• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Everything you need to know about Founders Brewing’s barrel-aging program

February 2, 2017Keith Gribbins

Founders Brewing Co. is celebrating its barrel-aging history for its 20th-anniversary year. The Grand-Rapids, Mich.-based brewing brand is in the process of releasing a new barrel-aged series along with the stellar video above (so dig that downtempo soundtrack). At the end of last year, Founders announced the launch of a brand-new series, the fittingly named Barrel-Aged Series, that honors a program responsible for the hugely popular KBS brand. Throughout the year, they will be releasing six different barreled-aged beers, including KBS in April and Backwoods Bastard in November. In honor of this year of barrel-aging (instead of the rooster), we reached out to Francesca Jasinski, PR and communications assistant for Founders Brewing Co., and asked her to pass along a list of important factoids about Founders barrel-aging program. Here’s what she dug up:

  • KBS was the first beer we barrel-aged back in 2002.
  • We store barrels in a cave that was at one time a gypsum mine. It’s located a short distance from our two brewing locations in downtown Grand Rapids and is about 90 feet underground.
  • Here is how the program came to be: Our Brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki was a big fan of bourbon and its characteristic flavors. The concept of aging beer in barrels certainly wasn’t new (it’s an ancient practice), but he wanted to try his hand at it. In 2001, we got our hands on two barrels, which we aged Breakfast Stout in. We liked the concept and the rich flavors the bourbon imparted on the beer, but we found the final product was a bit thin. The next year, we had double the number of barrels and had brewed an imperialized version of Breakfast Stout to age in them.
  • For the next few years, we kept doubling the number of barrels we had each year. In 2007, we hit 28 total barrels and ran out of space to store them. This is when we decided to move the aging operation underground to the caves, starting with a batch of Backwoods Bastard.
  • We taste each barrel that comes out of the caves prior to blending and packaging the beer. This can mean our brewers and quality folks are drinking hundreds of small samples in a morning… sounds fun, but definitely not an easy feat.
  • We recently opened a 190,000-square foot second brewing location in Grand Rapids that will focus on experimental and barrel-aged beer. We call it the “Barrel House.”
  • Our barrel-aging program continues to grow each year.

What about this Frootwood beer?

Frootwood is the first new beer to be released in the Barrel-Aged Series. It is a cherry ale aged in oak barrels that have previously held both bourbon and maple syrup. Frootwood will be available in some states as early as January, with remaining states seeing it by February. Founders released it in the taproom on Jan. 13, and it will have a suggested retail price of $14.99 for a 4-pack and $11.99 for a 750-mL bottle. The entire Barrel-Aged Series lineup will be offered in both 750-mL bottles and 4-packs of 12-ounce bottles.

Founders will announce the remaining three releases in the Barrel-Aged Series later in the year.

Watch: Founders Brewing shares tips for using a jockey box at beer events
Let’s learn about beer glassware in this Founders Brewing video
beer with aging barrels
This Bell’s Brewery video is an excellent explanation of barrel aging
barrel-aging insurance
Tröegs Brewing: Splinter Cellar is easily the best named barrel aging program ever

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Founders Brewing Backwoods Bastard (2017) :: Tasting Review says:
    November 28, 2017 at 3:27 pm

    […] was founded in 1997 and, in 2002, they started barrel aging. It began with only two barrels and the first thing they barrel aged was KBS (their April release this […]

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Beer rebrands continue: Ballast Point, Fremont, New Glory and Blue Point (also, enjoy some tips for your refresh)
  • Colorado Strong launches public awareness campaign to help independent breweries
  • Here’s a video recap of 2020 from Deep Ellum Brewing, complete with dubstep score
  • Malt maker Rahr purchases all of eco energy maker Koda

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Beer rebrands continue: Ballast Point, Fremont, New Glory and Blue Point (also, enjoy some tips for your refresh)
    January 21, 2021
  • virginia-beer-co-renovationHow Virginia Beer Co. used the shutdown to overhaul its facility (and keep people employed)
    January 19, 2021
  • Clean air, clean beer: New Ingersoll Rand oil-less reciprocating air compressors are ideal for breweries (aeration to canning)
    January 18, 2021
  • Non-alcoholic beer brand Athletic Brewing closes $17M+ in funding with famous backers, selects Crafted ERP, eyes big growth
    January 18, 2021
  • Watch: This awareness video on human trafficking from beer wholesaler Markstein Sales will move you to action
    January 14, 2021
  • Distribution updates: Massachusetts brewers celebrate franchise reform, Yuengling goes to Texas with Molson Coors and more from Bell’s, Stone and beyond
    January 14, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by