The holidays are the most magical and delicious time of the year. Throughout the food and spirits industries, companies flood the masses with small-batch offerings, limited release products, and holiday-themed specialties. For Colorado-based brewery, New Belgium, that means the release of their annual bourbon-aged beer Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale. However, in a truly special turn of events, this year New Belgium partnered with bourbon stand-out Four Roses to brew an especially delicious bourbon-infused amber ale for their 2021 edition.
Aside from its delicious taste, what makes the Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale so special is the method New Belgium uses to make it. While it’s become a lot more commonplace to see whiskeys that are infused or flavored with heavy, creamy beers like stouts, the Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale flips the script by taking the stronger, spicier flavor profile of bourbon and adding it to beer. Oakspire features a custom-built, proprietary infusion method to pull the flavors from the bourbon-steeped charred oak and marries it with a malty-sweet, deep amber ale. This innovative method imbues the luscious, malty flavor of the amber ale with the smooth, fruit-forward, and slightly spicy taste that’s signature to Four Roses’ bourbons. The Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale has an ABV of 9.0, making it a heavier, more alcoholic beer. It features a mix of nugget and Sabro hops as well as a blend of malts like Pale, Munich, Caramel 80, Rye, and Roasted Barley to yield a creamy texture and complex flavor profile of toffee, caramel, and vanilla, which is evident by its low IBU rating of 27.
All told, the Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale is just one of the many reasons why the holidays rock. It’s a delicious offering that both beer lovers and bourbon lovers alike would love. New Belgium’s Oakspire Bourbon Barrel Ale is available for sale at select retailers.
