New Belgium Brewing is returning to their more experimental roots with Oakspire, an Old Fashioned inspired barrel-aged cocktail beer, and Blackberry Black Tea Sour, a blended and complex collaboration with a Colorado tea maker. Both beers show off New Belgium’s oak cellar which is touted as the largest collection of French and American Oak foeders in the country and said to use the oldest continuous souring culture in the United States after 22 years running.

Oakspire Old Fashioned Bourbon Barrel Ale

New Belgium’s take on a classic American cocktail was apparently one of their most difficult beers ever made in their 22 years. It is an old fashioned Bourbon Barrel Ale crafted with oranges, cherries, bitters, and matured on charred bourbon oak. But to create this beer the team designed a custom built and secretive proprietary method to pull in the flavors from bourbon soaked charred oak.

The trick was to marry the flavors of fruit and bitters with charred oak in a short period of time. That involved cycling a very strong 9% ABV deep Amber Ale over the fruit and oak in a method that sounds similar to those developed by distilleries in producing bourbon by a shorter aging process.

Blackberry Black Tea Sour

This is a blend of two base beers with 40% Golden Ale brewed with blackberries and black tea and 60% a foeder-aged dark sour ale. Made in collaboration with Teatulia organic Teas of Denver, Colorado, the goal was to balance earthy and bold black tea with ripe blackberry. The juicy berries serve as a sweet rich pop to the earthy and tannic black tea and the acidic oak aged dark ale brings a much needed acidity that tames, compliments and becomes a counterpoint to the other strong flavors.

Blackberry Black Tea Sour is a complex and balanced 7% ABV sipper out now in 16oz cans for a very limited time.