Our final barrel-aged stout for 2024 offers a classic Kentucky hug with nods to the apple orchards of Oregon and the small-family farms of Uganda. Don’t Worry About That Fireplace plays in the realm of refined pastry stout: we combined big-bodied stout, porter, and barleywine aged in a mix of brandy and whiskey casks with the goal of marrying the fudgy notes of the porter, the dark fruit from the stout, and a punch of caramel from the barleywine. The initial blend definitely pushed us towards a luscious dessert beer.

We count ourselves incredibly lucky to call Caittin Bartlemay and her team at Clear Creek Distillery friends.

They make world-class spirits and liqueurs, chief among them is their apple brandy. The aromas from the barrels and from the beer that we age in them transports us straight to the height of fruit season in the Northwest and, more exotically, to the farmhouses of northern France where world-class apple brandy was born.

A long-aged milk stout in these barrels formed the centerpiece of this blend, and we built the rest around it

The spirit notes from those barrels played beautifully with some higher age-statement whiskies, but to really tie the room together we had to bring in something to up the body. We thought it would be extra luxe and decadent if we could introduce a cake-like note, either from malt or some other ingredient to ground the spiritu-ousness a bit. Enter some ground vanilla from Uganda that rounded the beer out with a beautiful custard note and a silky mouthfeel. The finished beer balances all of these elements — notes of fruit, spirit, vanilla, and chocolate — all in each sip.