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Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Beer
Limited Edition 2006
7.2% abv
£1.99
For this special release of Innis & Gunn, the brewers have used a more heavily roasted barley as well as Slovenian hops to add some zest. The beer was filled into ex-bourbon American oak casks and matured for 107 days. After emptying the casks, the brewers decided that it could use more time to marry and develop more carbonation so they laid it down to mature in casks for an additional 47 days. That's 154 days of maturation... Expect some oak-influenced beer!
All Innis & Gunn beers tasted in this Malt Mission can be found HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Good initial fizzy head that vanishes quickly. Smells of Danish or German rye bread. Sweetish. Vanilla tea. Dark chocolate.
Sweet and heavy, molasses, almost oily mouthfeel. Full bodied like Shiraz. Carob. Oaky and quite fruity. A lingering hoppiness that encourages filling your mouth with the stuff again and again. "The extra alcohol content actually makes this easier to drink" Svein
SUMMARY:
Peculiar, but satisfying. One is plenty, and you almost need a beer afterwards.
"A pleasant beer, even as a dessert. Excellent to put in a sponge cake" - Svein Knudsen
"Nei, not sweet enough for a sponge cake" - Elisabeth Knudsen
Malt Mission #115
Malt Mission #117 Malt Mission #118
Malt Mission #119
Malt Mission #120
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Innis and Gunn Cask Strength
Oak Aged Beer
7.7%
£1.99
Back at Malt Mission 77 I tasted the original Innis & Gunn beer. Please see that post for more brewery details cuz I want to get right down to business. Today we will have the Innis&Gunn Cask Strength oak aged beer to start what will likely be the first of two Speyside-themed weeks.
This release is taken from select casks that reached a higher abv than normal after 77 days of cask maturation. The original release is 6.6% and this stuff comes in at 7.7%
Obviously, using the maturation emphasis and terms like 'cask-strength', the brewers are trying to appeal to whisky drinkers. The box certainly verifies this. Not just marketing though, Innis and Gunn has released some gorgeous award-winning beers.
TASTING NOTES:
Woody and kind of grapey. Bready sweetness, toffee. Very appetizing.
Big and rich, crazy smooth. Malt, molasses, and a slight toasty smokiness. Raisin bran? Chocolate covered raisins in a bag of warm popcorn. Almonds. Nothing that gives away the high alcohol strength, but shares the flavour combinations often found in whisky: oak, toffee, malt... and more.
SUMMARY:
I like beer. And I like this beer. Amazing how the adedd kick goes unnoticed. No, wait.. . i'M nociting it n ow.
Malt Mission #110
Malt Mission #112
Malt Mission #113
Malt Mission #114
Malt Mission #115
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Innis & Gunn
Oak Aged Beer
6.6% abv
£1.50
$3.25(CAD)
Yeah, I know: Why beer? Well, this week we are doing things a bit differently, but it will all make sense soon enough...
If you are reading this then you are probably aware that essentially, whisky is distilled beer. In most cases, it is a beer you wouldn't really want to drink. And while there are several examples of whisky-tinged beer (Nussdorfer Old Whisky Bier, Tullibardine/Bridge of Allan's 1488 Whisky Ale, to name just two), beer-tinged whisky is a new phenomenon. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's start with Innis & Gunn, Supreme Champion at the 2004 International Beer Competition.
In 2001, William Grant and Sons (Glenfiddich, Balvenie, etc.) were experimenting with ale-cask finished whisky with the help of Russell, and his son Dougal Sharp at Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The task was to create a malty beer that would 'season' the ex-bourbon barrels for whisky 'finishing'. This unique, malty beer was to be filled into the casks where it would rest for 30 days, imparting flavours to the wood, then dumped and replaced by whisky.
Within a year, Grant's Ale Cask Reserve (we'll taste it tomorrow) was a great success, but the real surprise was yet to come. Workers at the filling plant had apparently been tasting the beer before dumping it and finding it to be absolutely delicious. Proud of their little secret and unable to watch another drop of this blessed nectar go to waste, they confessed tasting the beer and made the higher-ups aware that this beer had taken on amazing characteristics from the casks and should be enjoyed in its own right.
In 2002, the beer was named Innis and Gunn after the middle names of Dougal and his brother, Neil. The beer is slowly fermented, put into cask for 30 days, then vatted together with the beer from other casks in a marrying tun for up to 77 days. Today, after years of growing success, increased production, and special vintage releases (2004, 2005, 2006), Innis & Gunn is still making drinkers happy across the world. Except for when the LCBO sells out and my uncle gets sad. Very, very sad.
TASTING NOTES:
Creamy nose, malt and hot fudge. Biscuity, lemony, Hob Nobs.
Full and soft, faint hops, butter, sugar and milk flavour. Pancakes.
SUMMARY:
Obviously, I am not really a beer taster. I probably ignored important things like head or carbonation, but I am Dr. Whisky, not Professor Beer. Very tasty stuff and GREAT with roast foods, like turkey or chicken. In my experience, this beer performs quite differently at different temperatures. The bottle reads 'serve chilled', but I would lean more towards 'cool' than 'cold'.
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Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Beer 
