“Barrel-aging adds a fifth element to the art of making craft beer,” says Russell Heissner, who has been in the beer biz since “the pioneer days of craft brewing.” As Harpoon’s first brewer, he created the recipe for its debut Harpoon Ale—and now, after a making a career in the biotech industry, he’s bellying back up to the bar for the May launch of Barrel House Z, a small-batch brewery in Weymouth specializing in barrel-aging. “Wood that begins life as a bourbon, tequila, rum or wine barrel offers a new range of what’s possible in beermaking,” Heissner explains. “This offers an incredible opportunity to create innovative new beers.” Using wort and barrels from partners Harpoon and Bully Boy Distillers, brews like Barrel House Z’s first release, RR#23, a red rye ale aged in bourbon and rum barrels, will be available in one-, three- and six-month versions, as well as un-aged. Heissner says he hopes to produce four more beers before the year’s end: “We will be collaborating with some very creative people, so the sky’s the limit.” He’s not the only one who thinks so—check out what some other barrel-loaded locals have brewing.

Downeast Cider House

Despite tight quarters, Downeast’s small Charlestown cidery has been experimenting with aging ciders in bourbon barrels for three years, working on just three to four barrels per batch. Next up: lucky #13, made with a Bordeaux red wine yeast and aged in French oak white wine barrels after three months of fermentation. “We normally like to let it age one month for every percent ABV,” says co-founder Tyler Mosher. “This one will spend six months in barrels.” The cider picks up tannins and “subtle wood notes” from the wine barrels, says Mosher, who’s looking forward to more than #13’s release: Downeast is getting ready to move to roomier digs in East Boston.

downeastcider.com

Mystic Brewery

This Chelsea brewery just released the first batch of The Last and Final Judgment, found exclusively at Redstone Liquors’ Stoneham and Andover locations; the second batch will hit Kappy’s Fine Wine & Spirits in April. Both are based on Mystic’s Day of Doom quad, whose name nods to a Puritan-era poem by Michael Wigglesworth, an  ancestor of founder and brewmaster Bryan Greenhagen. “It details the end of the world wherein a vengeful God condemns most of mankind to hell,” says sales and marketing manager Louie Berceli. “The beer, fittingly, is dark, heavy and strong.” Its notes of currant, plum and fig get hints of vanilla and toasted coconut after being aged in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels for more than a year. Also stay tuned for new releases of Mystic’s Vinland wild ales, which are aged in wine barrels and fermented with local strains of yeast—harvested from the skins of Massachusetts plums, Maine blueberries and Vermont raspberries—for a distinctly New England terroir.

mystic-brewery.com

Lookout Farm Hard Cider

The Belkin family’s 180 acres have been around since the mid-17th century, then busy cultivating beans, turnips, strawberries and grapes. More recently, the Natick farm turned to the cider biz, debuting its Farmhouse Blend and opening its taproom last June. And come late spring, Lookout will start bottling its first aged cider, 1651, an American oak cider named for its founding year. “We were cleaning out our old horse barn and stumbled across two old wine barrels in the loft,” says cider master Aaron Mateychuk. “That started the conversation.” The cidery taps its 68,000 hand-pruned trees for pressed apples, which are mixed with a house yeast blend and local raw honey. After six to 12 months in the barrel, the oak flavor fits nicely with the vanilla aroma and balances the fruit’s sweetness.

lookoutfarmcider.com

Jack’s Abby

 “The PB&J is such a classic sandwich, we thought, why not make it into a beer?” says Sarah McGinley of Framingham’s Jack’s Abby. A Baltic porter aged in bourbon barrels, the PB&J Barrel-Aged Framinghammer is one of seven barrel-aged brews to be bottled in April, and tipplers can already find it on tap in the onsite beer hall. Brewed with chocolate malts, oats and brown sugar, the beer matures for three to four weeks on its own before spending six weeks in barrels with peanut butter and raspberries. “The beer is already super smooth, roasty and chocolately,” McGinley says. “The barrel aging gives it extra time to mellow, while imparting notes of oak and a distinct bourbon kick. The peanut butter comes at you hard and fast, but the aftertaste is all jelly.”

jacksabby.com

Cambridge Brewing Company

The Kendall Square brewery became the first in the U.S. to tackle a Belgian beer with its 1990 Tripel Threat, and it recently took on another traditional brew from French-speaking southern Belgium with Le Saisonniere, a grisette-style saison named for seasonal farmers who were rewarded with crisp beers after toiling in the heat. The fruity, spicy, historically true low-ABV brew is often on tap at the brewpub, and a just-debuted batch aged in American artisanal gin barrels can be found in Porter Square’s Pemberton Farms and Liquor World, among other local retailers. “These barrels do not have the typical juniper bite of traditional gin,” brewmaster Will Meyers says of the limited release, which is re-fermented in Champagne bottles for carbonation and additional maturation after being aged for five months. “I get notes of citrus peel, orange blossoms, a hint of rose and sweet melon,” Meyers says, “and only the slightest hint of spirit and oak in the finish.” Some of these barrels play a part in CBC’s next Barrel Cellar release, The Brett Conspiracy, a wild ale fermented with Brettanomyces yeast strains. It’s expected in May or June, but, Meyers says, “The beer will tell us when it’s ready.

cambridgebrewingcompany.com

Samuel Adams

 “We’ve learned that good things come with time,” says Jennifer Glanville, director of brewery programs at Samuel Adams’ Boston HQ. That’s the idea behind the Barrel Room Collection, a line of Belgian-inspired beers blended with Sam’s Kosmic Mother Funk, a Belgian ale aged for up to a year in Hungarian oak tuns that “impart unique spicy, ruity and bright tart flavors.” The latest is the Tetravis, a Belgian quad with a “molasses sweetness and notes of dark fruits,” which won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival shortly after its release. Thirsty for more? Other barrel brews currently on offer include the Stony Brook Red, American Kriek, Thirteenth Hour stout and New World tripel.

samueladams.com

Harpoon Brewery

Now in its eighth generation, Rodney’s Solera is an evolving wild ale named for “a larger-than-life character” who used to work in Harpoon’s maintenance department, according to barrel-aging curator Alex Peyroux. “I suppose Charlie [Cummings, Peyroux’s predecessor] decided to immortalize him with a never-ending funk fest of flavor,” Peyroux says of the brew, which is made using a Spanish technique developed for Madeira and sherry. Each year they “harvest” 75 percent of that generation’s Solera and reserve the rest for the next generation, aging it in Wild Turkey barrels that are home to wild yeast, lactobacillus and Brettanomyces they’ve been cultivating for six years. The Solera VII is just about tapped, which means Solera VIII, an aged Belgian Farmhouse Tripel with a “funky clove-heavy nose,” is right on time, set to debut in April after nine months in the barrel.

harpoonbrewery.com

Night Shift Brewing

After finding success working with North Carolina’s Trophy Brewing earlier this year, the brewers at Night Shift in Everett have infused their latest collaboration with a bit of Southern charm. This time, they’ve partnered with 7venth Sun Brewery in Florida to develop the recipe for Barrel’d Sun, a mixed fermentation saison aged in white wine barrels for eight months with hibiscus flowers and 100 pounds each of lemon and lime zest. “The beer presents a nice lemon-lime flavor,” says Night Shift co-founder Michael Oxton, noting that “the oak barrel gives the beer a nice rounded character, finishing pleasant, citrusy and bright.” Try it on draft and in bottles beginning this month exclusively in the taproom, and bring your friends—the brewery is set to expand this July.

nightshiftbrewing.com