ThirstyBear Hosts Vertical Tasting Featuring CELLAR SERIES BARLEYWINES

Initially becoming prevalent during 19th Century England when strong ales were brewed to "the strength of wine" (10-12% ABV), Barleywine was first coined on a beer label by The Bass brewery (1870). The CELLAR SERIES: BARLEYWINE 2013 emulates an English style rather than its American counterpart; the latter embracing a hoppier and darker profile. ThirstyBear utilizes a large portion of British Pale Malt with a bit of Biscuit Malt to provide a toasty, bready character.

"My interest in U.S. craft beers grew out of my love of English ales and my respect for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)," says ThirstyBear’s Founding Brewmaster Ron Silberstein. "CAMRA is credited with saving from extinction traditional English cask conditioned ales served on a hand pump. Barleywine was an extension of my rediscovery of taste and tradition. Thus, on of the first beer programs I started at ThirstyBear in winter of 1996 was to brew a series of Barleywines – now a fixture of our Cellar Series – and aging them until the following winter."

ThirstyBear’s brewmaster Brenden Dobel’s brewing starts with packing the mash tun to almost overflowing, providing as much malt sugar (wort) as possible. He then collects the first runnings, and with as little mash rinsing as possible, creates a rich wort in the kettle. This wort is boiled extensively to further concentrate the sweet liquid, and then generously hopped to provide the perfect hop bitterness to balance the full-bodied malt character.

CELLAR SERIES: BARLEYWINE 2013 debuts on Black Friday and will be available throughout the remainder of the year exclusively at ThirstyBear.