Here in West Chester, we are conveniently situated a mere 10.5 miles
from one of Pennsylvania’s finest (not to mention largest) Wineries.
Chaddsford Winery has been producing fine fermented grape juice for
nearly 40 years now, and we are very lucky brewers to be that close to
so much good wood. Allow me to explain.
As you all know, we have been aging beer in barrels at Iron HIll for
some time now. For the most part, most of the barrel aging has been
conducted in bourbon barrels. This, of course, has its exceptions.
Bob in Media and Brian in Wilmington make killer, world-class,
medal-winning, lambic bier in used wine barrels. For the past couple
years in West Chester and now in Maple Shade, Chris has perpetuated
his “Heywood” series (various beers aged in a funkified used wine
barrel).
Well, let’s just say that Larry and I began to get really antsy for a
serious barrel aging project here in West Chester, and about two
months ago, we began to contact local wine makers. We needed about a
dozen freshly used wine barrels, and we needed them soon. What seemed
to be a daunting task was made infinitely easier with a simple e-mail
to Chaddsford Winery. Cellarmaster, Jim Osborn, returned my initial
e-mail with a simple response, “I’m your man”, it read, “let me know
how many you need”. What a relief! Given their proximity to the
brewery, we were able to pick up all 18 barrels (Paul in Lancaster got
6 of ‘em) in less than half a day. Beats the heck out of paying
shipping charges to get them sent from California!
A whole 10bbl batch of lambic is on the horizon for sure, as is a new batch of GABF 2008 silver-medal winning, Cherry Dubbel. We also
plan on picking and choosing specific types of wood (we have
Hungarian, French, and Western Pa oak) for aging specific beers. The
Hungarian seem to be the heaviest toast, and according to Jim, it
imparts spicy caramel notes. Sounds like a great candidate for some
porter aging, eh?
Do any of you, our loyal readers, have barrel aging ideas?
-Jean
Here’s a pic of the cellar at Chaddsford!
November 7th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Larry,
In June 2008 we visited your Phoenixville Brewery and I was lucky enough to get the last bottle of the Tabasco barrel aged beer. WOW was it ever worth the 1200 miles traveled to enjoy it. Hope we have more opportunities to have similar SPICY HOT cask finished beers.
We’re also hoping that Maple Shade still has our namesake McMaster on tap when we visit at Christmas time.
Thanks!