Hermitage Brewing Company to Tap Limited Barrel-Aged Beers

It’s American Craft Beer Week, and beer events to commemorate the week have been popping up throughout South Bay breweries and beer establishments.

In San Jose, Hermitage Brewing Company is hosting a special tapping event at 4pm on May 15 at with four barrel-aged beers: brown, vanilla porter, Maltopia Scotch Ale and Maltopia Scotch Ale made with apricots.

Hermitage head brewer Greg Filippi used small wooden rum barrels and experimented with different recipes to see how different beer styles and flavors interacted with the wood casing and rum aroma over time.

“A little over a year ago we received two five-gallon rum barrels as a bonus on a barrel shipment, which has given us the opportunity to play around with some extremely small barrel-aging projects,” Filippi says.

The beers set for release this Thursday (only a five-gallon keg was produced of each) represent the first four of those projects and the tap room will be the only place to taste them.

“The first two are a brown ale and a vanilla porter, respectively, both aged for six months in fresh rum barrels, showcasing the beautiful partnership between sweet malt flavors and spicy rum,” Filippi says. “The second round is Maltopia two ways: one barreled alone to let the Scotch Ale shine through with hints of American Oak; the other Maltopia aged on about a pound of local, unsulfured apricots.”

The Hermitage tap room, which opened last July, might be tricky to locate for first-time visitors. Heading south on 7th St., look for signage at the last driveway on the right before hitting Phelan Ave. Proceed towards the back of the large industrial buildings.

[This post was shared on SanJose.com.]