Many brewery’s mark their birthday with a big, unique barrel-aged beer or two. But Town Hall does barrels differently, dedicating their taps to the specialty style for two weeks each February in an event called Barrel Aged Weeks.
The brewpub, established in 1997, has a special facility for aging a wide variety of beer styles. They control the environment to maximize the results, whether it’s with your expected bourbon barrel-aged imperial stouts like the award-winning Czar Jack or with one-of-a-kind wine barrel-aged beers that range from Belgian-style to sour ales to the already mentioned big, dark stouts. Each year, they debut a dozen-plus new beers over a two-week period until supplies run out. A few of the beers will stick around, rotating in the ongoing barrel series throughout the year as well as tapping at satellite locations such as Town Hall Tap, Town Hall Lanes, and Town Hall Station.
But the key separator is the variety of their program, with two common themes: complex, layered beers that are all aged in some type of barrel, from the 6.3% ABV Orchard Pear Mixed Culture to the 14.5% ABV Double barrel Xtra Milk Stout EXP. As our beer reviews stress, these beers carry layers of aroma, flavor, and sensory experiences. Common phrases when head brewer Mike Hoops talks about the process tell you the labor that goes into these, from talking about the sensory impressions when picking up barrels in Kentucky to the harvesting of the beers at maturity.
Barrel-aged beer doesn’t just mean big beer
One key element to Town Hall’s barrel-aged beers is that the beer itself changes with time, meaning that your beer’s flavor will change as it warms. Through Barrel Weeks, Town Hall is setting their cooler to a higher temperature, which helps bring out the depth. “The other night I had some barrel-aged beer in my glass for almost two hours. I just sipped on it a little bit and the experience was different from the beginning to the end,” Hoops says. “It was an experience almost like sipping on a whiskey or a wine.”
Ultimately, Hoops compares these beers to red wine because the many layers pair well with food. It’s not just a big beer experience, but a new way to enjoy how food and beverages can bring out new characteristics in each. “They can bring caramels, fruits, wood character. And, of course, there is some alcohol to balance everything out,” he says. “They are generally perfect for pairing with heavy cheeses, heavier meats,” including barbecue. “If you get into the lighter, more traditional poultry and fish or vegetable items you can find white wine barrel-aged stuff that would be similar as well.”
The first thought with a big, decadent beer is often to pair with dessert, where the richness works wonders with other indulgent flavors like chocolate. But there are two schools of thought to food and drink pairings: “Either you can accent something, or you can blend in with it. Which do you want to stand out?,” Hoops asks. When he writes a beer description, an associative flavor often jumps out, such as chocolate malt, or cream cheese frosting, like what is added to carrot cake (a unique flavor descriptor in this year’s Double Barrel 100% Malted Rye Barrel). He takes that base idea and looks for a food to go with it. “I let the beer tell me what it wants to shine and then figure out how to get that to work with food as well.”
A perfect pairing for dinner parties
To keep the wine analogy going, there are myriad reasons barrel-aged beers are great for dinner parties. The higher levels of alcohol can be spread out and paired with substantive food to lessen intoxication, plus the depth of flavors can be maximized with a big spread of food in front of you. The way the beer develops with time is an added bonus. Sit back, relax, and indulge while building a multi-course meal that changes as your beer warms.
This year, Town Hall even hosted a brunch event, pairing items like hash with a Strong Belgian Ale and French toast with the Xtra Milk Stout, letting the fatty meats, creamy hollandaise, and aromatic spices highlight some of those rich and delicate notes as Hoops talked with customers about how the beers are made. Broadly speaking, the bigger beers highlight big flavors, such as smoked bacon merging with whiskey and oak, the Orchard Pear MC offering delicate, crisp vibrancy, and the Belgian yeast esters combining with baking spices to draw out the toffee tones within the Malted Rye Barrel. They also host two dinner pairings, where Hoops is particularly excited to experience the pairing of scallops and pineapple risotto with the mixed culture sour.
Making a good thing even better
Barrel-aged beer is often viewed as a celebratory beer because it is labor-intensive to make and available in limited supply. Mass produced beer is great for many occasions, of course, but barrel-aged beers are more of an event. By pairing with food you are creating a sensory experience that will stick with you, long after your beer is gone.
Town Hall Brewery’s Barrel-Aged Weeks ran Feb. 12-24. Barrel-Aged Encore will follow, with select options available at other Town Hall locations in the first week of March.
Find more here: https://townhallbrewery.com/minneapolis-town-hall-brewery-events
Double Barrel 100% Malted Rye Barrel by Town Hall | Minneapolis
Unique beer is part of the experience at Town Hall’s Barrel Week. This blended Belgian-style strong ale was aged in barrels that previously held Kentucky whiskey made with 100% malted rye. A deep gold in color, the nose gives you expected notes of stone fruit, apricot, date, and raisin with subtle banana and clove elements. But the beer itself, a whopper at 15.3% ABV, has nearly endless depth due to the brewery’s delicate balance in capturing natural Belgian yeast esters and marrying them with the wood elements of barrel aging. In nearly equal levels, you’ll get sweet toffee, rye spice, banana, and clove. Underneath, you’ll pick up bourbon notes, baking spice, and more, culminating in what head brewer Mike Hoops refers to as carrot cake frosting-like flavors. Toffee is arguably the biggest flavor, but with a balance of spice and fruitiness within. Available beginning Monday Feb. 19 in limited supply. – Loren Green
Double Barrel Xtra Milk Stout EXP by Town Hall | Minneapolis
While Double Milk Stout has been a recurring recipe in recent years, this year’s batch has new depth. It’s a chocolate-forward big stout (14.5% ABV) with complex “less-sweet” flavors buried within. It all combines to make a Voltron of big, rich, adult dessert flavors. Think of craft, break-the-bank limited chocolates more than hot cocoa. At first it’s very boozy and a touch bitter but, as it warms, fudge-like big flavors of malted milk balls, nuts, oak, dark fruit, vanilla, and even hints of butterscotch, caraway, and smoke come through. Warmth brings out the sweeter flavors, with bitterness hitting at the start. Available in limited supply beginning Monday Feb. 12. – Loren Green
Orchard Pear MC by Town Hall | Minneapolis
This mixed culture ale was fermented with Michigan pears. Pouring a vibrant yellow, it’s a fizzy Brettanomyces and Saccharomyces sour that is funky, citrusy, tart, crisp, and fruity – all at the same time (6.3% ABV). The recurring theme in the three varied beers here is nuance and complexity that finds a sum of many different flavors combining. Orchard Pear MC is both tart and juicy, with balanced funk that doesn’t overpower, but instead compliments the bigger pear and citrus elements. Recommended if you like white wine, but want more carbonation. It’s fruit-forward (primarily pair and lemon-orange), but still with a constrained earthy “beer” character. – Loren Green