Good News, No Dumping Party

This is from the comments from our last post.  It seems that the homebrew adage of never dump a beer, just wait, goes for commercial brewers too.  Here is Paul's response below.  Still going to be a party the 16th, just a different one then originally planned.

Ok, since this was uncharted water for us, I think we mis-stepped. I apologize on the call.

2 months ago, this beer totally sucked ass. It was the 3rd time we'd tasted this beer over its time in the barrel and we'd resigned ourselves to dumping this poor little experiment.

Fast forward to Friday... As we're emptying barrels for the Melange & Saison bottling, it came time to get the experiment from the oak barrel and into a keg for our little dumping party.

Moments prior to emptying, Tyson decided to taste it one last time - and get our final, personal laughs prior to execution.

As he raised an eyebrow and handed me the glass - it actually smelled pretty freakin' cool.
He had a smile on his face as I tasted it and remarked that this was a damn good beer...

So we kinda learned a few lessons here. First, don't rush things (it's now 8 months I think). Second, the maturation curve for barrel aged beer differs greatly from new oak through other variants. And maybe lastly, Vinnie said listen to your beer - it will tell you when it's ready.

This one was pretty tight lipped.

So we'll still have our little party - only it will be a Chili Vanilli party!
Cask Smoked Porter with Ancho Chili and cut Mexican Vanilla Beans.

Sometimes things just turn out for the best - stay tuned on our barrel project.

I guess we failed to fail.

Paul