Bourbon Barrel Old Ale

I used this kit as the base for a honey/vanilla/cinnamon monstrosity. I took 1st place in the NHC northeast category 19 preliminaries with it (34 points, lost the finals to barleywines). All of my additions resulted in 12%abv, which you really couldn't detect due to the great flavors of the specialty grains (until you tried to stand up after drinking a few). The oak was present, but certainly not the focus of the flavor profile (could have been due to my additions as well). I plan to brew this again with an ounce more oak cubes and a bit less fermentable additions.

A fantastic recipe. Be patient and let the bourbon & oak do their thing.

Just amazing. I have made many beers from kits over the years but this was the best EVER! Soaked the oak in Irish Whiskey for a few weeks prior to adding to beer.

Absolutely amazing kit! Mine has bottle aged almost 2.5 years and still stuns me every time I open one. Won 2nd in the NYS Fair last year (22c) and have a few 3rd places from other competitions. Patience is the key, the tannins from the oak really need the time to mellow.

I used Safale-04 for this and it ended up slightly under attenuated (67%). I wish it had gotten a little drier finish, but that's my fault and not the kit. After 6 months of aging, it's improving. I'm going to let this one sit at least another six months and see where it's at. This one could easily sit for a few years and only improve. Given that mine finished on the sweeter side, it's definitely a sipper and quite substantial, though the hops are certainly evident in the finish. Better as it warms up too--I like it around 55 deg F. I would brew this again, looking for a drier finish. Interesting-- not my favorite right now, but curious to see how it will change with continued aging.

This is one of my favorites. It definitely needs some time to mellow, but the bourbon flavor really shines.

My friend brewed this a while back and it was incredible. I just bought this a few days ago, haven't brewed it yet, i have a Belgian wit in the making right now. But i have a question, do i add the bourbon i soaked the chips in with the beer, or would it kill the yeast? I figured that this is going to make it too strong but maybe i could add half or less.

I brewed this beer back 5 months ago. To be honest, the only bourbon I had was a bottle of Evan Williams. I soaked the oak chips (more like cubes) in the bourbon for 2 weeks prior to brewing. The kit brewed up awesome and I hit the OG perfectly. I added the bourbon and oak to the fermentor. 2 weeks in fermentation then I racked it to secondary for about 6 weeks. I honestly forgot about it! I finally got it bottled up though. I had to try a bottle here recently. After only 2 weeks in the bottle it carbed up beautifully! The flavor hit me like a truck. I tasted a mixture of roasted malt and vanilla with an mild oaky flavor which subdue the hop bitterness nicely. This isn't a bitter beer by any stretch.

The only thing I'd do differently is to back off on the bourbon slightly. I used enough to cover the oak chips (about a 1 1/2 cups). Next time I'll stick with 3/4 to 1 cup. Just my personal preference.

Brewed this back in Dec '10 and was my 2nd or 3rd brew ever. Followed the instructions with a few tweaks. I used 1 1/2c of Southern Comfort 100proof and 1/2c Jim Beam Rye to soak the oak in. Along with that I included 3 vanilla beans and roughly 2 oz of Jack Daniels wood smoking chips. That all soaked for 2 weeks before I brewed the batch and was then added to the secondary. Sat in the secondary for almost 2 months then bottled. Just getting into these now (Jul 11) and man, oh man. This brew by far gets the biggest thumbs up, but the ABV almost immediately requires said thumbs to sit right back down! Will do this again!

I brewed this for the birth and consequent first birthday party for my new baby boy. This beer is awesome. I am still a beginning brewer but this kit was very easy to brew. I used 2008 Forester Birthday Bourbon on the oak chips. Use a good bourbon, don't use crap bourbon and you will be happy that you did. I also even added 3 vanilla beans into the secondary. Moved from primary to secondary and left for 6 months. I then bottled and aged for another 6 months. Patience is the key. This beer turned out awesome and everyone at the party loved it. Buy this kit, brew it using quality additives and forget about it. You will be rewarded largely a year later. I am going to always have this brewing every 6 months.