Great news from Saint Arnold:
The second release of our barrel aged series will be available in pubs and restaurants beginning Monday, February 18. BB2 is an old ale aged in Chardonnay barrels with cherries for 14 months. It's delicious. And very different from BB1.
This is a beer for people who like their beers a little funkier, while not being a completely wild beer. The Chardonnay barrels came from Saintsbury, our founder Brock's cousin's winery in Napa, California where they ferment the Chardonnay in the barrels. On December 3, 2011, we filled the barrels with our Christmas Ale. We then added sour cherries to the barrels and put them up in our barrel room where they rested, fermented, aged and developed for the next 14 months.
Once it was time to move the 54 barrels of beer downstairs for packaging, we noticed that two barrels had a distinct Brettanomyces (wild yeast) character and two barrels had a sour lactic bacteria character. While on their own, these barrels didn't have the flavors we were after, before dumping them we did a test blend with the rest of the barrels and discovered that the resulting blend was better than any of the barrels on their own. So they were blended in!
Here is our description of the beer: The nose is a combination of sour cherry, oaked chardonnay and a wild yeast character. The taste has cherry and light malt up front, chardonnay in the middle and finishes dry with a distinct tartness. The cherry throughout is a light note, never dominating.
Because of the very small amount of this beer that was brewed, it will only be available at bars and restaurants. Your best bet for finding it is places that normally carry our beers. Also, watch Facebook and Twitter for announcements about where you can find it.
Update 18 Feb 2013 Press Release:
HOUSTON, February 18, 2013/mbb/ –Saint Arnold Brewing Co. (www.saintarnold.com), the oldest craft brewery in Texas, is releasing Bishop’s Barrel No. 2 today. The second offering of Saint Arnold’s small batch barrel aged series of beers, Bishop’s Barrel No. 2 is an Old Ale aged for more than a year in oak Chardonnay barrels with cherries added in the brewery’s barrel room.
Saint Arnold Bishop’s Barrel is a series of beers that have been aged in barrels specifically chosen to enhance and complement the characteristics of the underlying beers. Each batch of Bishop’s Barrel is distinguished by the number on the neck label. Since fewer than 1,200 cases of 12-ounce bottles of Bishop’s Barrel No. 2 were produced, Bishop’s Barrel will only be available in pubs and restaurants throughout Texas and Louisiana that normally carry Saint Arnold beer.
“This beer has many layers of flavors,” said Saint Arnold founder/brewer Brock Wagner, who sourced the barrels from his cousin’s winery, Saintsbury, in Napa, Calif. “The nose is a combination of sour cherry, oaked chardonnay and a wild yeast character. The taste has pleasantly light cherry and light malt up front, some chardonnay in the middle and finishes dry with a distinct tartness.”
Bishop’s Barrel No. 2 is an Old Ale brewed in late 2011, then pumped into oak barrels while adding sour cherries. During the ensuing 14 months, the beer fermented and developed into something special. Please note that it is best to allow Bishop’s Barrel No. 2 to warm some from the typical temperature it is served. The warmer the beer gets, the better it will taste and the more the cherry will come forward. Saint Arnold recommends serving Bishop’s Barrel No. 2 between 45°F and 55°F.
Specifications of Bishop’s Barrel No. 2:
- Style: Old Ale in Chardonnay Barrels with Cherries
- No. of Barrels: 54
- Cases Made: 1,146 (cases of 12 oz bottles)
- Original Gravity: 1.066
- Final Gravity: 1.012
- Alcohol: 7.8% ABV (after barrel aging)
- Bitterness: 13 IBU (it lost 8 IBU during aging)
Aging is currently underway for four future Bishop’s Barrel offerings, including Bishop’s Barrel No. 3, which will be a Weizenbock aged in bourbon barrels with cocoa nibs.
On Facebook, like http://www.facebook.com/saintarnold
On Twitter, follow @SaintArnold and #BB1.
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