Maybe you’ve heard the term ‘barrelled beer’ before, but whatever does that mean?

Well, you see, to achieve a different taste, some beers are aged in barrels previously used for maturing wines or spirits.

It’s a growing trend over in the US, used to age dark beers like stouts or sour beers, and now local brewers and beer aficionados Devil’s Peak’s have created their own version.

That turned out pretty OK, because last week it came out tops at the South African National Beer Trophy awards.

It makes sense, and Devil’s Peak’s mission been to share with South Africans what experiential brewers beyond our borders are doing, forcing us to question what it is we think we know about beer.

The Saison (a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy) is aptly called Vannie Hout, and here’s what Devil’s Peak has to say about their creation:

This brett-infused, barrel-aged, farmhouse ale is really something special. It spent six months in chardonnay and pinot noir barrels. Six months. Have you ever sat for 4320 hours straight doing the exact same thing? The Vannie Hout has. Day and night. Summer, autumn and winter.

It has toiled away at becoming awesome, and let me tell you friends, awesome it has become.

And it must be awesome. This past week, Vannie Hout won a gold medal trophy at the South African National Beer Trophy in the ‘Best Speciality Beer’ category:

The National Beer Trophy 2017 has been the largest beer competition ever held in Africa, with 199 commercial beers entered, coming from 64 breweries from around the country.

With more than double the entries of 2016, the National Beer Trophy became the benchmark competition for the National beer market and a great platform for the beer culture to express diversity and quality.

It took more than a month using many highly qualified BJCP judges, as well as sommeliers, to assess and mark each beer individually.

The best beers were then put through into a final round of selection.

Each beer was rated out of 50, and those that achieved a mark of at least 35 points were awarded silver. Then, there were only 18 gold medals and four gold-medal trophies – Vannie Hout being one of them.

But the Vannie Hout wasn’t the only medal head brewer JC Steyn and the rest of the team were awarded.

The event, hosted at Beerhouse, also announced the following wins:

Best Speciality Beer – Vannie Hout
Gold Medal – American Pale Ale
Gold Medal – Juicy Lucy IPA
Silver Medal – First Light Golden Ale
Silver Medal – Imperial Cafe Racer
Silver Medal – Grapefruit Express IPA

Pretty impressive, hey?

For a taste, you can pop into The Taproom in Salt River or check here for stockists.