Victoria, British Columbia, Sept 10, 2015 — After only nine months in business and fresh off a Gold Medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards, Category 12 Brewing is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to embrace and involve the craft brewing community in their nascent barrel-aging program called Barrelholder.
The brewery is offering many creative perks as part of their Indiegogo campaign, from glassware, amazing custom growlers and T-shirts, to a custom beer tasting or the opportunity to be a brewer for a day.
The most interesting tier of the program is reserved for a handful of Barrelholders. Barrelholder’s names will be emblazoned on barrels for all to see from the brewery’s tap room, and will be given advanced access to releases. This privileged group will also be invited to periodically sit in and taste the progress of aging beers, and provide input on what may be put in the barrels next!
“Category 12 Brewing is all about experimentation, and barrel aging is a natural evolution of where we want to takes our beers. Barrel aging allows us to embrace a little chaos and evolve the art of our brewing,” says Michael Kuzyk, founder and head brewer. “From our beers themselves to their names and labels, and our constantly rotating pilot batches in our taproom, exploration is a key part of our vision as a brewery.”
Barrel aging of beer is a technique that is undergoing a resurgence in popularity amongst craft breweries. Over the centuries, it was discovered that barrels impart a delicious complexity to the liquid they hold. Additionally, reusing barrels originally housing different beverages, such as wine or spirits, can lend some of the original beverage’s characteristics to the brew.
Category 12 plans to experiment initially with wine and bourbon barrels with all types of beers, ranging from saisons and IPAs to dubbels and stouts. “Barrel aging is all about experimentation, embracing chaos and evolving of the art of brewing,” says Kuzyk.
Category 12 has been working on plans for their barrel-aging program for some time, and originally planned to kick it off further in the future, but they grew impatient. “We thought that if we enacted the help of our fans and friends, we could get this project off the ground sooner and at the same time involve them in the process!” says Kuzyk. Their campaign kicks off Friday, September 11 at www.category12beer.com/barrelholder
About Category 12 Brewing
Category 12 Brewing is a craft brewery on Victoria’s picturesque Saanich Peninsula. The brainchild of Michael and Karen Kuzyk, Category 12 focuses on creating “colossal” West Coast and Belgian inspired ales that are balanced and flavourful. The brewery boasts Victoria’s only brewery tap room where customers can enjoy a flight of tasters while viewing the brewery’s entire operations.
In the brewery’s first 6 months of operation their Disruption Black IPA won a Gold medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards. Michael has his PhD in microbiology and biochemistry at the University of Victoria and has been brewing beer for 20 years. He decided to leave his scientific career to start Category 12 Brewing on the Saanich Peninsula with his wife Karen.
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