New Belgium Brewing’s restricted version Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale has lived many lives throughout its transient existence. It started in 2018 as a vacation launch in partnership with Knob Creek, which is the place we first and final encountered it. In 2020, New Belgium used the label to dip their toe into the cocktail-inspired beer world with an Outdated-Normal launch, full with bitters and different flavorings. In 2021, they returned to the unique bourbon barrel ale idea however this time in partnership with 4 Roses, a beloved Kentucky distillery that had already confirmed its potential with Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Ops (amongst others). That partnership seems to have been a profitable one as Oakspire returned in 2022 as soon as once more proudly sporting the 4 Roses badge on its label. We’ve missed some rising up for this one, however let’s see how its ingesting on this newest iteration.
Oakspire pours a golden, high-polished copper with a cream soda head. Like our preliminary expertise with its debut, the beer is devoid of the overly candy and boozy notes that sometimes come to thoughts whenever you suppose bourbon growing old and beer. That’s as a result of this beer isn’t truly aged inside bourbon barrels. As a substitute, oak spirals and barrel char from choose 4 Roses bourbon barrels are added to the ale for an unspecified time frame and presumably inside a impartial vessel. This permits the robust, amber ale profile at its core to search out extra concord with traditional bourbon barrel notes of vanilla bean and chewy caramel, that are all on the palate, by the way in which. The aroma barely nods to bourbon with the malty, roasted notes of the ale dominating. In contrast to the inaugural Oakspire, there’s no actual bitterness at play. The palate stays rounded and gently malty with a balanced honeycomb sweetness and a clear, warming end.
Beer geeks searching for an enormous, boozy Goose Island Bourbon County-style expertise might be disillusioned on this one. However for these searching for a bolder, balanced, and subtly nuanced brew, you would do quite a bit worse.
9% abv.
B+ / $16 per 6-pack / newbelgium.com
New Belgium Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale (2022)
$16
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