Oktoberfest/Marzens and Pumpkin beers are typically only released in the fall. These smooth, malt driven, sometimes spicy beers are usually only made once a year and are available in limited amounts, and aren’t available year round. Fortunately, there is a “new” style of dark beer that is becoming more popular with brew masters and the public: barrel-aged beers. In a classic case of “what’s old is new again”, wooden barrels have dominated brewing throughout most of history. With the exception of ancient peoples keeping their beer in earthenware jars and the modern era where first cast iron, and later stainless steel (and sometimes copper), became the primary storage vessels, wooden barrels have been in use in brewing through most of the last two millennia. Wood was the material used in all receptacles of brewing, from the brew kettles, mash tuns, fermenters, storage and lagering tanks to the kegs. If the truth be told, historically, brewers have always had a love-hate relationship with wood. Since beer requires some cooking and boiling at some point, wood becomes awkward to work with, requiring difficult and timeconsuming indirect heating. Wood is also not airtight, so a certain amount of evaporation takes place during storage, and it may allow for oxidation or unwanted airborne (and sometimes ground-dwelling) foreign elements into the beer. Likewise, wooden barrels are difficult to clean and maintain. They are also flammable; many breweries have suffered major losses or destruction due to fires. Throughout history, breweries often shut down in the warmer months in hopes of avoiding this fate. Because of these issues and more, most beer was made to be consumed as soon as possible. One exception are lagers. Because brewing in the summer was banned in Germany, beers made in the winter were stored (or lagered) in caves to keep them cool so they could be consumed throughout the summer months. Certain beers, the marzens,
were stored until Oktoberfest began in September. Because of the way they were made and the characteristics imparted from the wooden storage vessels, all lagers were mainly dark beers until the mid-nineteenth century. When refrigeration became efficient and more commonplace, stainless steel tanks became the norm for brewing and storage in the twentieth century, the need for wood dropped off. The expense and fragility of wooden kegs led to their demise by the 1950, replaced by the lightweight metal ones we see today. Since then, wooden barrels stayed pretty much the home for wine and some spirits - until the craft beer revolutionists rediscovered them. Only in 1992, did an American craft brewer begin to age beer in bourbon
barrels. Since, by law, bourbon barrels can only be used once by the original distillers, they are the most plentiful. However, since then, almost every kind of barrel has been used, from wine to rum. To be sure, aging beer is an expensive proposition for the brewery. Not only do barrels cost money and take up precious space in the brewery, but also the aging of the beer ties up inventory for long periods- and cash flow is important in an industry that usually ships its product to market within weeks of production. Naturally, this cost is passed on to the consumer, so barrel-aged beers are not cheap. Still, one cannot deny the smoothness, depth and complexities that arise when one blends the essence of the barrel’s former inhabitant, the wood (usually, but not always, oak) and