Beer and whiskey during Chanukah or Hanukkah
In times of old, the only way whiskey and beer were “paired” was the beer and a bump, a glass of beer and shot of whiskey.
Now some beers are being aged in whiskey barrels. Two current examples are Jewbelation Eleven and Bittersweet Lenny RIPA. These HE ‘BREW beers, made by Shmaltz Brewing in San Francisco, are aged in barrels that once held Rittenhouse Rye. They are being served at 6 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, at Max’s on Broadway at a Chanukah versus Christmas beer tasting open to the public.
Yesterday I spoke briefly with HE’BREW founder Jeremy Cowan, the fellow who 11 years ago determined that “the Jews of America need their own beer.” His Jewbelation is a very good beer, a rich mix of malts and hops. While Cowan uses humor to promote his beers, he told me he is quite serious about making beers that are as good as Dogfish Head and other high-quality craft brewers.
Cowan said that in addition to letting him say that his beers are served “on rye,” putting the RIPA in rye whiskey barrels also “smoothes out the tops and bottoms of RIPA and brings out the vanilla mouthfeel.”
Questions: Is mixing beer and whiskey always pretty risky, or does it work?
And do you prefer to spell it Chanukah or Hanukkah?
Comments
There are quite a few brews aged in whiskey and wine casks for flavor; both Allagash and Weyerbacher come to mind. Most are well done, though a few are pretty scary experiments. If one can mix whiskey and eggs was acceptable for so long with eggnog, I'll try it with beer anyday.
Posted by: Mike | December 21, 2007 8:02 AM
My first experience with a whiskey aged beer was a stout at Iron Hill Brewery in Newark, DE. Loved it! Have to admit never tried a mix, but I'm going to!
Posted by: Norm | December 25, 2007 10:05 AM
Last month, while traveling in the South, I had a rye ale from Terrapin Brewery in Georgia. I didn't confirm that it was aged in a rye cask. It didn't occur to me until I read this post.
Posted by: Duane | January 15, 2008 10:58 PM