Bell's Andrews' Ale

Bell’s Brewery is releasing its first beer fermented in 100-year-old wooden cypress tanks that were used by Stroh Brewing Company in Detroit.
Andrews’ Ale is inspired by the traditional English style Extra Special Bitter and uses a semi-retired malt variety, Chevallier, that was popular during the 19th Century in England.
The tanks came to Bell’s from Detroit, where they were sitting in a warehouse for more than 50 years. They were transferred in pieces and reassembled by local carpenters at Bell’s. Each tank is about 12 feet in diameter and stands about 8 feet tall.

Bell’s Director of Operations John Mallett’s idea for Andrews’ Ale was to make a beer with a heritage barley malt. The wooden tanks were used because it was the material used in fermenters when the style was popular.
Chevallier was the primary barley grown in England through the 19th century. By the late 1880s, it made up 80 to 90 percent of all the barley grown there. Today, it has all but disappeared. In 2012, it was grown in small quantities in England where it was malted as a test plot.