Posted in New Releases, Red Brick

Red Brick’s 15th Anniversary Ale has arrived!

Red Brick 15thThis is a big week for Red Brick Ales (Atlanta, Ga.)  Not only are they debuting their 15th Anniversary Ale, but its release heralds a new era of bottling by the brewery.

The 15th Anniversary ale is Red Brick’s signature Brown Ale.  The Brown Ale boasts a list of ingredients, including 7 malts (Victory, Bonnalander, Caramel  40/60/120, 2 Row Barley, Wheat Malt).  Hops include Zeus and Fuggle.  When possible I include the ingredients in these brews.  Hopefully knowing the hop/malt combinations help you get a better understanding of how they affect the brews.

Next stop for this brown ale was a Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrel.   That was 13 months ago.  Yes, it’s been sitting on bourbon wood for 13 months.   When a beer is aged on wood, especially bourbon, whiskey, or wine, it’s a relationship of trades.   First and foremost, the beer gains flavor.   The wood in the barrel was used to flavor the bourbon initially.  During the process, the bourbon passes flavors to the wood and vice versa.   The same is true in the instance of the 15th Anniversary Ale.  The brown ale has picked up bourbon flavors from the wood and even passed a few flavors back.

The result of this aging?  Deliciousness.  The vanilla flavors the brown ale picked up after aging are nearly addictive.  15th Anniversary has appeared on a couple of taps as a sneak preview and it lasted for literally minutes.

15th Anniversary ale is also the debut of Red Brick’s 22 oz bottles.   It will be the first of many, as I’m told.  Brewer Dave McClure has a few upcoming brews he will be putting in the bomber bottles.   Another thing to note about 15th is that it is very limited.  200 cases of the 22 oz bottles.    Estimated retail, around $9.00.

While this hasn’t been officially tested- Red Brick estimates 15th Anniversary is somewhere between 9 – 10% ABV

UPDATE 12/16 – Hop City Received 22 oz bottles today.  Total Wine @ Perimeter, Tower ATL