East End Brewing Company has canned Homewood Reserve for the first time, a barrel-aged stout the Pittsburgh brewery traces back to at least 2009, though it hasn't been brewed since 2018. It goes into the bourbon barrel as the brewery's Black Strap Stout and comes out as Homewood Reserve, a name that nods to Homewood, the neighborhood where East End got its start.
The brewery describes the beer as thick and viscous, with a dark reddish brown, frothy head, carrying deep roast character intermingled with tannins and whiskey notes from the barrel, layered over black strap molasses and brown sugar from the base stout. East End is careful to note it isn't a sticky-sweet beer despite that lineup of flavors. It comes in at a comparatively restrained 7.0 percent ABV for a barrel-aged stout, closer to sessionable than a lot of the category.
Homewood Reserve is the first release in East End's new Good Wood series, a planned rotation of barrel-aged beers under one shared label, each numbered and carrying its own QR code linking back to details on what's inside. The brewery says future entries will arrive with no fixed timeline, tied instead to its annual GOOD WOOD Fest and whenever a given barrel is ready. It's a structure that suggests East End is treating its barrel program less as an occasional special release and more as an ongoing numbered line, with Homewood Reserve as entry number one.
Homewood Reserve is available now in four-packs of 12oz cans at the Larimer and Mt. Lebanon locations, with some draft still pouring at the Brewpub.
Source & Editorial
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