Vocation Brewery and Lady of the Glen partner on barrel-aged beer

Vocation brewery is launching two special-release barrel-aged beers in collaboration with Scottish rare whisky experts Lady of the Glen. The purpose of the collaboration is to combine the expertise to age the beers in specialist whisky casks, which have been supplied by the experts.

The first of the two releases is a Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, first aged in ex-Bourbon barrels before transferring to Laphroaig casks for 11 months. It’s ABV comes in at 12.9% is available from July 13^th at an RRP of £6.75. The producer has described it as having notes of cacao and cinder toffee, underlined by Laphraoig’s harmony of smoke, citrus and seagrass.

The second release is Vocation’s Smoked Imperial Barrel Aged Stout. Featuring a combination of eight malts, the beer is aged in Aberlour and Caol Ila casks selected to highlight the stout’s flavour profile. The whisky barrels are said to have been selected in the hopes of accentuating the presentation of sweet spice and smoked tea and peat in the stout. Available to purchase from the brewery’s online shop next week, the drink has an abv of 11.5% and an RRP of £6.75, the same as the first release.

On the two releases, Gary Farlow, Innovation Brewer at Vocation Brewery, said: “Our Imperial Stout aged in Laphroaig casks is dominated by the whisky character from the barrels, with intense, warming peat notes up front, followed by the oak of the barrels, before giving way to the rich roasted espresso and dark chocolate flavours of the stout. In our second Barrel Aged release, the Caol Ila is arguably more prominent than the Aberlour in the other stout, with the smokiness of both the whisky and the smoked malt in the stout blending together well. The peppery rye in the stout is very subtle, and contrasts well against the honey and sweet spices of the Aberlour cask. This array of complex flavours blend together and complement each other perfectly.” 

Director of Lady of the Glen, Gregor Hannah, said on the partnership: “We’re really pleased to be working with Vocation to launch these Barrel Aged Stouts and to be able to make use of these wonderful casks with their complex flavour profiles. We have long been admirers of Vocation’s consistent and genuine innovation, and the fact that they feel it their duty to produce the best example of each particular beer style, consistently.”   

8 July 2022 - Bradley Weir