Born out of a mutual admiration and desire to push the culinary boundaries of food and beer-making, The Real Dill, a Denver-based pickle company, and WeldWerks Brewing, an award-winning brewery out of Greeley, are proud to release Powder Keg, the country’s first barrel-aged Bloody Mary Mix. This Bloody Mary Mix is exclusively available on The Real Dill’s online store on August 26 at 7 a.m. MST and at an all-day pop-up event on August 27 at WeldWerks’ taproom (508 8th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631).
The creativity stemming from this collaboration launched The Real Dill’s Prospector Series, featuring the pickle company’s most exclusive and limited, experimental product offerings that often include rare ingredients and eccentric combinations.
“This project really started to take shape when we visited the team at WeldWerks and tasted a bunch of things together,” says Tyler DuBois, Co-Founder of The Real Dill. “I knew that mixing a shot of stout into a Bloody Mary was not an uncommon practice, so what better stout to mix it with than Medianoche? We immediately liked the combination and tried aging the mix in a freshly emptied barrel. The rest was history!”
The Prospector Series – Powder Keg
The Real Dill aged their bestselling Bloody Mary Mix in three of WeldWerks’ Medianoche Imperial Stout barrels and then blended them, merging the complex and rich character of the behemoth beer with the fresh and lively notes of the cocktail mix. The first barrel was aged for six months and the two remaining barrels aged just under five months. Deeper in color than The Real Dill’s original Bloody Mary Mix, Powder Keg has a roundness and softer mouthfeel from the Medianoche and charred oak, leaving hints of caramel, vanilla and smoke. Pair the Powder Keg Bloody Mary mix with your favorite vodka or aged tequila, mezcal or bourbon.
The Real Dill Pop-up at WeldWerks Brewing
This limited release will only be available this year, starting on Thursday, August 26 at 7:00 a.m. MST on The Real Dill’s online store. For those who miss out on the online sale, there will also be limited quantities available at WeldWerks Brewing on Friday, August 27. In addition to the Bloody Mary Mix, WeldWerks will release a draft-only collaboration beer called Kind of a Weld Dill Barrel-Aged Lager. This Rice Lager was aged in the same barrels that held the Powder Keg Bloody Mary Mix. Guests will receive a free Juicy Bits beer pickle with the purchase of the collaboration beer.
“The finished beer turned out better than we could have hoped for having only spent a short amount of time hanging out in the barrels. This was done intentionally because we wanted to have the focus of the flavors coming from the mix that had spent time in the barrels rather than the oak from the barrels,” says Skip Schwartz, WeldWerks Innovation and Wood Cellar Lead. “There are notes of garlic and dill, salty brine, followed by a slight acidic character coming from the tomatoes. The Medianoche that gave its flavor to the Bloody Mary Mix has smoothed out this lager and added some sweetness to the final beer. The char from the barrel adds an almost BBQ or worcestershire sauce component to the final beer.”
Photo courtesy WeldWerks
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