Barrel-Aged Beer Advent Calendar Day #8: Gigantic Brewing Massive!
Breweries are all about variants on big, rich, heavy, intense beers like barleywine's these days, Gigantic Brewing is no different. This years iteration of their annual release MASSIVE! Bourbon barrel-aged barleywine has seven different versions, each from different barrels.
MASSIVE! is different than other barleywines which typically are loaded with malts and hops and enough sugar to ferment to a very high gravity. Gigantic instead just makes a regular base beer using Sagit Valley Pilot Pale malt that would usually result in a light bodied and colored beer. They tae the resulting liquid wort and then boil it for an incredible eight hours before cooling for fermentation. By boiling for 480 minutes instead of the typical 60-90, the wort is concentrated and carmelized and brings about a deep ruby color and more intense rich flavors. MASSIVE's
The standard Bourbon Barrel Aged MASSIVE went to sleep for a year in Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve Bourbon Barrels. This years variants have the same label but are marked with a sticker on the cap to denote what alternate they are.
2019 Small Batch Barrel Varietals are very limited and are marked by a sticker over each cap with the year and the barrel. This years single barrel varietals of MASSIVE are Scotch barrel, Mezcal, Maple Syrup, Cognac, Port, and Rye whiskey.
