Beer Forum

Well I finally broke down and ordered one of these. I was wondering if anyone else has, are they of quality and is there a lot of bourbon character in them when they arrive?

http://www.woodinvillewhiskeyco.com/barrels/

Did you ever get your barrel? I was looking in to buying one as well.

yeah, it arrived in a timely manner with a large freshly dumped bourbon character. The wood is a little bit thinner than the vadai barrel I have but it is still of quality.

The Impaling Alers in Wa had a group of people that went in together and I think we bought a total of 18 barrels.
When I popped that bung there was still a big hit of bourbon
I threw a thai basil tripel (based on the recipe from the Bruery session podcast) in it for 10 days and I think it came out as the best beer I ever made. I brought 5 gallons of it to our next meeting and walked away with an empty corny.
There was a good amount of bourbon and american oak flavor with just 10 days in the barrel. I'll be interested to see how much flavor I get out from the next usage.

I think the asking price for the barrels was a bit steep but if you can get a bulk purchase they will give you a discount.

I was thinking of ordering a barrel online, but then someone pointed me in the direction of my local micro-distillery (or is it craft-distillery?) The barrels were cheaper and local, which also saved on shipping!

I paid 145 shipped, which i felt was reasonable. New barrels that size cost just as much or more and do not have any bourbon character in them. I don't know if there prices have gone up or not but it is worth it imo.