Welcome to The Barrel Project 2020

Thank you so much for buying this year’s Barrel Project Bottle Set. Without the sense of reassurance provided through your continued support, we simply wouldn’t be able to commit the same time and resource to developing and refining our barrel-aged beers that we currently do, and this year’s set would be weaker as a result.

These beers are the culmination of several years' work in sourcing the best barrels, building relationships with organic fruit producers, and fine-tuning our approach to blending.

Our intention is to create elegant, distinctive beers that have a quality of timelessness. These are living works that develop at their own pace and pay no heed to the demands of our busy schedules. So, the enjoyment of these beers too promotes a sense that time has stopped around us, providing a valuable opportunity for self-care and contemplation at the end of a challenging year.

That's why it's important to create a setting within which you can explore these beers fully, unhindered by pressure or responsibility. Choose the right time, whether on your own or in the company of friends and family, bring out your best glassware, relax into your favourite chair and just take a moment to pause.

To help you in this goal - and as a way of saying thank you for your investment in our Barrel Project - we wanted to provide you with a host of content to accompany this year’s set.

So, below you’ll find more detailed explanation of the concepts behind each of the four threads found in the set, tasting notes, food pairing suggestions and even four guided tasting videos hosted by our founder Paul and barrel lead Lee.

To help you set the mood, Lee has even put together a Barrel Project Spotify playlist for you to listen to when enjoying the beers. If you’ve been to our festival Friends & Family & Beer, you may have heard one of Lee’s DJ sets and will know that he’s got a serious ear for music and the incredible record collection to match.

A Great Many Breaths • Port BA Imperial Stout • 12.7% ABV. The very first batch of My Continuous Improvement, pre-adjuncts, aged in a five-year-old Port barrel.

Sitting Comfortably In Your Favourite Chair • Cognac BA Imperial Stout • 13.2% ABV. Our pre-adjunct My Continuous Improvement base, aged in a 15-year-old Remy Martin cognac barrel.

Crackles and Pops • Armagnac BA Imperial Stout • 11.2% ABV. Our pre-adjunct My Continuous Improvement base aged in a 10-year-old Armagnac barrel.

The dark beers included in this year’s Barrel Project Set are some of our richest, most complex yet. These are beers that demand time and attention, as you delight in their decadence and unravel the various layers of flavour contained within.

Our intention with all three of these beers was to create a harmonious synthesis between modern brewing techniques and classic, old world flavours, expressed through the craft of the master distiller or wine marker, the art of the cooper and the character of carefully-selected oak. So we selected barrels used in the production of three traditional digestifs that all boast a long lineage and their own distinctive character. In doing so, we also wanted to avoid well-trodden ground in the ageing of Imperial Stouts and instead forge our own path by choosing high-quality barrels that are less typically used for this purpose.

It’s also important to note that all three of these beers were aged in first-fill barrels. That is to say, each barrel was emptied of its contents by the producer and then sent directly to us for filling with fresh beer, so we could really capture the true essence of these classic digestifs. There is perhaps a misconception that ageing time is the biggest (and maybe only) determining factor in how well a beer expresses the characteristics of the barrel it has spent time in, but we want to challenge this idea by employing a different approach. All three of these beers spent around three months in wood, which is a relatively short ageing period, but do not lack in flavour intensity and have taken on the flavour characteristics we were looking for without developing some of the charred, smoky flavours that can be associated with an extended spell in barrel.

Finally, all three of these Imperial Stouts make use of our much-loved My Continuous Improvement base. In fact, A Great Many Breaths uses the very first batch of this decadent dessert beer that has since grown into our most popular ongoing series. The richness, intensity and depth of flavour that are hallmarks of My Continuous Improvement lend themselves well to barrel-ageing and integrate neatly with the bold character provided by each of the barrels used, but we advise you to enjoy them fresh, as some of the intended flavours will diminish and change over time.

Faithful Descendent • Blended Spontaneous Beer with chuckleberries • 7% ABV. Bright and jammy with a zippy acidity, this is a two-year-old spontaneous blend conditioned on two-and-a-half tonnes of organic British chuckleberries.

Search For A Meaning • Blended Wild Ale with cherries • 7.4% ABV. Combining elements from classic Belgian Kriek and juicy Beaujolais wines, this is one of our most vibrant, full-flavoured fruited beers to date. Organic Turkish morello cherries were submitted to a process of carbonic maceration, bursting open to reveal the full depth of their distinctive flavour, before blending with four-year aged beer from red wine barrels.

Old Pioneers • Blended Wild Ale with apricots • 6.3% ABV. Deep and intense, with a rich, complex acidity, this is a blend of two-year-old spontaneous beer and three-year-old foudre beer, conditioned on whole, organic Spanish apricots, opened up through a process of carbonic maceration.

