Tag Archives: chardonnay

En Blanc (Barley Wine) Cellared 10 Months – Steel & Oak Brewing

by Mike

From New Westminster’s Steel & Oak Brewing comes their “En Rouge (Barley Wine)” a Barley Wine aged in Chardonnay Barrels.  This beer was cellared for 10 Months after beeing aquired on November 10, 2016.  The beer pours a deep red almost brown with a tan head.  The aroma consists of dark fruits, mild chardonnay, sweetness and almost a candi sugar finish.  The flavour is of dark fruits, toffee, caramel, roasted malts, coconut, oak, chardonnay and grapes in general, leather, hint of bitterness and a mild lingering alcohol bite.  The alcohol content comes in at 10% with an IBU of 15.  Now that the Chardonnay is stepping back a bit I really enjoy this one not being a wine fan.

Commercial Description: En Blanc and En Rouge are the same 10% abv barley wine fermented with wine yeast, and aged for a year in Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon barrels respectively. En Blanc is described as having notes of “vanilla, coconut, apricot, peach, molasses and fruitcake with a touch of citrus,” while En Rouge offers “black currant, dark cherry, leather, tobacco, plum and dates.”

Original review

HopAnomaly – Nebraska Brewing

by Mike

From Nebraska Brewing in Papillion Nebraska comes their “HopAnomaly” an Ale aged in Chardonnay Barrels.  The beer pours a cloudy orange colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of candi sugar, citrus, Chardonnay, oak, some spice and Belgian yeast.  The flavour is of Chardonnay, citrus, tropical fruit, candi sugar, toffee, oak, sweetness, spices, Belgian yeast, hops bitterness and some alcohol.  The alcohol content comes in at 10.6% with an IBU of 87.  While I am not a fan of Chardonnay at all this beer really worked well with the wine barrel and was an absolute treat.  I wish I had the ability to get more of this beer or more from the brewery but that is the nature of trading beers.

Commercial Description:  An artful creation which began with our HopAnomaly Belgian-Style IPA, enhanced by a 6 month maturation in French Oak Chardonnay Barrels. This version of Hop God is a fascinating, big, bold Belgian-style Tripel hopped in very high amounts to concentrate citrus, grapefruit and floral aromatics in the nose. The addition of Chardonnay barrel aging adds further dimension and oak tannins to an already wonderfully complex Ale – bringing to mind tropical fruits and peach. We know of nothing that compares – enjoy!

Food pairing as per brewery:  Hors d’ oeuvres = Mushroom Risotto, Cheese = Bleu Cheeses, Gouda, Entrée = Pizza, Gourmet Grilled Burgers, Chimchurri, Roasted Chicken, Desert = Pecan Pie, Lemon Mergane Pie

En Blanc (Barley Wine) – Steel & Oak Brewing

by Mike

From New Westminster’s Steel & Oak Brewing comes their “En Rouge (Barley Wine)” a Barley Wine aged in Chardonnay Barrels.  The beer pours a deep brown colour with a brown head.  The aroma consists of coconut, chardonnay, roasted malts, dark fruits and oak.  The flavour is of chardonnay, coconut, dark fruits, roasted malts, molasses, oak and alcohol.  The alcohol content comes in at 10% with an IBU of 15.  While I liked this beer I wish that the Chardonnay was in the background not the main flavour.

Check out the En Rouge Barley Wine aged in Cabernet Sauvignon Barrels.

Commercial Description: En Blanc and En Rouge are the same 10% abv barley wine fermented with wine yeast, and aged for a year in Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon barrels respectively. En Blanc is described as having notes of “vanilla, coconut, apricot, peach, molasses and fruitcake with a touch of citrus,” while En Rouge offers “black currant, dark cherry, leather, tobacco, plum and dates.”

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Disco Beer (Red and White) – Evil Twin Brewing

by Mike

From Copenhagen Denmark’s Evil Twin Brewing (brewed at the Brouwerij De Molen, Bodegraven, Netherlands) comes their “Disco Beer” a double IPA.  The disco beer is usually aged in white wine chardonnay barrels but there was also a special batch brewed using red wine chardonnay barrels.  This post will rate them side by side!

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The only way to tell the two different beer apart before cracking the beer open is the colour of the caps.  The cap colour is fairly self explanatory although the bottle does not hint at this at all!

First up is the Original White Chardonnay barrel aged version.

This beer pours a copper colour with a huge explosive head that builds and builds!  The aroma consists of malts, woodiness, mild pine, white wine and floral hops.  The flavour is of malts, floral hops, pine, white wine and some woodiness from the barrels.  This is a pretty nice although different double IPA.

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Next up is the red wine chardonnay barrel aged version of the beer.

This beer pours a cloudy copper/orange colour with a small red tinged white head.  The aroma is of malts, sweetness, red wine, woodiness and dark fruit.  The flavour consists of  very sweet malts, hops ,red wine, woodiness, nuts and dark fruits.  This may be a double IPA but it sure tastes like a barleywine!

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Both beer drink very differently and would not be recognizable side by side!  One tastes like a double IPA and one tastes of a Barleywine.  I love how much a change in wine barrel and some malts can completely change the aroma, flavour and complexities of a beer!  As I like both barleyines and double IPA’s I can not pick a favorite.  The alcohol content of both these beer is 10.5%.  If you are looking for an IPA go for the regular cap but if you want to play a bit go red all the way!

Commercial Descriptions:

White Version:  Discobeer is a vinous IPA thoughtfully aged on Chardonnay wine barrels. This rock star of a beer is a real party starter. No more shy beer geek. Drink it and you will own the dance floor.

Red Version:  Special version of our infamous Disco Beer, this time brewed with a slight darker malt profile and aged on Chardonnay red wine barrels instead of the usual white wine barrels.