Thanks to "Infidel" on Homebrewtalk, I'm the proud owner of a once-used Blue Corn Whiskey barrel from Balcones Distillery in Waco, Texas. Balcones is a small distillery that began operations in 2009, producing hand-crafted Whiskey and something called Rumble, made from wildflower honey, mission figs, and turbinado sugar. This particular barrel contained their flagship Whiskey, Baby Blue, made from 100% roasted Hopi blue corn. According to the markings on the barrel it was emptied on February 2, 2010, and is already in my hands on February 11. It smells fantastic with a bit of the Baby Blue still sloshing around.
The capacity of the barrel is around 5 gallons, making it perfect for aging a single batch of homebrew. The first beer to go into this will be a Robust Porter brewed on January 21, to be followed up with an Imperial Stout to be brewed within the next week or so.
Local news piece on Balcones:
1 comment:
Sounds awesome. With the high surface area of a small barrel, it won't take long at all to age.
Days/weeks with that size compared to months/years with the 53.
Lemme know how it works out. Sounds like a good project.
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