Brewery – Listermann/Triple Digit
Beer – Barrel Aged Chickow
Style – Bourbon Barrel Aged Hazelnut Brown Ale
ABV – 10%

Ale Brewed with hazelnuts with natural flavors added and aged in bourbon barrels.

Leave it to Listermann/Triple Digit to take a big sweet beer like Chickow and stuff it into bourbon barrels.  And we should thank them that they did too, as the resulting beer is really great.  In fact, barrel aged Chickow! has amassed quite the collection of awards from different festivals to prove it’s might.  To date it’s won a silver medal, a couple gold medals, and the big one – a best of show medal from 2016’s Festival of Barrel Aged Beer that is held in Chicago.

Chickow! seems to be one of those beers that people tend to love or hate, with little room for other people in the middle. (You can read about the regular version of Chickow over here). What I find fun is that you don’t see that with the barrel aged version… it seems like the far and wide majority of people are fans of this one, even a lot of the same people who are Chickow haters.

Why? Because it’s damn good…that’s why.

My Thoughts On Triple Digit’s Barrel Aged Chickow!

There is a big bourbon barrel aroma that sits front and center with this beer, though a chocolatey, nutty note is heavily present as well – there is certainly no mistaking which beer this is that spent it’s time in the barrel.

The flavor is a powerhouse of deep flavors.  There is a big and filling taste of hazelnut and sweet bourbon flavor that dominate the taste, but a really nice mellow warming finish has some notes of toast and vanilla.

This beer is the real deal, and a really great example of how you can have a recipe that almost seems like it was destined for barrel aging.