(Milwaukee, WI) – Received a note from Tenth and Blake this AM…
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The S/V Denis Sullivan, which launched in June 2000, will have some unique cargo aboard as she sails the Great Lakes this summer. The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company has donated Big Eddy Imperial India Pale Ale (IPA), which will age in a wooden apple brandy barrel aboard this majestic educational sailing vessel. The wooden barrel is from Great Lakes Distillery.
The unique collaboration is appropriate, considering the history of IPAs. Originally crafted to sustain the journey via ship from Britain to India in the mid-1700s by an English brewer, India Pale Ales are known for their hoppy, bitter variation on a traditional ale.
Leinenkugel’s Big Eddy Imperial IPA fills the senses with five distinctive Pacific Northwest hops, which are added at each stage of the brewing process. Hops include Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe, Citra, and the extremely rare Amarillo. After aging aboard the S/V Denis Sullivan within the wooden barrel, the beer’s complexity and bold flavor will be even more pronounced. Discovery World, which also is aging a wooden barrel of Big Eddy IIPA in its Thirst Lab, plans to tap the barrels at a fundraising event this fall.
This is all well and good, but BrewDog did age a beer UNDER the sea… Just sayin’.
They aged the beer in a metal fermenter under the water. Dumb.
i tried some Big Eddy IPA about a month ago. it was pretty good, but im guessing it wasnt barrel aged yet.
How big of barrel?
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I suppose having it aboard a vessel would mean the beer is always moving – even if just slightly. Perhaps that may affect the final flavor. I’m looking forward to trying it.