Barrel aging has become commonplace at breweries of all sizes across the country. The trend started in the 1990s, when a few intrepid brewers began experimenting with aging stouts in bourbon barrels and received good reviews. Since then, the industry has been off to the races.
Today, most breweries have at least some barrels resting in a corner or stacked high. These can be aging any style of ales or lagers, although brewers still tend towards porter and stout or mixed-fermentation ales for wood turns.
Barrel use is so widespread that many brewers call them “the fifth ingredient” in fermentation. These barrels, which
