It's the class nobody is ever late for! Beer School is back in session at Barley's Brewhaus.
O'Fallon Brewery's Stu Berkemper stops at the Overland Park location tonight at 6 p.m. to talk about the history of the Missouri brewery and lead a tasting of O'Fallon's brews. Tickets are $8; call 913-663-4099 to reserve a seat.
Berkemper will also be tapping a keg of Wee Heavy Scottish Ale for the tasting -- it's the first release in O'Fallon's new seasonal Brewer's Stash series. The company is making good use of its upgraded license: It can now release brews with up to 22 percent ABV. The Wee Heavy clocks in at 10.4 percent alcohol by volume.
"The Wee Heavy is chewy, sweet and malty -- that comes from the
cherrywood-smoked malt we used. It's definitely a sipping beer, but the
alcohol is not hot," says head brewer Brian Owens.
The everyday lineup from O'Fallon includes the O'Fallon Gold, Wheat,
Smoked Porter and 5-Day IPA. Kansas Citians might also recognize its
Wheach, Cherry Chocolate and Pumpkin seasonal brews. The brewery, about 35 miles northwest of St. Louis, began contracting out its bottled beer production to Stevens Point Brewery in Wisconsin last year. Stevens Point produced 25,000 cases for O'Fallon, a number that Owens hopes could grow to 100,000 this year.
"Now that our bottled beer is contracted out, we've freed up the capacity to play around and push what we're doing," says Owens.
The first major step was adding another beer to the year-round lineup -- Hemp-Hop-Rye Amber Ale should hit store shelves this spring. Toasted hemp seeds are added to the mash, bringing a slightly nutty flavor to an ale with a hoppy bite at the finish (the Canadian hemp seeds are independently tested to make sure they don't contain any THC).
O'Fallon plans several Brewer's Stash releases this year, selling the brews in four-packs of 12 oz. bottles. The series' name is an homage to the source of the brewers' inspiration.
"We've got a walk-in cooler where we store our kegs and in one corner
we have beers from everywhere -- everything from home brewers to craft
beers to stuff that needs to age for a little while. We named this
series for that little stash of beer," says Owens.
He also wants to continue experimenting with barrel aging at the O'Fallon Brewery, particularly after the positive response for the limited-batch release of the Whiskey Barrel Smoked Porter. So, expect a range of new options in 2010.
"We'll stick to ales this year -- basically producing everything but a lager," says Owens.
Comments (0)