The base beer was originally brewed in 2013 as a Belgian Blonde Ale. We then aged the beer in a freshly emptied 65 Gallon Chardonnay barrel. We inoculated the barrel with some bugs from Wyeast and some dregs from some of our favorite Russian River sour beers. In 2015 (3 years after entering the barrel) we took out 5 gallons into a secondary fermenter on top of 8 lbs of frozen black cap raspberries. After 3 months we bottled the beer. 9 years later I decided to see how this is developing in the bottle.

You can find the recipe for the base beer here.

Appearance

The beer pours a beautiful purplish ruby red color that is mostly clear. It produces a half inch of fizzy white head that quickly dissipates. There is plenty of visible carbonation bubbles racing to the top of the glass.

Aroma

In the aroma I pick up chardonnay, berry and oak. The buttery chardonnay and berry are more prevelant than the oak, which is more of a background character.

Taste/Mouthfeel

This beer is effervescent and highly carbonated. It’s on the light to medium side in terms of body. The massive amount of fruit added to the secondary contributes a little to the body.

The taste starts with the chardonnay and then is followed by tart raspberries. It finishes dry with lingering oak and juicy raspberries. I’d measure the acidity of this batch around medium.

Impressions

I don’t get any off-flavors from it’s 9 years in the bottle. It’s held up quite well! It’s pretty balanced in regards to the 4 main flavors of oak/fruit/chardonnay/tartness with one not overpowering any of the others.