Braxton is really starting to make a name for themselves with their barrel aged beers as much as they are with their finely crafted lagers.  It’s exciting to see a brewery that has excitement in multiple sides of the beer spectrum.  Not to mention one and that also is turning out such consistently high quality and delicous stuff out of their barrels.

I could harp on how much they impress me, or how much I love what they are doing for a very long post, but I assume you’re here for the details more than that, so we should get to it.

Barrel Aged Snow Shovel

This winter warmer blew me away last year – I drank more than my fair share last winter.  The beer is a beautiful mix of ginger, cinnamon and local honey.  Heavy, warming, and full bodied, it’s a perfect addition to a chilly winter night.  But the crew at Braxton kicked it up a notch when they put 10 barrels of it last year away into some Rum barrels.

The label reads:

You’re holding a snow shovel.  A weather worn snow shovel.  It’s felt the frigid bite of winter and has seen it’s fair share of wear on 27 West 7th.  This aged winter warmer is daringly brewed for those who like to heat things up during the cold months.  Aged in Caribbean Rum barrels for over a year, this big malt forward ale brewed with ginger, cinnamon, and local honey gets you ready or whatever Jack Frost has in mind.

The beer clocks in at 11.4% ABV, and I can only anticipate that the sweet buttery notes from the rum barrels will only lift the spice flavors that the beer had before to a new level.

Can we also talk about the label design for a minute?  The label is die cut on the ends of it to show off a snow shovel on the back of the bottle when it wraps around.  It’s a really cool design, you might remember when Fifty West did something like it when they released Punch You In The EyePa (there’s was a VW Bus silhouette), I love it… and I can’t wait to see it in person!

When To Get It?

Make no mistake, you need to get this now.  Well, you need to preorder it now.  Braxton has pleased a lot of people with their bottle release process, opening up preorders on their website that can then be picked up during a set list of dates at the brewery.

This means you can jump on their website right now and buy your bottles, which will be available for pick up in the taproom starting this coming weekend, 11/5 – which conveniently just happens to be the date that we’ll be down at Braxton doing a live brewcast for the Big Cis charity event.  Do you see how these pieces are all starting to add up?