Houston - Hay Merchant taps its own barrel-aged beers

[Banjo]

Hay Merchant taps its own barrel-aged beers
http://blog.chron.com/beertx/2013/01...el-aged-beers/

Hay Merchant on Sunday will tap the first of its house-barrel-aged beers.

The Westheimer beer bar announced this week:

If you’ve visited The Hay Merchant in the last few months, you’ve walked right by the two big barrels stationed at the entrance. What you might not have noticed is that these barrels were the temporary home of Hay Merchant’s very first in-house barrel-aged beers. Sunday, January 6, at 11:00 AM, Hay Merchant will be tapping the first of these two kegs, a Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrel we’ve filled with Troubadour Imperial Stout, adding an unmistakable note of booze and a nice complexity hinting of chocolate and rich vanilla.

The following Sunday, Jan. 13, Hay Merchant will tap the other beer, this one a Merlot barrel from Miner Family Vineyards of Napa Valley. That one, the announcement says, is “filled with Victory Golden Monkey, giving the beer a hint of barnyard funk and a note of oak vanilla.”

Both tappings will begin at 11 a.m. In addition to bar sales, the beers will be available for sale in 32-ounce half-growlers.

The release also quotes Hay Merchant owner Kevin Floyd on the big question of why:

We’re excited to add in-house barrel-aged brews to the offerings at Hay Merchant. These two brews are very different from one another, but both reflect the great range of beers we have, as well as some of our favorite wine and liquor creators.

DETAILS

What: Special tapping of Troubadour imperial stout aged in a Buffalo Trace bourbon barrel.
Where: Hay Merchant, 1100 Westheimer
When: 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 6
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