Driftwood OLD CELLAR DWELLER barleywine became available in liquor stores

A couple of weeks ago Driftwood Brewery announced their OLD CELLAR DWELLER 2015. And yesterday I got it at last in BottleJockey, not far from my work. Price has gone up this year to $17 after tax for this barleywine style ale.

I have contacted Braeden Papp earlier, who is God of Growlers ( 🙂 ) of Driftwood Brewery, to find out how much time the new barley wine has to be kept in a cellar before it is ready for sale. If you are aware of what the barleywine style is, then you know that time is critical for this sort of beer. And for Driftwood’s barleywine it is even more important, and I’ll tell you why.

Braeden says that OLD CELLAR DWELLER is an American-style barleywine, and we have to treat it as a triple IPA. But here is a dissonance – barleywine style beer gets better with every year of keeping it in your cellar, but IPA styles of beer lose their hop bitterness part (which is their very essence) with every single month after bottling. For example, the best time to try IPAs is within three months after batch, but for a barleywine it is better to try it after one year or more.

To solve this issue I bought two bottles of the beer – one for now and one for the future 🙂

“Enjoy this very special beer young, but save a few bottles for future winters,” – says Driftwood brewery and I will do it for sure!

Cheers!