Recently the club voted on what styles to brew to fill the four wine barrels we have on loan from club member Casey. THE RESULTS ARE IN!!! First, let’s take note of the top six vote getters (as we were going to have Casey and Aaron nix two of them) in bold, regardless of particular barrel:
| Total | |
| Grand Total | 104 |
| Flanders red (sour) | 18 |
| Russian imperial stout (clean) | 18 |
| Saison or dark saison (clean or sour) | 14 |
| Wee heavy / scotch ale (clean) | 14 |
| Lambic (sour) | 10 |
| Belgian golden strong (clean) | 9 |
| Stout (sour) | 7 |
| Barley wine (clean) | 5 |
| None | 2 |
| Porter (sour) | 2 |
| Wild Card Clean or Sour | 1 |
| Belgian Pale Ale | 1 |
| DARK SOUR SAISON OR CONCENCRATION CLONE | 1 |
| NONE BUT BY AROMA WOULD WORK BEST FOR CLEAN BEER | 1 |
| solera belgian blond | 1 |
Next, let’s take a look at what people “highly preferred” to go into each particular barrel:
- Barrel #1 McCay Zin – Medium/Heavy Oak, blackberries, currants, tannins
- Most votes for this barrel: Wee heavy / scotch ale (clean) – 7 votes
- Runner-up: Flanders red (sour) – 6 votes
- Barrel #2 McCay Zin – Medium/Heavy Oak, vanilla, fruity cocoa
- Most votes for this barrel: Russian imperial stout (clean) – 15 votes
- No serious runner-up
- Barrel #3Fields Merlot – Light Oak, red fruit, cherries
- Most votes for this barrel: Flanders red (sour) – 9 votes
- No serious runner-up
- Barrel #4Fields Cab – Light Oak, light fruit
- Most votes for this barrel: Belgian golden strong (clean) – 5 votes
- Runner-up: Saison or dark saison (clean or sour) – 4 votes
- Runner-up: Lambic (sour) – 4 votes
In comparing the first overall vote getter top six list with the top voted and runners-up in the barrel-specific list, (fortunately) they equate. Based on all of this data, barrels 1, 2 and 3 look to be fairly clearly decided by popular vote (including barrel 1 as “basically decided” because the only serious runner up for barrel 1 was the clear front runner for barrel 3), while barrel 4 could be one of three different options, though maybe should swing towards “saison or dark saison (clean or sour)” given the fact that this particular option received 14 total votes regardless of barrel (3rd place overall). We will leave it to Casey and Aaron D. to decide, as these are Casey’s barrels and we’re storing them for a very long time at Aaron’s house. Updates to follow!