Dave and I were invited to go down to San Diego for the Stone Sourfest by our good friend and fellow craft beer geek, Jason Henry. Every year he coordinates an amazing weekend in his parent’s lovely abode overlooking the hills in sunny San Diego. The first night, Jason and his friend Chris Madore (aka Cloudskipper) put together an absolutely incredible barrel-aged beer tasting. Be fore warned: reading the rest of this posting will make you drool and extremely jealous.
We tried a ton of different incredibly rare beers (not in this order):
1-Three Floyds Pappy Van Winkle Dark Lord. 15% abv. Only 484 bottles produced. Imperial stout aged in 23 year old Pappy barrel. This tatsed like sweet caramel, vanilla syrup, sticky buns and a bit of a hot burn. It was a lot sweeter than the Goose Island Bourbon County Rare.
2-Three Floyds Brandy Barrel Aged Dark Lord with vanilla beans. 15% abv. Only 433 bottles produced. Imperial stout aged in brandy barrels. This tasted like sweet raisins, vanilla, chewy fig newtons and apples.
3-
Hair of the Dog Matt Bottleworks X. 12.5% abv. Bottleworks 10th Anniversary beer. Bourbon and apple eau de vie barrel strong ale with smoked malt and candi sugar. This tasted like vanilla, cola, peat and candied malt with a slight touch of band aid.
4-Cisco Dark Woods. 7.7% abv. Syrah and rum barrel sour ale with cranberries. This tasted like sour red wine, cranberries, bark and a super dry finnish.
5- Bullfrog Beekeeper. 7% abv. Cabernet barrel aged sour saison. Sour, tart, slight berry, pomegranate and tons of funk. This was one of my top favorites of the evening.

6- Goose Island Bourbon County Rare. 13% abv. Imperial stout in 23 year Papy Van Winkle barrels. Vanilla, bourbon, vanilla, smooth chocolate. Excellent.
7-Captain Lawrence Chardonnay Barrel Tripel. 10% abv. Belgian tripel. Two cases produced for employees only. Muscat, black tea, Chardonnay, sour tea and funk.
8- Russian River Toronado 20th. 10.4% abv. Blended sour. Barnyard, slight lemon, sour tart funk.
9- Oakshire Hellshire I. 10% abv. Bourbon barrel barleywine. Juniper berries, overly bitter and not drinkable.
10- Southampton Vic. 7.2% abv. Only 240 bottles produced. Red wine barrel porter with brett.
11- Southampton Hommage. Only 240 bottles produced. Red wine barrel aged Belgian ale with brett. Tart, brett, oak, barnyard funk and grapes.
12- Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell. 9.5% abv. Bourbon barrel barleywine. Bourbon, vanilla, soda-like. You can smell the alcohol. It smells like headache.
13- Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barrel 4th Dementia. 11% abv. Old ale. Bourbon, hops, caramel and raisins. Smooth.
14- Russian River Framboise for a Cure. 5.9% abv. 100% proceeds to breast cancer research. Spontaneously fermented sour ale with raspberries. Sour frozen raspberries, tart funk and more sour.

15- New Belgium Twisted Spoke 15th Anniversary. 7% abv. Sour blend aged in apple whiskey barrels. Sour apple, tart and funky. It seems like a lighter body version of La Folie.
16- Cambridge Brewing Double Happiness. 10.4% abv. Sour lychee beer aged in Chardonnay barrels. Smells like fun dip! Sweet tart, oak, sweet, leaves a bad aftertaste. The nose is much better than the taste.
17- Nebraska Brewing Melange a Trois. 10.2% abv. 2010 GABF Bronze, wood and barrel-aged category. Chardonnay barrel Belgian strong.
18- Midnight Sun Open Container. 6% abv. Brewed for City Beer’s 5th Anniversary project. Chardonnay barrel aged spontaneously fermented sour ale. Fabulous nose. Apricots, peaches, Chardonnay. It tastes like Haribo Gummy Peaches!
