Next Thursday, December 23rd Portland Beer Week presents the annual Barrel-Aged Beer Seminar and tasting event with Fort George Brewing, Breakside Brewing, and Oakshire Brewing.

This special winter holiday tasting event explores the art of barrel-aging and how to unlock the secrets of the oak to create world-class ales. This intimate discussion will be moderated by Breakside Brewery founding brewmaster Ben Edmunds, with special guests and fellow barrel-masters David Coyne of Fort George Brewery, and Dan Russo of Oakshire Brewing. Each brewer will bring two rare and prized barrel-aged beers from their collections to share with the attendees and illustrate the evenings subject matter.

The Barrel-Aged Beer Seminar focuses on clean (meaning not sour or funky) wood-aged beers in a wide ranging talk on the effects of oxidation, time in the barrel, coaxing the previously held spirits from the oak, and how you balance alcohol and base beer with adjuncts, sweetness, and hops. Throughout the course of this 2 hour discussion 6 rare and exemplary barrel-aged beers, 2 from each participating brewer will be served. At the end of the moderated panel discussion the brewers will take direct questions from the attendees and are open to talk beer after.

BEER LIST

• Fort George: Time Will Tell - 9.3% abv bourbon barrel fermented baltic porter

• Fort George: Etymology Barleywine - 14.7% abv bourbon barrel aged blended barleywine

• Breakside Brewery: Skweee - 12.2% abv. Straddles a peculiar line between minimalism and maximalism. Skwee is free of adjuncts and allows us to explore and highlight the ways in which particular barrels and unadulterated base dark ales interact when blended together.

• Breakside Brewery: Plunderphonics - 12.3% abv. The most intense and aggressive blended stout we Breakside has produced to date. It is an adjunct-free blend of imperial stouts that retains punchy, upfront intensity despite having been smoothed with time in barrels.

• Oakshire Brewing: The Fear That Never Was - Double Bourbon Barrel-aged Barleywine- 16.2%

• Oakshire Brewing: Fifteen - Whiskey Barrel-aged Imperial Stout 15.5%- Blend of Imperial Stouts aged in Westward Whiskey Barrels for 1 year before blending.

The Barrel-Aged Beer Seminar & Tasting will be held in the barrel room of Breakside Brewery’s Milwaukie production facility and taproom at 5821 SE International Way Milwaukie, OR 97222 on Thursday, Dec. 23rd at 5:15pm and run roughly 2-2.5 hours. Advanced tickets are required and available here.