A good friend at the brew club, Rich Lock, has been running barrel projects over the last couple of years. Sourcing used barrels from around the world, such as red wine, sherry and bourbon, a batch of beer is brewed then stored and left to age in the barrel. Last year I was fortunate enough to be involved with the 4th and final one before Rich moved out of London.
For £36 each, split between 7, we source the grain (malts), hops, yeast, barrel and in return we each recieved 27l of the finished product. Not only this, but we also get the luxury of brewing on Rich's kit which, to put it mildly, is at the larger, more sophisticated end of the homebrew kits - 140l RIMS circulation system to be precise. He's even fitted his own revese osmosis water system for filtration and purity
This particular project was to brew a rather substantial 11% abv Imperial Brown Stout based on an 1848 Barclay Perkins recipe. This was then left to age for 7 months in an american bourbon barrel. After aging, and the mammoth task of bottling, the reward for all involved was a approximately 86 bottles of the brew, not bad for £36.
Due to the strength and the style, it's neccesary to 'lay the bottles down' (store in a a dark place) for around two years where they'll begin to reach a suitable level of maturity. Time to wait...