Feb 9, 2021
There’s something to be said for a barrel-aged beer. In an era of “rotation nation” in which beer drinkers clamor for a constant stream of new beers, the time and patience and technique it takes to blend beer and barrel into a single entity — capturing the soul of the base beer and the essence of the barrel is truly something to savor.
Salt Lake City’s Proper Brewing ignited its barrel program in late 2019 with Monolith — an imperial stout aged in grenache and rye barrels. Since then, it has sourced wine and spirits barrels to age a Barleywine, a Double IPA and, most recently, a Gruit — an ancient beer style that substitutes herbs for hops.
Utah Beer News visited with Jeff Bunk, who is spearheading Proper’s barrel program, as well as Jack Kern, the brewery’s head brewer. Among the topics we discussed:
- How Proper is approaching its barrel program
- The current barrel-aged releases available to beer drinkers
- A handful of beers currently aging and expected to be released in the coming months (you might be surprised to learn what’s on deck)
And we delve into a few non-barrel related topics as well, such as:
- How a sense of camaraderie and cooperation permeates the Utah beer scene — as Jeff and Jack explain, that wasn’t always necessarily the case
- Some behind-the-beer details on Proper Beer, the brewery’s flagship that took home a gold medal at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival.
- And a whole lot more!
One note: When you hear "Andrew" and "Rio" mentioned in the podcast, those folks are Andrew Tendick and Rio Connelly, two of Proper Brewing's founders.
Thank you to Jeff and Jack for taking the time to talk with Utah Beer News. And thank you for listening. If you enjoy this type of storytelling, I’d appreciate if you could please leave a review on your podcast platform of choice.
And now, let’s jump in to learn more about Proper Brewing and its booming barrel program.
For an accompanying article, please visit UtahBeerNews.com.
Enjoy the episode!
Episode 44 | February 9, 2021