to get a bourbon barrel.