Third Space Brewing is clearing a few brews off the menu – namely Haunted Barrel Candy Bar Porter and Nexus of the Universe Russian Imperial Stout – to make room for a new barrel-aged series called Deconstructed Dessert that will slowly release a half-dozen variants across the next three months, sweetening up what promises to be a long Wisconsin winter.
The series launches with the series foundation: Mocha Pie: The Beer, a bourbon-barrel aged imperial stout inspired by the eponymous dessert that’s made with chocolate, vanilla and coffee in a graham cracker crust.
This initial brew will be one of Third Space’s Black Friday beers, and sales go live Nov. 14 at shopthirdspace.com. Then, every two weeks, until Feb. 6, there will be a new variant available.
Here’s the schedule:
- Nov. 27 – Black Friday – #1 The Beer (Sales go live Nov. 14)
- Dec. 16 – #2 The Chocolate (Sales go live Nov. 27)
- Dec. 26 – #3 The Vanilla (Sales go live Dec. 16)
- Jan. 9 – #4 The Graham Cracker Crust (Sales go live Dec. 26)
- Jan. 23 – #5 The Coffee (Sales go live Jan. 9)
- Feb. 6 – #6 The Mocha Pie (Sales go live Jan. 23)
The final beer, The Mocha Pie, includes all the ingredients from the single-ingredient variants.
“We have been thinking about this concept of building variants ingredient-by-ingredient into a final combined beer for some time,” said Brewmaster and Co-Founder, Kevin Wright.
“We hope the Deconstructed Dessert Series will highlight how various additions to barrel-aged beers can change the flavor experience.”
The Deconstructed Dessert: Mocha Pie variants will come in four-packs of 12-ounce cans and sell for $25 each, except the The Mocha Pie, whis is $30. My Third Space Club members can pre-order a full set.
“The time was right for this new idea because it allows us to spread out our releases over multiple days rather than hosting one or two large release events like we have in years past,” said Third Space Co-Founder and Director of Sales Andy Gehl.
As I always do, I asked Gehl about the distillery whose barrels were used for aging the beer and he said, “We don't know for sure which distillery we used this time but we often use Heaven Hill as they tend to have high-quality barrels.
“For us, it is less about the name on the side than it is about the quality of the vessel itself. Often the name of the bourbon that was in it becomes more of a marketing angle. We are more focused on the quality of the liquid we are producing and a solid, fresh barrel is what matters most.”
In order to reduce the risk of crowding, customers can pick up pre-orders anytime the brewery is open on the release weekend. There will also be strict COVID-19 protocols in place during pickup.
In addition to the foundational Mocha Pie beer, Third Space has two extremely limited barrel-aged Black Friday beers coming, again with pre-sales beginning Nov. 14.
One is the sole 2020 version of Nexus of the Universe. Double Barrel Nexus of the Universe – Rum Edition is the 2019 Nexus of the Universe that was aged nine months in brandy and bourbon barrels and aged again in a rum barrel.
The other is Bourbon Barrel Braggot, a barrel-aged version of last year’s Braggot (beer/mead hybrid) collaboration with Eagle Park Brewing.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
