Fifty-five different beer collaborations in a year are no easy feat, regardless of the size of the brewery. But when you take into account that Kyle Harrop, the owner of Horus Aged Ales, is running a one-man show while still maintaining his full-time job as an accountant for an aerospace company, it gets even more impressive.
Horus Aged Ales is unique. In a cost-effective measure, Harrop skipped all the expensive stainless steel brewing equipment and instead operates as a barrel-aged brewery only. His experience as a homebrewer and one of the top innovators in barrel-aging has led him to forge relationships with brewers across the country. And with these relationships come collaborations.
Harrop spent 2017 on fire. He completed an impressive fifty-five collaborations spanning barrel-aged beers and barleywines of all types with breweries from all across the country. Fifteen different states to be exact, a far cry from Horus Aged Ales’ modest beginnings in Oceanside, California. Taking a look at his portfolio shows you some of the unique ways he’s using barrel aging and why breweries are scrambling to work with Harrop. Equally Dreadful Cities, a Mead-Braggot style beer with Courtyard Brewery in New Orleans was Harrop’s first collaboration of the year. From there, they only got bigger. Two collaborations with Aslin Brewing Company in Herndon, Virginia turned heads; Buku Mocha and Shopping In Sonoma. Buku Mocha, an Imperial Stout conditioned with Vietnamese coffee and Vietnamese cocoa nibs, shows some of the creativity and innovation Harrop and Horus Aged Ales bring to the table. It also highlights the unique twists barrel-aging can add to beers and why barrel-aging has been growing in popularity in recent years.
Horus Aged Ales have been able to do so many collaborations in part because of their barrel library, some of which we’ve been able to help them stock. We’ve provided Horus with a variety of barrels; Various Bourbon and Rum barrels to more exotic casks like Maple Syrup, Mezcal, Gin, and everything in between. Many of them are still aging, but you can taste our barrels in a couple finished beers already (if they haven’t all been snatched up). Horus Aged Ales’ collaboration with Alvarado Street Brewery, Sharky Waters, uses some Cognac Wine barrels while Mikkeler Brewing Company and Horus Aged Ales used our Cinnamon Whiskey Vanilla Extract barrels for their Creme Supreme brew.
Horus already has big plans made for 2018. Already in the pipeline is their highly anticipated barrel-aged Boss Tycoon stout varieties. The barrel-aged versions of Boss Tycoon will vary, featuring some aged in Hennessy Paradis Cognac barrels, some in Calvados barrels, and others that get even more exotic and will be double-barrel aged. Keep an eye out and stay tuned for their future releases!