Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Oak Aged Beer (7.4%)

[ballzac]

Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Oak Aged Beer (7.4%)

Appearance - Deep Red (~20SRM). Creamy, off-white head. Reasonably good retention.
Nose - Oak. Bourbon. Sherry. Rum. Malty. Raisins. Biscuity (maris-otter?). Hint of chocolate and treacle. Perhaps candied peanuts.
Palate - Oak. Bourbon. Coconut. Golden Syrup. Raisins and perhaps more dried fruit. Rich and full flavoured, but slightly lacking in body
Finish - Sour and a little dry. The strong bourbon flavour lingers pleasantly.

I'm impressed with this beer. It is a grown up version of a Bourbon and Coke. The malt and yeast character is somewhat like an ESB, but balanced perfectly with an oak flavour. In spite of the 107 days maturation stated on the bottle, the oak quality is quite well rounded and not excessively youthful. This is probably due to the use of ex-rum casks instead of (or as well as) virgin casks. The bitterness is just enough (~25-30 IBU) to balance the malt and there is little hop character. The sour/dry finish is somewhat like an irish ale, and I feel this beer could benefit from being served on nitrogen. Alternatively, a little extra body or sweetness would round out the palate and finish. Overall, well worth buying.

Score: 7.5/10

 

[WSC]

This was definately better than the last Whiskey Barrel Aged beer I had from these guys.

I enjoyed the Rum Cask especially as it warmed, nice sipper. And at $10 for 375ml, you need to savour each and every bit, however when you compare it to a glass of good whiskey or wine it is pretty good value given the time they leave it on oak etc.

It has inspired me to get some oak into my beers and maybe some peated smoked malts.

 

[ballzac]

Glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed it.

I'd be very careful with using peated malt in a beer. It is very phenolic/rubbery prior to distillation. Perhaps it could be used sparingly to round out the flavours in a smoky beer, but I think it could be easily overdone. I would say that if you are after a peat flavour in an oak aged beer, contact one of the Islay distilleries and see if they will sell you a stave from a barrel that has previously contained whisky. Alternatively, you could buy a bottle of a nice peaty Islay malt (Ardbeg 10 would be sufficiently peaty I think, and economical too) and soak some toasted oak in it for a few months, and then age the beer on the oak.

I haven't tried any of the above, just speculating. Good luck with any experiments you undertake using oak and peat

 

[WSC]

Glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed it.

I'd be very careful with using peated malt in a beer. It is very phenolic/rubbery prior to distillation. Perhaps it could be used sparingly to round out the flavours in a smoky beer, but I think it could be easily overdone. I would say that if you are after a peat flavour in an oak aged beer, contact one of the Islay distilleries and see if they will sell you a stave from a barrel that has previously contained whisky. Alternatively, you could buy a bottle of a nice peaty Islay malt (Ardbeg 10 would be sufficiently peaty I think, and economical too) and soak some toasted oak in it for a few months, and then age the beer on the oak.

I haven't tried any of the above, just speculating. Good luck with any experiments you undertake using oak and peat

I have heard simiar, will use reduce volumes incase I get somehting I can't stomach and work up the amounts of time based on trial and error. From what I have seen you wouldn't add much more than 100g, but I really want to see if it's a flavour I enjoy or not.........for these experiments I have a target market of one!!!

 

[MHB]

I've been impressed with all the beers from I&G (except the blond) and we have had a couple of shots at an AG recipe for the Original.

The Rum Oaked one is delicious but my personal favourite is the Pale Ale

Some home brew shops stock chipped oak barrels; there are a couple of suppliers the ones I would recommend come from QBrew they offer Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Whiskey and Rum chips, these are the ones in a brown paper coffee style bag if you're looking for them. They are all true to type and I have had the best results with them.

Have to have a go at the Rum Oaked one next.

