Craft Beer & Brewing Course
Barrel-Aging & Blending Big Beers with Firestone Walker
Firestone Walker’s Eric Ponce shares advice and lays out the careful process behind the brewery’s barrel-aged and blended blockbusters such as Parabola and Anniversary Ale.
5 chapters · 19 lessons · 58m
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Your instructor
Eric Ponce
Barrel Manager, Firestone Walker
Eric Ponce has led two of the country’s biggest and best-regarded barrel programs, first at Goose Island in Chicago and now—for the past five years—at Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, California. There he oversees the aging and blending of such heavyweights as Parabola, Bravo, Velvet Merkin, and their annual Anniversary Ale, as well as a fascinating series of cocktail-inspired blends composed of beers aged in various spirit barrels.
Course contents
5 chapters, 19 lessons, 58m of video
Chapter 1
Welcome
- Meet the Instructor: Eric Ponce3:21
- About Firestone Walker’s Barrel-Aging Program6:06
- Barrel-Aging, According to the Oxford Companion to Beer
- Neil Fisher of WeldWerks on Barrel-Aging for Homebrewers
Chapter 2
Intention & Recipe Design
- Designing Barrel-Aged Beers16:05
- Michael Kane of Kane Brewing on Barrel-Aging Award-Winning Stout
Chapter 3
Working with Barrels & Barrel-Aged Beer
- Sourcing & Processing Barrels, and Aging Times9:14
- Prepping Used Barrels for Aging Beer
- Blending Parabola1:33
- Discovering the Unexpected1:46
- Emptying Barrels, Testing & Tasting5:31
Chapter 4
Flavor Adjuncts & Blending
- Selecting & Extracting Adjuncts: Recirculation Method & Blending7:13
- On the Barrel-Processing Floor6:18
Chapter 5
Conclusion, Recipes & Further Reading
- Thank You0:27
- Homebrewing Tips: Wood-Aging without a Barrel
- Neil Fisher on Brewing Beers Meant for Extended Aging
- Recipe: Kane Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
- Recipe: No Heart English-Style Barleywine
- Recipe: Private Press Base Imperial Stout
What students say
I loved stopping into the Paso tasting room and exploring the different BA beers. I'll have to visit again in a few weeks and refresh my memory. Great info on the process and recipe development behind their BA beers.