When you brew beer in the heart of one of Australia’s top wine regions, there are some pretty clear advantages. For one, there are the tourists such a place brings and the high chance they might be looking for something different during a day spent sampling shiraz. But there’s also the wealth of well-kept barrels that have spent years soaking up wine and ready to be filled with beer. It's that part of their region Barossa Valley Brewing have utilized with their Barrel Aged Blonde, which uses barrels sourced from Andrew Stiller, a local artisan cooper.
To make the beer, the South Australian brewery took a simple blonde ale and let it sit with wild yeast in both French and American wine barrels and the result is a complex medley of flavours. Pouring with quite a pink hue that suggest the beer has soaked up quite a bit of the previous inhabitant of the barrel, a distinct tannic note you pick up on the first taste further shows it's been in close proximity to red wine. In regards to its flavours though, Barrel Aged Blonde arguably sits closer to white wine over red, with the beer's soft but gripping sourness, a touch of stonefruit and vanilla all make it the kind of beer that should be enjoyed from a wine glass on a warm summer's afternoon.
Will Ziebell
Published July 6, 2021 2021-07-06 00:00:00
