Braxton Brewing Company made their way down to Louisville, Kentucky this month to enter the “Derby City Brewfest” with a barrel aged version of their Lumber Scotch Ale managed to pull out a big win for Best in Show up against some really great offerings from breweries such as: Bluegrass Brewing Co, Against the Grain, Akasha, Alltech, Country Boy, Ei8ht Ball, Ethereal Brewing, Flat 12 Bierwerks, Goodwood, New Albanian, Tin Man, West Sixth and many more.
The brewery isn’t a stranger to winning awards, head brewer Evan Rouse has been bringing home awards for his beers since well before he could legally drink them in public, and the brewery took home a few (3) medals in their first year at the Alltech Commonwealth cup. But as the brewery starts to really find it’s footing around the region, it’s fantastic to see their name splashed up on any headline.
So, Barrel Aged Lumber?
The competition was based around Four Roses Bourbon, and all the entrants used Four Roses barrels to make a unique offering to be entered in the festival. Braxton entered a barrel aged version of their Scotch Ale called ‘Lumber’. This member of the Braxton ‘Garage Series’ is a fantastic salute to the power of malt. It uses it’s big malty body to support it’s big ABV numbers. The flavor profile is full of smokey earthy qualities that a nice rest in a Four Roses Bourbon barrel would fit very nicely into.
I reached out to the brewery to ask about the beer, with some simple questions like – How can I drink this? And the brewery is currently working on finalizing the details, but have said that it will be available in a public release later this year. This is after all a very limited creation. But from what I’m hearing, it’s pretty freaking delicious!
So… hit them up and offer your congrats for this big win! While you’re at it… pester them a little bit about getting it on tap for us to try! There’s a rumor going that there are a few wine barrels of a certain Saison that I’ve been itching to get my greedy little hands on as well…