I see the next set of 'extreme beers' and I don't think I'll enjoy this ride. They are barrel aged beers. Don't get me wrong when they are properly done they can be wonderful. But I can see Garrett Oliver's argument on hops already carrying over to wood.

For those of you who would like a refresher he said the following "The hoppiest beer?" Garrett asked. "It's a fairly idiotic pursuit, like a chef saying, 'This is the saltiest dish.' Anyone can toss hops in a pot, but can you make it beautiful?"

A number of beers just toss wood at a beer and hope it will seem complex. For example while I sincerely enjoyed Dogfish Head's Barton Baton, their other beer Palo Santo Marron left me pulling twigs from my taste buds.

It could be that some of the wood character comes across as bad phenols to my taste buds. I recently had a beer I was convinced was overly woody, but when I checked the companies website and reviews it made no mention of wood used in the process so I am assuming it was some bad bottles. I'll hold off mentioning this otherwise great brewery for further sampling of the beer, so I can give them and the beer another chance also so I don't violate Stan's Rule #3

Granted if you let the beers age sufficently it can mellow the wood taste, but why should I suffer a brewer's bad timing of release. It just strikes me that use of wood in a beer may be seen as an 'easy' way to make something different, but we should strive to make things right.