19- Smuttynose Ry(e)An Ale. 8% abv. Brewed exclusively for Julio’s Liquors. Rye and bourbon barrel aged strong ale (Sazerac, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses). Bourbon, vanilla, slightly sweet with a touch of hops. A little light ending but pretty fantastic.
20- Cantillon Blabaer 2007. 5% abv. Lambic with blueberries. Sour, tart blueberries, funk barnyard. Delish.
21- Jackie O’s Bourbon Barrel Dark Apparition. 12% abv. Woodford Reserve barrel Imperial stout. Bourbon, vanilla, roasted malt, touch of espresso.
22- Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze Selectie C (vintage 2000). 6% abv. Japan-only blend from Armand’s ‘most sour’ barrels back to 1997. AMAZING. Tart, lemon, barnyard funk and more sour tart.
23- Russian River Oaked Damnation Batch 23. 11% abv. Oak chipped tripel. Oak, caramel, stewed raisins and barnyard funk.
24- Fifty Fifty Rouge Baril Baltique. 6.8% abv. Brewed for City Beer’s 5th Anniversary project. French oak cabernet sauvignon barrel aged Baltic porter. Cola, bitter chocolate, touch of spicy hops, bitter espresso and burnt malt.
25-Eden Ice Cider Northern Spy. 10% abv. French oak barrel aged single varietal ice cider. Apple cider, apple sauce, minerals.
26- Bruery Bottleworks XII. 8% abv. Bottleworks 12th Anniversary beer. Sour mash imperial witbier aged in red wine barrels with raspberries. Sour funk mixed with Belgian banana, tart barnyard, funky-cold-madina.
27-McKenzie Saison Vautour du Bois (sour version). 6.5% abv. Only 372 bottles produced. Sour, bitter hops in the back of your throat, bark and more dry bitter hops.
28-Upright Sole Composition Special Herbs. 6% abv. Only 166 bottles produced. Gruit aged in Old Tom gin barrels. Sour green apples, tart, touch of Juniper berries on the finnish and sharp bitterness.
29- Hangar 24 Barrel Roll Series Immelmann BA Porter. 10.6% abv. Bourbon barrel imperial porter with cocoa nibs and vanilla bean. Vanilla, cocoa nibs, a little light and then a touch of bourbon.
30- Russian River Craft Brewer’s Conference Symposium Sour Brown. 6.2% abv. Fermented with Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss yeast and aged in Fritz Maytag’s red wine barrels. Sour,a touch flat, a touch raisins. Not great.
31- Nebraska Brewing Reserve Barrel Aged Hop God. 10.1% abv. Chardonnay barrel aged Belgian IPA. Chardonnay, sweet grapes, touch of pine hops. Not too smooth and incredibly bitter.
32- De La Senne Wadesda #1. 8.5% abv. Jambe de Boise triple blended with Cantillon lambic. Sour lambic, touch of lemon, grapes. VERY TASTY.
33- Jolly Pumpkin Bambic. 5.3% abv. Only 180 of the 750ml bottles produced. Blend of Bam Biere and lambicus. Sour, lemon tart, barnyard funk and creamy.
34- Bruery 100% barrel aged batch 1 Levud’s. 11% abv. First beer brewed by the Bruery. Bourbon barrel aged Belgian Golden. Bourbon, pear, slight starfruit, creamy sweet banana, caramel mixed with banana flambe.
35- Cascade Vlad the Imperial Ale. 10.6^ Ale aged in wine and bourbon oak barrels. Tart funk, grape, oak.
36- Paul Sangster‘s IPA Some like it very Hoppy. 380 IBU’s. Sweet hops, mango, pine, dry goodness very sweet.
37- Eric‘s Flander’s Red aged in Cabernet barrels. 6.5% abv. Sour, tart, red wine, slight funk.