Innis & Gunn

[craigjm]

227bhp said:

It lacks the depth of taste that some have, especially the Belgian ones, but I had the Rum one last night, that was much better, almost like an Old Peculier.

Its beer they would have thrown away previously

[SD_1]

toon10 said:

Innis & Gunn Rum Finish is delightful. Our local Morrison's, one of the larger stores, stock it.

Interesting, is it not as widely available down in England?

Absolutely everywhere sells it in Scotland, all supermarkets and pretty much all corner shops. Usually around £1.60 a bottle. Aldi sell the original, toasted oak IPA, and the lager for £1.19 a bottle too.

I love the stuff, the rum cask one is my favourite. Tesco have started stocking an Irish whiskey cask "seasonal" one and it is bloody nice too.

[toon10]

SD_1 said:

Interesting, is it not as widely available down in England?

Absolutely everywhere sells it in Scotland, all supermarkets and pretty much all corner shops. Usually around £1.60 a bottle. Aldi sell the original, toasted oak IPA, and the lager for £1.19 a bottle too.

I love the stuff, the rum cask one is my favourite. Tesco have started stocking an Irish whiskey cask "seasonal" one and it is bloody nice too.

It's not too hard to find in England to be honest, I think I've seen the normal stuff (not the rum finish) in my local Asda but it's not as commonly stocked as Scotland. I normally drink Belgium craft beers or German Weiss bier but the rum finish never disappoints. Actually, two of the best beers I've ever had come from Austria and the USA strangely enough given the popularity of the weak chemical s41tstorm they seem to like over there.

[227bhp]

craigjm said:

227bhp said:

It lacks the depth of taste that some have, especially the Belgian ones, but I had the Rum one last night, that was much better, almost like an Old Peculier.

Its beer they would have thrown away previously

What?

[craigjm]

227bhp said:

craigjm said:

227bhp said:

It lacks the depth of taste that some have, especially the Belgian ones, but I had the Rum one last night, that was much better, almost like an Old Peculier.

Its beer they would have thrown away previously

What?

Innis and Gunn originates from the seasoning of whiskey casks for certain styles of whiskey which you do by filling them full of beer and sloshing it around and then leaving for a period of time to seal into the wood. The beer is usually then flushed away but some bright spark decided to taste it and realised there would be a market for it. It was the company behind Grants whiskey that started it. Since then they have been doing the same with used barrels and rum barrels etc just to diversify the brand.

[Evoluzione]

craigjm said:

227bhp said:

craigjm said:

227bhp said:

It lacks the depth of taste that some have, especially the Belgian ones, but I had the Rum one last night, that was much better, almost like an Old Peculier.

Its beer they would have thrown away previously

What?

Innis and Gunn originates from the seasoning of whiskey casks for certain styles of whiskey which you do by filling them full of beer and sloshing it around and then leaving for a period of time to seal into the wood. The beer is usually then flushed away but some bright spark decided to taste it and realised there would be a market for it. It was the company behind Grants whiskey that started it. Since then they have been doing the same with used barrels and rum barrels etc just to diversify the brand.

I think you may have that the wrong way round, you have to ask yourself, why use a valuable commodity like beer simply to seal up a barrel? Also at that initial point the barrel will have no Whiskey or Rum taint to it.
Whisky/Whiskey, Rum and wine use Oak, after a few seasons it's saturated and no longer does the job it was originally intended to. So the barrels are sold on to certain beer makers who carry on using them where of course they then impart flavour and colour to the beer with whatever was used in them before, this is how Old Peculier is produced.
Whilst this method is still used, like anything you can also introduce artificial flavouring in an attempt to copy it and make it cheaper, but to the connoisseur it's never the same.

[craigjm]

It isn't the wrong way round... The barrels were used for the distillation of grants cask ale reserve whiskey which, surprise surprise, is matured in casks seasoned with ale! You don't need the whiskey to give the beer it's taste. Where do you think the whiskey taste comes from in the first place??

[Evoluzione]

craigjm said:

It isn't the wrong way round... The barrels were used for the distillation of grants cask ale reserve whiskey which, surprise surprise, is matured in casks seasoned with ale! You don't need the whiskey to give the beer it's taste. Where do you think the whiskey taste comes from in the first place??

Sorry you are completely wrong. I've drunk enough OP and been to their brewery enough times to know how it's made - from used spirit barrels.
Whiskey is made from virgin charred oak casks, not ones used for beer.
Whiskey gets its flavour from many sources, not just one or even a few.

I suggest you read Wikipedia on how Whiskey is made and oak barrels, this was also taken from there:

"New barrels impart more flavors than do previously used barrels. Over time many of the oak properties get "leached" out of the barrel with layers of natural deposits left from the wine building up on the wood to where after 3 to 5 vintages there may be little or no oak flavors imparted on the wine. In addition, oxygen transport through the oak and into the wine, which is required for maturation, becomes severely limited after 3–5 years."

Beer doesn't need the same things from a barrel that wine or Whiskey does which is why their barrels are used.

[craigjm]

And I suggest you read the innis and gunn website or their Wikipedia page and then tell me I am completely wrong

wikipedia said:

The beer was originally developed as a way of flavouring the barrels used by distiller William Grant for its ale cask reserve whisky. The original plan was for the beer to be discarded after it had flavoured the barrel, but the brewers noted that the process had an agreeable effect on the beer, and thus aging the beer became an end in itself.

We are not talking about Old Perculiar here. We are talking about innis and gunn so you can visit the OP brewery as many times as you like it doesn't make you right.

Edited by craigjm on Saturday 10th September 14:22

[Evoluzione]

Where is it getting the rum flavour from then?

[craigjm]

Evoluzione said:

Where is it getting the rum flavour from then?

In the rum finish one the rum flavour is added by pouring the beer slowly through a filter of rum infused wood taking about two months so it doesn't go anywhere near a rum cask if that is what you are suggesting.

[Evoluzione]

craigjm said:

Evoluzione said:

Where is it getting the rum flavour from then?

In the rum finish one the rum flavour is added by pouring the beer slowly through a filter of rum infused wood taking about two months so it doesn't go anywhere near a rum cask if that is what you are suggesting.

If you look back up to where you first replied that is what was being discussed and compared - Rum flavoured beer/ale. It's just taken a lot to get a straight and understandable answer.

[CorradoTDI]

Lidl often have some of the rarer ones at £1.29 a bottle

B&M also sell the bigger bottles of the normal 2 or 3 you see...

[st3ven1]

Love the stuff, original is still my favourite. Couple of the bigger bottles and you are well on your way.