Deep Wood 2025: Part 2 | Revolution Brewing
It’s November so that means it’s the biggest month for barrel-aged beers. FoBAB, Black Friday, special releases – November has it all barrel-aged. Revolution, of course, releases their next round of Deep Wood beers this month (they give you December off but come back hard in January). This time around it’s the perennial Straight Jacket, the once-every-three-years-or-so Gravedigger Billy, and the return (and only the second time it’s been released) of Apple Brandy Ryeway.
Gravedigger Billy | 13.5% ABV
A semi-regular release, Gravedigger Billy returns for the first time under the new can art and, boy, is it awesome. Gravedigger Billy was first released in bombers back in the day (2014 it appears) and shows up sporadically. Surprisingly, Revolution released V.S.O. Gravedigger in April 2023 during the Deep Wood off-season (and that beer was delicious). Let’s see how Gravedigger Billy stacks up.
Gravedigger Billy pours a light brown or caramel color with two fingers of white head that vanishes quickly. It sits in the glass darker with some crimson highlights and leaves from alcohol legs staining the glass. Aromas fill the room upon opening it, with a big bourbon note leading the way. Bread is the next biggest thing, followed by raisins or figs, vanilla (from the barrel) and a hint of chocolate. Smells like a good scotch ale!
The first thing I noticed drinking Gravedigger Billy was the dry finish. There’s not much of anything hanging around after the sip. Before the finish, however, bread, brown sugar, raisin, and figs show up on the palate. Dig deeper and butterscotch and caramel show up briefly. While there’s no alcohol burn, there is a little booziness on the finish to let you know you’re drinking at 13%+ ABV beer. All in all, an excellent BA scotch ale.
Given the dearth of barrel-aged scotch ales available in the market, Gravedigger Billy immediately slides in and becomes the best one available. My only complaint – it’s not V.S.O. Gravedigger. V.S.O. Gravedigger just dialed everything up a notch while maintaining the same scotch ale characteristics without making it too sweet. If both are available I’m reaching for V.S.O. Gravedigger 9 times out of 10 (always leave room for a saucy night!). And that’s not a knock against Gravedigger Billy; it’s praise for Revolution and their barrel program. If you’re itching for a scotch ale – barrel-aged or otherwise – Gravedigger Billy is your new go to until it runs out.
Straight Jacket | 15% ABV
Do I even need to write anything here? Straight Jacket is Revolution’s award-winning barrel-aged barleywine, was originally a barrel-aged version of their Institutionalized barleywine (almost positive the recipe for it has changed), comes out every year and usually finishes near the top of the Deep Wood rankings.
Straight Jacket pours like it always does – an orange or light brown color with two fingers of head that disappears like soda. It has a lovely crimson glow in the glass and some alcohol stain on the glass. As per usual, you get caramel, butterscotch, toffee, bourbon, and vanilla aromas from Straight Jacket. Something different, however, was a fruit-like aroma coming off of it – something akin to cherries? Never really got that off of Straight Jacket before.
During my first pour, the flavor from Straight Jacket veered to the sides of the tongue, leaving the middle of the tongue in a flavor void. Those flavors were great – bourbon, vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, maybe a hint of chocolate. Upon revisiting, it went back to coating the entire tongue in flavor. I have no idea what this means. Straight Jacket is not too sweet and the butterscotch hangs around. Outside of that flavor void I got on my first pour, this is classic Straight Jacket. Buy confidently.
Apple Brandy Ryeway | 15.8% ABV
Sorry, Ryeway to Heaven fanboys, but it’s not in this year’s lineup (for the first time, like, ever?). As a replacement, we’re getting Apple Brandy Ryeway – the Ryeway to Heaven you know and love, just aged in apple brandy barrels. Its only previous release was as part of the Deep Wood 2020 lineup (released in January 2021). It’s been a minute!
Apple Brandy (AB) Ryeway pours much the same as Gravedigger Billy and Straight Jacket – and orange and light brown color. It does rest in the glass a shade darker than the other two. A half finger of head evaporates quickly. There’s some alcohol stain and some legs as well. The nose is full of rye spices, bread, toffee and some apple brandy.
AB Ryeway really leans into the apple brandy! That’s the absolute star here. Typically the rye spices and bread dominate the flavor profile but not on this one. The apple brandy brings some a bit of sweetness and dryness at the expense of the spice and bread. That’s not to say the spices and bread aren’t there – they are – but they’re definitely tamped down. The entire endeavor is insanely smooth and drinkable. Of the three, I’d say this was the easiest to finish the can of.
While those that love Ryeway to Heaven might be disappointed by the apple brandy taking the lead, this is a very enjoyable and well-put-together beer. No alcohol burn and very smooth, this beer is a testament to Revolution’s barrel-aging program and how far it’s come.
Rankings and Rum V.S.O.J.
If I had to rank these, I’d say the smoothness of Apple Brandy Ryeway takes the top spot for me, followed by Straight Jacket and then Gravedigger Billy. Those that love barrel-aged scotch ales should move Gravedigger Billy higher but you really can’t go wrong with any of them.
What of Rum V.S.O.J., their Twenty Ten variant release? That will appear on our Deep Wood show to be released during barrel-aged December but if previous incarnations of it are any indication, it would be neck-and-neck with AB Ryeway. My guess is your preference for apple brandy versus rum would win that showdown. But tune in for that show in December!
