Minneapolis, Minnesota – Barrel-Aged Oat Wine or BAOW, is an updated take on an old favorite. Roughly based on the recipe of Surly Eight, BAOW add some tweaks and a hell of a lot of oats for a highly drinkable beer that still packs a punch. Surly turned the floor over to Surly Head Brewer Ben Smith for more insight on their newest release.
Is Surly Eight a major influence or more of a launching point to a pretty different thing?
“Surly Eight was a definite influence for this beer. But we wanted to revisit the style with some tweaks make this beer a bit more approachable. BAOW drinks surprisingly smooth for a higher-ABV, barrel aged beer. It has wonderful notes of vanilla, marshmallow, and citrus with a light, silky smooth mouthfeel from the oats. You get more booze/rye on the aroma than in the beer, which I appreciate – some spirit barrel aged beers are all booze, with not real complexity in the drinking experience. Here, I find you get a lot of malt and oat flavor and nice subtleties from the spirits/wood, without overwhelming the base beer.
MALT – 2-Row, Oat Malt, Biscuit Malt, Acidulated Malt, Rolled Oats and Simpson’s Golden Naked Oats
HOPS – Warrior
ABV: 9.6%
About Surly Brewing Co.
You do enough settling. That’s part of life. You owe it to yourself to drink a beer that doesn’t settle. Not settling drives Surly. It’s what drove us to convert a Brooklyn Center abrasives factory to a brewery in 2004. It’s what drove Surly’s owner, Omar Ansari, to go bar to bar, asking them to carry our beer. It’s what drove us to earn medals from the Great American Beer Festival and Best Brewery in America honors. It’s what drove us to change a Minnesota law that had been on the books since Prohibition. It’s what drove us to build a state-of-the-art destination brewery in the heart of the Twin Cities in 2014 featuring a massive beer hall, outdoor beer garden, event center and Surly Pizza Upstairs. And it’s what drives us today. Surly’s not for everyone. It’s for you. Don’t settle. Get Surly