ShipWreck Porter

When our friends and neighbors at Brinley shipped us the barrels used to make their Brinley Gold Shipwreck Rum from their distillery on St. Kitts, we were given the opportunity to create a beer that would take advantage of wood rather than the other way around. We looked to coax complexity out of the marriage of a barrel’s soul and a brew’s potential, not just to bomb a huge beer with huge flavor. The rum that lives in these barrels for four years integrates its spice to the wood so well that it ends up reminiscent of a Bananas Foster. A sturdy brown honey porter seemed the best host to receive the ghosts from Shipwreck’s old home. We started with a base of deep malts looking for notes of coffee and chocolate, then enhanced them with the floral bouquet of local wildflower honey and the preservative strength of 10% ABV while keeping the body sensible. This was put in the casks to meld with the vanilla, wood, and spice notes, toned down by the oxidative effect of a year in the cellar. Drink Shipwreck Porter because a barrel should be so much more than a depth charge.