A unique experience presented itself recently. Mother Earth Brewery, which is a staple of eastern North Carolina, released the 2020 edition of their famous barrel-aged imperial stout “Silent Night” at the end of November, and they offered the opportunity to participate in a tasting hosted by Matthew Hart, their Executive VP and Master Brewer. This was packaged with the purchase of all four “Silent Night” offerings for 2020: “Silent Night,” aged 12 months in Blanton’s Bourbon barrels, “Silent Night Reserve,” aged 12 months in Mother Earth’s whiskey barrels, “Silent Night Grand Reserve,” aged 24 months in Mother Earth’s whiskey barrels, and “Noche Silenciosa,” aged 12 months in Blanton’s Bourbon barrels and spiced with cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and spicy peppers. Naturally, we couldn’t pass this up, and were excited to sit in on the virtual tasting with Mother Earth this past weekend. We also thought it would be cool to share our perspectives and takeaways from this experience, so we hope you enjoy!
At the beginning, Matthew took ample time to describe the entire process that leads to their annual release of “Silent Night.” As a couple guys who were eager to finally get their hands on this limited release, we were heavily interested in learning about the brewing process. One thing that makes this brew so special is that it is released annually, and in limited quantities (due to the process of barrel-aging and having a limited number of barrels available). Additionally, this brew, according to Matthew, requires some “extreme brewing” steps in order to successfully achieve the intended result. “Silent Night” comes in at a pretty high ABV (listed at 9.5%), has a larger malt/grist to water ratio, and sees longer boil times than other brews, among other steps. It’s clear after hearing the work put into this release that Mother Earth views “Silent Night” as a labor of love, and it receives careful attention.
After moving on to the keynotes for the 2020 “Silent Night” release, we learned that Mother Earth uses a variety of barrels to age the stout. For example, last year they used Woodford Reserve barrels for some of the batch, whereas this year, Blanton’s Bourbon barrels from Buffalo Trace Distillery were utilized. Of course, we were intrigued to see how the different barrels (Blanton’s vs. Mother Earth’s) would impact the flavors that we identified (individual tasting notes will come in a separate post – stay tuned!)
Next, Matthew started going through the individual styles one by one. This was a helpful part of the virtual tasting, as we got to compare our own tasting notes against what the brewer’s notes were. They covered everything from suggested aromas, to mouthfeel, and of course, flavors. We may have been enjoying the experience too much, as we got a little behind in the progressions from one stout to the next. Nonetheless, we made sure to write down all of our individual tasting notes for reference and for comparisons.
Once Matthew finished describing the individual flavor profiles and characters of each of the beers in the release, he wrapped up the formal presentation portion of the guided tasting and opened the floor for questions from the audience. This portion of the session allowed the audience to weigh in with questions about the beers, the brewing process, and the flavor characteristics. These questions were from beer fans of all levels and provided a deeper, more interactive experience. We even got a chance to have a few of our own questions answered about the beers.
Overall, the virtual tasting with Mother Earth’s team was a great experience and we recommend you get in on next year’s release and tasting. The transition to virtual event instead of canceling in light of the 2020 madness was a great idea and still gave us beer lovers a chance indulge in the craft we love.
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