MHB

 

[ballzac]

WSC:
I have had chance to taste a fermenting whisky mashed with 100% medium peated malt and it made me want to spew. The resulting whisky after distillation and a short period of maturation was delicate and subtly smoky. This has really put me off using peated malt in beer personally, but have heard that others have had success using small amounts like you are talking about. Please post here with the results of your experiments as I am extremely interested in how you go with it

 

[WSC]

WSC:
I have had chance to taste a fermenting whisky mashed with 100% medium peated malt and it made me want to spew. The resulting whisky after distillation and a short period of maturation was delicate and subtly smoky. This has really put me off using peated malt in beer personally, but have heard that others have had success using small amounts like you are talking about. Please post here with the results of your experiments as I am extremely interested in how you go with it

Search under peated malt in receipes and ingredients and there are a few threads there too.

 

[ballzac]

Some home brew shops stock chipped oak barrels; there are a couple of suppliers the ones I would recommend come from QBrew they offer Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Whiskey and Rum chips, these are the ones in a brown paper coffee style bag if you're looking for them. They are all true to type and I have had the best results with them.

I have found the chips to be less than ideal for aging eau de vie and the like. G&G sell toasted french oak 'mini staves', and I have found full sized French and American staves at a couple of wine making places. Having said that, the chips might be much better for beer and wine than for spirits.

 

[MHB]

Just to clarify and No I'm not talking about distilling

I hope we aren't talking at cross purposes; I was referring to chipped barrels that have contained spirits, not to chipped virgin oak.
When spirits are stored in barrel (for up to decades) there are a lot of interactions between Fusels and Esters in the spirit and Tannins (primarily) in the oak, naturally all distilled spirits go into the wood water white and over time as they take up compounds from the oak these develop as colour and provide many of the unique flavours that provide character to various types of spirits. The type of spirit be it brandy, whisky or bourbon etc also contribute to the flavour.
As the spirit matures a portion of it migrates out through the barrel and the alcohol (and other light volatile fractions) evaporates, leaving behind some of the flavour components unique to the spirit. In Scotland average loss is about 4%/year, they call it "The Angels Share".

This is the important difference between "Chipped Barrels" and "Oak Chips" we can redissolve some if the unique spirit flavours out of barrel chips, but they aren't in oak chips to be extracted.
So chipped barrels can add a Whisky, Bourbon or Rum flavour to beer, rather than just an oak flavour

MHB



Ps
Yes I have and use the staves lovely toasty warm smell, cold almost chow down on one.
Mark

 

[ballzac]

Yep. A lot of important points you make there. In fact it is the principles you talk about that is where a lot of scotch gets it wonderful flavours from. Glenmorangie produce four different finishes of their regular ten year old, available at nicks wines http://www.nicks.com.au/Product/View/Glenm...4x100ml)/479364 in a mini four pack. It is very interesting to compare the different finishes. It shows just how much influence the barrels (and what they previously contained) have on the final product. I particularly like the Lasanta.

However, considering that the main flavour component of Bourbon and Tennessee whiskey (and aged spirits in general) comes from the oak, you can definitely get a characteristic flavour using virgin oak. Just charring a piece of white American oak will release a wonderful Bourbon aroma.

The main reason that I would avoid chips is that the flavour components derived from them can be a little two dimensional, presumably because the surface area of chips is large so you quickly draw the harsher tannins without the complexity of the other components that are filtered through the thickness of a barrel stave. But I haven't seen staves available from previously used spirit barrels, so they might not be that easy to get your hands on.

 

[MHB]

The ones I mentioned are exactly that "Old Spirit Barrels" and the Jack and Jim are old Jack and Jim Barrels.
I think you would be surprised at the difference the distillate makes too, it just as important as the oak.
The reason I specifically mentioned that products from QBrew is that they are the best, the "Bourbon Chunks" from Essencia are also excellent but they only offer the one Bourbon, no Whisky or Rum.

There is another range that I would avoid as they are just Oak Chips sprayed with an essence not in the same class, like you said very two dimensional and frankly in my opinion a bit of a dud.

MHB

 

[Muggus]

Got to try a couple of these over in the UK, the Lightly oaked, Rum and Original.
Loved all of them, but was probably most impressed with the Rum barrel version. Kind of wish I tried a few more of the different beers they have...there's quite a few!
I just love oak aged beers in general though! :wub: