The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Keeping focus on barrel-aged beer
UTICA, N.Y. >> A Central New York brewery is keeping barrel-aging at the forefront of its operation.
Woodland Farm Brewery, now in its fourth year, has had a focus on the barrel-aging process since its inception, utilizing used barrels from distilleries, wineries, and barrels from Adirondack Barrel Cooperage in Remsen. Their collection of spirits barrels from various distilleries includes NYS bourbon, NYS rye whiskey, NYS gin, Kentucky bourbon, apple brandy, and peach brandy. As their barrel collection has grown, they have been able to focus on long-term aging and are now producing barrelaged beer with no less than 12 months in barrels and in many cases 2-3 years. While space in a brewery can be tight, Woodland finds the real estate for barrels to be worth it for the process of producing high quality beer.
For hundreds of years, wood was the primary vessel for storing and transporting beer, which would naturally impart wood flavors into beer. Barrels would be costly and therefore reused time and time again with the wood flavors becoming less and less apparent. Over the last 100 years, metal kegs have replaced wood, and science that led to the isolation of yeast and bacteria strains has led to cleaner fermentation profiles. However, many craft breweries still use the wood-aging process to add nuance to beer.
Modern American brewers typically use wood for aging beer. During the aging process, beer picks up oak flavors, which differ depending on the level of char fromthe cooperage, flavors of the previous contents such as wine, and unique flavors due to the maturation of the beer itself. Aging for under 6 months will offer a slightly lighter taste, while styles of beer that are aged for a year or more will carry deeper flavors. Not all styles benefit from this process, such as lagers, which are meant to be consumed in a shorter period of time.
In 2018,Woodland was recognized at Tap New York Craft Beer and Food Festival, where they received a gold medal for Oak Woden, an English old ale aged 15 months in an oak barrel from Adirondack Barrel Cooperage. Most recently, Woodland earned a bronze medal in the US Open Beer Competition, which received more than 7,000 entries in 130 categories. Their Rye Batch 3 received a medal in the barrelaged Strong Scotch Ale category. They also won a silver medal in the same competition for another beer, Busier Than Hell. Rye Batch 3 was this year’s anniversary beer released in January after spending 12 months in a rye whiskey barrel from Black Button Distilling, Rochester. The very first beer brewed at the facility was a scotch ale named Batch 1, and in honor of that brew a new variation is brewed every fall with portions of it aged in barrels to be released for the next anniversary. Currently, Batch 4 sits in used NYS bourbon, rye whiskey, and red wine barrels awaiting next January’s celebration.
On Aug. 3 as an experiment in maturation of beer, Woodland will also be re-releasing a couple beers from their cellar collection that were there first barrel-aged beers bottled in August of 2016. Oak LB Lives is an English style barleywine and Oak No Treason is a traditional German-style Ad-ambier. A limited amount of bottles will be available once again and on draft.
Woodland Farm Brewery is located at 6002 Trenton Road, Utica. They can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagramat@woodlandbeer.