I think, though, that more could be done to differentiate the two concepts so that it was clearer.

I’ve been talking about the influence of wood itself (tannins, coconut from American oak, etc.) and excluding “critters.” Simply because because my conversations with brewers have been focused on what is new.

“After a few years, realising that metal casks were rapidly replacing wooden ones, the Society decided to relax its principles accordingly. Nowadays only about a dozen breweries use wooden casks at all, and the SPBW is more concerned with the contents than the container, which we accept makes little or no difference to the taste of the beer.”

I realize that barrels were sometimes tarred and also the passing of beer through a wooden union was different than the storage of it or dispensing from it. But there is a difference between the goal of passing on no flavours and the perfection. It would seem reasonable that there were characteristics conveyed. Plus, with early porter at least, was not the tang imparted from the repeated use of the massive wooden holding barrels?

- Dr. Paul Farnsworth, who began working in in breweries in his hometown of Burton-on-Trent when he was 16. Last week, while drinking Firestone Walker beer, we discussed the days when he was involved maintaining a “Burton Union.” The goal was to pass on no wood character.
- Bill Vollmar, recently retired archivist at Anheuser-Busch. During an off-the-wall discussion about A-B’s short-lived American Originals series in the mid 1990s.
- Martyn Cornell: Wood flavours were fine in chardonnay, or scotch, but not in IPA or porter.

That said, I’ve heard people refer to the wood firkins used by Samuel Smith and describe a wood flavor. Maybe that’s what Line was talking about.

Additionally, I don’t know of any American brewers who refer to wood-aging per se as pioneering. That’s a phrase off the top of my head.

That’s why today’s brewers could be described as wood pioneers.

To be honest though, I’ve come across some pretty horrid barrel-aged concoctions, and to be fair, some really great ones as well. I think the key is not, as you mentioned, overwhelming the base beer (provided that it’s any good to begin with). I had the Bourbon barrel-aged Bell’s Third Coast recently and was not a big fan. If I want parching oak, I’ll bite a tree; if I want bourbon, I’ll buy a bottle. I don’t mean to single any particular beer out, and love Bell’s, but I was let down with this one like many others I expected to be great.

With many of these, I’m asking that same question: what’s the point?