The Strongest Beers Prevail At Black Acre’s Barrels On Bonna

By Tyler McCord for Indiana On Tap

Let me paint a quick picture for you: it’s another gorgeous fall day in Indiana. There really aren’t too many of those left, so you take them when you can get them. You are standing there looking at the new Black Acre Brewing production facility anxiously waiting for them to let you in so you can enjoy some great beer. However, this isn’t just your typical beer fest. This one is bringing in nothing but barrel aged beers!

That’s right, if you weren’t at Barrels on Bonna on October 10th you missed out on some of the greatest barrel aged beers that breweries have to offer!

First, let’s talk about that new production facility from Black Acre Brewing. This place is huge, and all I could think about was everything that they are going to be able to do in this space. The amount of storage that is available here just makes your mind wonder over what Black Acre is planning on doing and storing in this huge building! I mean, are they going to start aging more of their delicious Gatekeeper Belgian Golden Strong Ale so that they can maybe bottle it and begin distributing it out and about around Indianapolis? Who knows, but it still makes me very happy at the many possibilities that are out there.

Like I said, this wasn’t one of your typical beer fests. This one brought the best, and the strongest, barrel aged beers that you could ever ask for. There were about 20 different breweries from across Indiana, as well as other breweries from across the nation, and each one brought some barrel aged beers that they had obviously put a lot of time and effort into. New Day Meadery brought a perfect example of this with their New Day Gin Barrel Aged Shelby Blue Ribbon. This delicious and surprisingly sweet gin barrel aged beer was one that was very welcome after having a few samples of some more potent brews.

When you spend a day at a beer fest featuring nothing but barrel aged beer there are few things that are more welcomed than a pallet cleanser. Much like knocking back IPA after IPA, like I typically do, I always welcome something to mix it up. After enjoying many great samples from breweries like Broad Ripple Brewpub’s The Arrival of the Angel, a very surprising barelywine aged beer that had an explosion of hops that I wasn’t even expecting (it’s one that I will have to go to the Brewpub to fill up on again), I luckily found something here at Barrels on Bonna that was perfect to break up and relax the old taste buds. Carson’s Brewery brought just that for everyone to enjoy: their Red Dawn Amber Wheat that was a perfect pairing with the superb selection of other barrel aged beers.

If you weren’t able to attend the first running of Barrels on Bonna, or you were on the fence about attending, I highly suggest that you look for this event next year. Yes, barrel aged beer can be a little strong for some to enjoy, but there were plenty of barrel aged beers that were nice and mild. Don’t worry though, there were also plenty of very strong barrel aged beers there to enjoy as well! Keep up with Black Acre Brewing and all of the other breweries that were at Barrels on Bonna to find out where you can find these barrel aged beers. Chances are that these beers will all be available in the breweries so you’ll have to go visit your local and favorite brewery to enjoy them. Also, you’ll want to keep out for the second running of Barrels on Bonna next year! 

Cheers!