Barrel-aged Old Ale

Cracking open a bottle that has been cellared always gets a bit nerve wracking -- did it survive its journey? Did it resist the temptations of heat and light?

It’s been over a year since Bull and Bush’s Barrel Aged Old Ale was bottled. We followed all the steps outlined in our article on beer storage, and the wait appears to have cultivated a bit of extra magic in the bottle.

The ale is sweet and full without tasting like dessert, and the whiskey from the barrel-aging has mellowed into an entirely new dimension of palatability. This beer is smoother than Def Leppard’s drummer.

-- Jim Dykstra