At Odell Brewing Co. we are very selective about every ingredient that goes into each and every beer we produce, and this even extends to the barrels we hand select for our barrel aged projects. Because of this Brent, Doug and myself headed to Kentucky to get a better understanding of the barrels we use for our single serve offerings. Specifically, we went in search of the best bourbon barrels for our next Bourbon Barrel Stout and we planned on paying a visit to Canton Cooperage, producers of our virgin Woodcut barrels.
I am sure many of you fellow craft beer lovers have watched the recent video from the Brewers Association regarding ‘At Home Craft Beer Tasting.’ I could not agree more with what can be gained by having friends over and tasting unique craft beers, especially when paired with delicious craft foods. The new experiences had while savoring craft beer with friends during an ‘at home beer dinner’ are what inspired us to do these in the first place. The write-ups associated with each one we are hosting are to help inspire all of you, whether full Cicerones or just recent graduates into the inspired world of craft beer, with new ideas to try in your home with your friends and our passionately brewed offerings. Most importantly for us here at Odell Brewing is the fun of savoring and dining with friends. For this meal we stripped away any possibility of the “pretentia” that could be associated with craft beer dinners and served up a big ol’ pot of Gumbo paired with our India Barleywine, followed by an old family recipe for Peanut Butta Pie paired with our Bourban Barrel Stout. As always I have provided background for our inspired pairings along with the full recipes, including preparation notes and pairing notes, and some visual imagery. So find the largest stockpot you can (or borrow a kettle from a friend that homebrews) and invite your friends and family over for a pre-holiday pairing of Odell Brewing Co. India Barleywine and Gumbo!
All of our 750 ml corked and caged bottle beers are 100% bottle conditioned. This means we add fresh, active yeast to the bottles along with some unfermented sugars to allow the beers to go through a secondary fermentation within the bottle. The beer is flat when bottled and over a period of several weeks the yeast ferments the sugars producing carbon dioxide within the bottle, giving the finished beer it.