Eric Strader

Beer Nuts



Arcadia Ales is currently located in Battle Creek, Mich., however, you may have seen in beer news that they will be opening a new facility in Kalamazoo in the near future. I frequent Arcadia when I am visiting my parents who live in Battle Creek, and have enjoyed both their Cereal Killer and Imperial Stout.

In 2009, Arcadia won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival with their barrel aged Cereal Killer, and it will be the first time that they have released it since. Of course they did keep a few barrels of this for tapping in the pub on special occasions. It was at one of those occasions that I was able to taste this tasty treat.

Here is the description from Arcadia:

“Barrel Aged Cereal Killer (10% ABV): A 22 month aged barleywine, brewed in English-style tradition, full-bodied with robust malty flavors like caramel, toffee, molasses and dark fruit notes, subtle citrus finish from the hops. Cellar-aging evolves the flavor into a sherry-like aroma, available in 12 oz. bottles. IBUs: 60”

Arcadia will also be releasing for the first time, a barrel aged imperial stout with this description from the brewery:

“Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (9.5% ABV): A 22 month aged Imperial Stout with a rich mouth feel, aroma consists of dark roasted malts and blackstrap molasses with a hint of smoke, flavor notes of coffee, bittersweet cocoa, black licorice and hints of prune. A generous addition of hops provides complexity and an astringent finish. Available in 12 oz. bottles. IBUs: 82”

I do have several bottles of Arcadia’s non-barrel aged imperial stout from ’07 and ’08. I have opened some of these bottles over the past couple of years, and it has held up quite well with age.

Release of these two barrel aged beers is expected to happen sometime between November and December. They will be very limited, and at this point, I believe that they will be brewery release only.

This column was adapted from Eric Strader’s Beer Nuts blog at blogs.etruth.com.