Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Martin House delves into the Abyss with Acheron

Image courtesy of Martin House Brewing Co.

Drawing once again on a literary reference (à la Kafkaesque) in the creation of one of its beers, Martin House is preparing to release its fourth barrel-aged beer in the form of Acheron.

Acheron is a name that comes from Dante's Inferno, the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem, the Divine Comedy. In that work, Dante and his guide, Virgil, seek to cross the river Acheron to gain entrance to Hell, but they must first obtain passage from Charon, the ferryman of Hades (or as I like to call him, the chauffeur to the Abyss).

As for the story of the beer, Acheron (12% ABV) is described by the brewery as a "deep, dark and ravishing imperial stout...that will satiate your sinuous desires for something bold, burly, boozy and barbarous. It's brewed with oats, black barley and a mix of black, chocolate and crystal malts, then finished with brown sugar and Columbus hops to balance its leviathan body." And, if that depiction isn't enough to convince you to try it, Martin House suggests "drinking it will help Charon determine your fate."

According to brewery co-founder Cody Martin, Acheron was aged for six months in a combination of first-use barrels from Woodford Reserve and second-use barrels from a Colorado distillery the brewery previously utilized for Christmas in July (a.k.a. barrel-aged Sugar & Spice). The finished beer was then extracted from the casks and kegged as-is, rather than blended with a non-barrel-aged batch, in order to achieve maximum barrel character.

Acheron will debut at Martin House during a Barrel-Aged Pop-Up Dinner being held at the brewery in conjunction with the Dallas gastropub LUCK. Happening on Friday, February 19 at 7 p.m., tickets for the event can be purchased at the following link: http://martinhousebrewing.com/Events/barrel-aged-pop-up-dinner.

Subsequent to that, the beer will be available on a limited basis at select draft accounts throughout the Metroplex beginning February 25.

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