With The Little Woody having taken place this weekend, I did a deep dive on a single barrel-aged beer from 10 Barrel Brewing: Joyous Limbs, a sour ale aged 10 months in a genever barrel from Oregon Spirit Distillers.

Genever is the juniper-flavored traditional liquor of the Netherlands, similar to gin.

What sets genever apart is that it’s a “malt wine” distilled spirit, which makes it similar to whiskey at its base; one description I encountered calls it “the lovechild of a marriage between whiskey and gin.” A typical mash might include a combination of corn, wheat, and rye along with barley, and some traditional versions (“oude” or old-style genever) are aged in oak barrels.

Oregon Spirit Distillers’ version, Merrylegs Genever, is made entirely with malted barley, and is infused with botanicals including juniper, coriander, star anise, rose and lemon. The distillery currently also offers Aged Merrylegs, which rested in bourbon barrels for five years, available in the company’s small-batch Hawthorne Series at the tasting room.

It was in one such barrel that 10 Barrel aged its Joyous Limbs.

“Brandy at Oregon Spirit Distillers contacted me to ask if we’d be interested in a couple of one-off special barrels they had, and this (Genever barrel) was one of them,” brewer Bryon Pyka said via email.

Since it’s debuted at The Little Woody, I didn’t get a chance to taste and actually review the beer, which is extremely limited (only the one barrel produced). But a bit was left over that will be going on tap at one of 10 Barrel’s Bend pubs at some point, so if you missed it this weekend, you might catch it sometime in the near future.