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Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co., the only brewstilling operation in Kentucky, has announced another in-house, goes both ways crossover between their bourbon and their beer: Town Branch Maple Barrel Stout Finished Bourbon and Kentucky Maple Barrel Imperial Stout are now available nationwide in limited quantities.
In late 2021, the brewery made its first release of Kentucky Maple Barrel Imperial Stout after 18-months of aging in barrels that had previously held Kentucky bourbon whiskey and then maple syrup as a second fill. This first release of the award–winning beer inspired a multi-year commission of several releases to come between beer and spirits in pursuance of the Life of the Barrel.
After decanting the inaugural batch of Kentucky Maple Barrel Imperial Stout barrels, they were quickly allocated to the distillery production team and re-filled with Town Branch Bourbon to let those barrels finish, achieving flavors of the beer alongside traditional flavors of bourbon. The blending team at Town Branch Distillery acknowledges that “Not all ex-beer barrels work for finishing bourbon, but something like a big 12% abv Imperial Maple Stout was too good to pass up the opportunity to try, especially from our own brewing team.”
Over a year later in September 2022, the first release of Town Branch Maple Barrel Stout Finished Bourbon saw about half the barrels blended and released in tandem with the second release of Kentucky Maple Barrel Imperial Stout in honor of National Bourbon Heritage Month. The result, a distinctly finished Bourbon where flavors of beer-meets-bourbon collide, all the while building upon the DNA of all the products to rest within the Life of the Barrel. The remaining bourbon barrels not emptied would continue their finishing journey for an extended period.
What’s next? – with a handful of bourbon barrels still resting in the projects original ex- Kentucky Maple Barrel Imperial Stout barrels and scheduled to be released in 2024 with over 3-years finishing time, the brewery has also already laid down another brew to align for release.
