For the second year, our barrel-aged beer innovations take centre stage with Black Oil and Old Cellar Barleywine, created through an innovative process unlike anything else: beer aged in its own whiskey. We call this groundbreaking technique Single Mash Ageing.
Barrel-Aged Beer: How It Works
It starts with brewing our richest, most robust beers, like Black Oil and Old Cellar, using only the first wort, the strongest, most concentrated mash sugars. To achieve this, we pack the mash tun to its absolute limit, draw off the purest wort for the beer, and set aside the remaining malt sugars.
Instead of discarding that second wort, we take a historical approach known as parti-gyle brewing:
The leftover wort is cooled in our coolship, fermented, and then distilled into whiskey.
This whiskey, made entirely from beer malt rather than the usual corn-heavy mash, is packed with roasted and caramel malt flavours.
We then use this whiskey to season the oak barrels in which the original beer will mature. This creates a circular ageing cycle, beer gives birth to whiskey, and whiskey prepares the barrels for beer.
Why It’s Amazing
Most whiskeys rely on neutral grains like corn, which produce a softer flavour profile. By contrast, this ageing whiskey is built on the same complex malt bill as our imperial stout and barleywine. That means layers of roasted, caramelised malt richness infuse the barrels, amplifying depth and complexity in the ageing beer. The result? An exceptionally smooth, malt-forward character to the whiskey that rounds out the barrel-aged beers better than traditional spirit barrel ageing.
Our Philosophy
This novel method reflects our belief about what makes craft beer amazing: exploration, creativity, and continuous improvement. It’s not just about strength or novelty, it’s about balance, building layers of flavour, and brewing with a sense of place and personality.
We’re thrilled to share this pioneering process with you. Enjoy a Black Oil or Old Cellar, and taste what happens when beer and whiskey complete a circle from a single mash.