Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

5 Fine Barrel-Aged Craft Beers To Drink Now

As you shift from light lagers and fresh hop IPAs to darker, fuller options, keep barrel-aged beers in mind. These cellared beers offer robust flavor profiles and complexity on par with some of the great wines of the world. Better still, barrel-aged beers are idyllic sippers for cooler evenings. 

What exactly is a barrel-aged beer? Well, a beer that has spent some time in a barrel. Several cozy months (or years) in a wood vessel marries flavors and creates a kind of dynamic synergy most beers lack. The alcohol content tends to be a bit higher and the beer styles themselves are a bit darker and stronger and therefore able to withstand the effects of a barrel.

Recommended Videos

Any brewer can throw a stout in some French oak for a spell and bottle something palatable. As a result, there are a lot of beers floating about in this esteemed category. Yet, the following barrel-aged craft beers are especially tasty, with their lingering, detailed flavors and involved enough personalities you’ll want to pour them into a bulbous glass so you can really take the whole thing in.

Deschutes Abyss

Deschutes Abyss Beer Bottle Shot
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This annual release from Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery is reliably delicious. It’s a decadent imperial stout, with rich layers of anise and molasses and a subtle hoppy component. The latest installment deftly blends nugget, cascade, and delta hops with a smooth and chocolatey malt bill. At 11% ABV, it’ll send you right off to sleep.

Modern Times City of the Dead

Modern Times City of the Dead Bottle Shot
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Acclaimed California brewery Modern Times is always up to something delicious. This barrel-aged stout with coffee is exactly that, aged in bourbon barrels for extra roundness. It’s a thick number you can practically cut with a knife. We suggest letting it breathe for a few minutes so you can enjoy all of the nuance at play.

Learn More

Prairie Artisan Abraxas

Prairie Artisan Ales Logo
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This special release from Oklahoma City’s Prairie Artisan is eagerly anticipated every year. The recipe typically changes year to year but often involves creative accents like ancho chiles or cinnamon sticks. It’s aged over a year and offers a silky-smooth texture and ceaseless finish. Treat it like a wine, though, as it tends to be very high octane (13% ABV or thereabouts).

Learn More

Great Lakes Imperial Smoked Porter

Great Lakes Imperial Porter Pour
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This Cleveland-made brew is crafted with muscovado, affording it a nice raw, brown sugar quality. The smokiness is dialed in and goes great with the malt profile. Unsurprisingly, the beer fares well with gamey foods and pretty much anything off the smoker. Presently, it’s a tough one to get your paws on as it’s a pub-only beer but perhaps with increased popularity, a bottled version will come to fruition.

Learn More

Upland Brewing Cherry Sour

Upland Cherry Sour Beer Bottle Shot
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There are a lot of stouts that go to barrel but the category is not solely attached to this particular style. Upland Brewing makes a whole family of great barrel-aged sours, including this delightful fruit ale made with cherry. The tart cherries come in from a local farm in Michigan and lead to a beer that’s bright, dry, and pleasantly fruity. The use of a lambic-style yeast gives it a fetching Belgian quality, especially aromatically.

Learn More

Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
This Oktoberfest season, you should be drinking wheat beer
Germany's beloved style, known as liquid bread, deserves your attention
Weissbier Glass wheat beer nuts

With all the focus in the craft beer world on IPAs, it can be easy to overlook the many other styles of beer that are worth trying as well. As well roll into Oktoberfest season, let me introduce you to one of Germany's finest beer styles: the wheat beer.

Also known as weissbier, hefeweizen, or sometimes just weizen, this rich, cloudy beer is most distinctive for its texture. It's thick, almost chewy, and while its hazy characteristics will be familiar to those who enjoy a hazy IPA, the flavors are quite different. It doesn't have a strong bitterness to it -- rather it's a balanced, grainy flavor with plenty of yeast to add a slight tang and a banana-like note. It's less sweet than Belgian-style witbiers, but it has a similar creaminess. It's jokingly referred to as liquid bread, and that's just the taste you should expect from it.

Read more
9 best fall beers and autumnal releases to drink this year
Pumpkin brews, Oktoberfest ales, and a few more to celebrate the season
Mug of beer outside on a table

Now that we’re well into August, it’s OK to start looking toward fall. Fear not, you still have time for days spent lounging on an inner tube in a lake or pond. But autumn is coming and there’s no way you can stop it even if you cover yourself with more SPF than is remotely healthy and attempt to hide under a dock or beneath a pool floatie.

Don’t worry though, it’s not so bad. The return of the autumnal season means that you’ll soon be imbibing fall beers. It’s a great season to be a beer fan as you have your pick of Oktoberfest-style beers, pumpkin ales, brown ales, Vienna lagers, and all manner of bolder, richer, maltier brews. Keep reading to see our list of the best fall beers.
The best fall beers for your favorite autumn activities

Read more
Craft beer stalwarts Sierra Nevada are teaming up with Omnipollo
The breweries are working together to create a Hazy Day IPA
sierra nevada omnipollo hazy ipa hid 02

Sierra Nevada is for many people the original craft beer, the one that showed them that beer can be more exciting than a plain old lager. And now this venerable institution is teaming up with up and coming stars on the craft beer scene, Omnipollo. The two are working together on a hazy IPA ready for Sierra Nevada's self-made Hazy IPA Day holiday on August 15.

The two brewers have created Hazy Day IPA, a rich and juicy IPA with a hefty 8.2% abv and flavors of citrus, pineapple, and orange candy. Hazy IPAs were a huge trend for a while but have been no so celebrated of late, so it's nice to see two brewers embracing this style which has the easy to drink qualities that make it accessible but also the robust bitter flavors that IPA enthusiasts look for.

Read more