One 750ml Bottle of Captive Spirits by Floodland -- Bottled March 14, 2024 (UT: 4.44)

“Big Gin slowed their barrel program down about a year or two ago, so I'm not sure if or when we'll be able to make this again. I knew this going into making this beer, so I wanted to make something that I thought would be complimentary to the first Captive, rather than simply trying to brew, age, and blend another of the same beer.

The barrels around which this blend orbits were a project I had put into play 5 years ago. We had gotten some ex-Chardonnay barrels from a Napa winery, some of them we put into use for beer, but two of them we gave to Alex at Big Gin. He aged their dry gin in these barrels for two years, and afterwards we picked them up and immediately brewed into them.

This 2024 Captive Spirits blend is a combination of those long-aged saison from the ex-chardonnay gin casks, as well as some saison aged over a year in ex-bourbon gin casks (the same as what we normally use, the gin aging strips all the bourbon character out and all that is left is gin flavor).

This blend of mostly 1st use gin barrels hits with the classic lime zest that comes from the combination of our saison, our culture, and the Big Gin barrels. One big difference we see, because we lab test our beers and put real ABVs on our labels (a LOT of beer abv are absolute fabrications) is that using more 1st use spirit barrels adds a lot of ABV. The alcohol content of those gin casks and the preponderance of spelt/wheat/oat beers lend a huge fluffy and soft mouthfeel, without having much oak character.”

Bottling date: 03/14/2024
ABV: 8.44% ABV
Cellar: Should cellar nicely. Best before fall of 2026.