Barrel

It takes a lot of house-toasted hazelnuts to get the flavor that Horus Aged Ales founder Kyle Harrop wants in a special subset of his barrel-aged beers. “It gets real expensive, real quick,” he says. In this clip from his video course, he explains the process in detail.

From beer-barreled whiskey to brewery hikes and your new favorite player in the transfer portal, here are a few things we’re stoked on, now.

The realm of vanilla and its flavor potential extends far beyond Madagascar and Tahiti. In this clip from his video course, Horus Aged Ales founder Kyle Harrop talks about some of his favorite origin vanillas for barrel-aged beers—and about how the bean can overshadow the barrel.

Kyle Harrop, founder of Horus Aged Ales, shares his approach to brewing, aging, and blending higher-gravity barleywines and stouts—and to selecting and using the flavor components that can take those beers to the next level.

From Pinta Barrel Brewing in Wieprz, Poland, here’s a recipe for their barrel-aged imperial stout with vanilla, coconut, and barrel-aged coffee—a richly layered treat that beat out many others to become one of our Best 20 Beers in 2025.

When beer gets high enough in alcohol content, it can pose a threat to can lining and affect how we perceive carbonation. In this clip from their video course, River North founder Matt Hess explains how and why they bottle in glass and adjust for carbonation.

For River North’s coffee-infused beers, it’s whole beans, fresh and medium-roasted. In this clip from their video course, founder Matt Hess explains the method.

From recipe design and ingredient choices to barrel-aging, blending, and packaging, River North founder Matt Hess and head brewer Matt Malloy share the methods and philosophy behind their unusually robust and flavorful award-winning beers.

Mike Lukacina, founder and brewer at Magnanimous in Tampa, shares this iteration of the ever-evolving stout they brew especially for aging in whiskey barrels.

Magnanimous Brewing in Tampa has built a strong local following for its big-flavored beers, including its barrel-aged imperial stouts. Here, founder and brewer Mike Lukacina shares some thoughts behind their ever-evolving base stout meant for aging in whiskey casks.

The team at Revolution in Chicago blends two threads of barrel-aged barleywine to produce their heralded Straight Jacket. Here’s a recipe for one of those threads, plus all the info you need to make the other one—or to make an unblended version.

The world’s best oak-aged beers begin with careful hot-side considerations. Here’s how some of today’s leading brewers design stouts and barleywines to maximize success inside the barrel, and beyond.

The old tech of the oak barrel still works beautifully in the brewery—but it does need a nice, solid thwack with the mallet now and then. Brewers are already janitors, plumbers, and microbiologists, among other things. Might as well add coopers to the list.

While different recipes call for different approaches, Third Eye co-owner and head brewer Kelly Montgomery explains why some stouts need more than one bourbon barrel, and why they add certain sugary adjuncts directly to the barrels.

Musing on the “Florida effect” and chocolate-chip cookie-dough as the compass North, the team at Bottle Logic in Anaheim, California, shares the thinking and process behind their coveted barrel-aged stout, Fundamental Observation.

From Bottle Logic founder and brewmaster Wes Parker, here’s a homebrew-scale recipe for their beloved barrel-aged, vanilla-laced imperial stout.

Give those barrels plenty of time before tasting, says New Image founder Brandon Capps, and be open to new possibilities when tasting different components for blending.

When it’s time to pull nails and evaluate components for blending, New Image’s Brandon Capps recommends including tasters who are less familiar with the style, while also ensuring that tasting happens blindly and individually.

From selecting malts with intention to deploying Madeira-inspired macro-oxidation, finishing on different woods, and blending to taste, New Image founder Brandon Capps outlines a technical approach to crafting characterful barrel-aged barleywines.

Remember brut IPA? Lenka Straková does. The brewmaster at Pilsner Urquell’s experimental Pivovar Proud shares this recipe for a strong yet light-bodied, fruity-and-floral barrel-aged ale that borrows some tricks from brut IPA.