This trio of beers represents the freshest, most vibrant expression of fruit we have ever been able to capture. They represent the culmination of many years’ work in developing relationships with organic fruit producers, allowing us to harness the rich flavours of some of the best fruit we’ve tasted, both from the UK and across Europe.

Our main goal with all three of these beers was to provide a ‘just-picked’ fruit character, bringing to mind all the sensory experiences that might come from standing in the middle of an orchard at the peak of picking season. Those vibrant colours, aromas and flavours all jump out at you immediately upon pouring one of these bottles.

To achieve the freshest fruit flavour possible, we used a process of carbonic maceration for each of these beers. A technique often associated with Beaujolais wines, it involves submitting the fruits to an anaerobic environment - that is to say, putting them in a sealed vessel filled with carbon dioxide - so that they begin to ferment from the inside and eventually burst, releasing their juices naturally without need for crushing. The idea is that this delivers a fresher, juicier fruit character that’s low in the tannins that provide dryness and astringency.

In each case, the fruit was then blended with a suitable base beer or blend, designed to accentuate its natural flavours, while providing an appropriate level 0f acidity and depth. We used one kilogram of fruit for every litre of beer to ensure to ensure the flavours of these delicious, organic chuckleberries, cherries and apricots took centre stage, supported by layers of acidity and funk.

Idaho 7 Foudre Beer • Foudre DIPA • 9.2% ABV. Aged nine months in foudre , this was then dry hopped with 25g/L of Citra and Idaho 7 before bottling. Ripe tropical fruits and zesty lime intertwine with a bright Brett character.

Sabro Foudre Beer • Foudre DIPA • 9.2% ABV. Aged nine months in foudre , this was then dry hopped with 25g/L of Citra and Sabro before bottling. Intense lime, pineapple and creamed coconut flavours are supported by light, funky notes.

Mosaic Foudre Beer • Foudre DIPA • 9.2% ABV. Aged nine months in foudre , this was then dry hopped with 25g/L of Citra and Mosaic before bottling. Rich mango, soft peach and dank notes mingle beautifully with fruity Brett.

Bringing fresh beer sensibilities to bear on our barrel project, these beers speak strongly of our ethos, combining the kind of flavour profile and intensity you know and love in our hoppy beer with a fresh perspective on oak-ageing. We’ve done a lot of work in fresh beer over the past two years to celebrate the fruits of our labour at hop selection, and many of you will be familiar with our two Crop Year series, showcasing hand-selected hops from both the US and New Zealand. But it has long been our intention to explore the biotransformation of hops in a totally different environment, in the presence of wild yeasts and microflora, so earlier in the year we released our first ‘Foudre DIPAs’, strong beers aged in one of our ex-Italian red wine foudres and hit with a fresh dry hop just before packaging. We were pleased with the results but felt there was scope to explore an even greater expression of hop flavours, intertwined with funky and fruity Brett characteristics, so we’ve upped the dry hop rate to 25g/L, bringing it in line with our fresh DIPAs and taking it to a level that is almost unprecedented in this style of beer. These beers are best enjoyed fresh, so you are able to experience the full depth of hop aroma and flavour.

Smiles Through The Ages • Armagnac Barrel Aged Dubbel • 7.6% ABV. Rich, complex malt flavours meld with fruity yeast esters to create an experience that is indulgent but still finely balanced. Our take on a classic Belgian Dubbel, infused with spirit notes after a short spell in Armagnac casks to provide roundness and an even greater level of depth, knitting together the different elements.

What Was Old, Now New • Oud Bruin • 9% ABV. Built on a base of spontaneously-fermented wort, aged for two years in a red wine barrel, Our interpretation of an Oud Bruin, presents rich acidity and intense flavour. conditioned for a year in bottle. , it has developed deep balsamic notes, complemented by red berry and a fine sherry character.

Short Pours, Rosy Cheeks • Bretted Tripel • 9.6% ABV. A short Brett conditioning in red wine barrels elevates this A traditional Tripel, layering candied pineapple and funk on top of fruity meadow honey and spicy yeast esters. Those flavours have been allowed to developed further on Brett, and over a year conditioning in bottle. A twist on one of Belgium's best-loved styles.

This was our chance to riff on the beers we have loved all our lives. Classic styles that were crucial to our personal beer journeys, helping us to expand our palates and enjoy flavours that were totally different to those available in our own native experiences. But we could never hope to execute these styles in a more accomplished manner than the trailblazing breweries that have been brewing them for many years, so instead it’s important that we put our own spin on them. Building on the common reference points provided by the classics, we have taken these beers in a new direction, creating something that draws on the incredible work committed by those who have come before us but is, at the same time, modern and unique. Through these beers, we aim to show the work of the trailblazers in a new light and reignite appreciation for the beers without which many of us wouldn’t be here now.