I am not a beer guy at all. I don't know if it's the beer geek stigma that turns me off, or the simple fact that I hate beer. However, I must confess, I tried Double Moutain IRB last night at East Burn while smoking on their heated, covered smoking friendly patio. I was already quite knackered, but if I remember correctly, it tasted like heaven.

Mr. Matt Bender sent me official deets:

So what is the IRB? (Which by the way was pronounced “herb” by several patrons in the Taproom last night…) The IRB is a blend of three different beers. 25% of the blend is Brett Devil- a Belgian strong red with added Belgian candi sugar, fermented with the wild wine yeast strain of Brettanomycces. This beer used IRA as a base, but with some of the hops excluded. The Brett brings forward a slight acidity and tartness and a great fruit aroma. Man I love a light Brett aroma in a beer, my current favorite being The Duchess du Bourgogne. 50% of the IRB is IRA aged in 17 year old Elijah Craig barrels I bought together with Alan Sprints at Hair of the Dog. As soon as the barrel is emptied of the whiskey, it is speedily trucked to Oregon and immediately filled with beer. The whiskey in the wood permeates back into the beer, bringing forward those wonderfully smoky, charcoal, and hickory notes from a good Kentucky Bourbon. It also increases alcoholic strength. The remaining 25% comes from second use of a new oak barrel made from Minnesota and Missouri oak that’s known as a “Bordeaux barrel”. (The first use of the barrel gave us a beer we named IRA from the Wood.) This barrel adds a backbone of tannin and some more wood and vanilla notes.