• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

The Open Bottle

craft beer shop & tap room

  • About
  • + Events
    • Public Events
    • Private Events
  • Membership
  • + What We Do
    • Collaborations
    • Recycling Program
    • Brewery Bingo
    • Run Club
    • Winter Yoga
    • #SupportEachOther
  • + Request Beer
    • Request Cases
    • Request Kegs
  • Order Online 🛒
Home / Blog / Pick of Destiny: Set Phasers To Stun Single Barrel Pick with Mikerphone

Jan 27 2023

Pick of Destiny: Set Phasers To Stun Single Barrel Pick with Mikerphone

Back in October, Mike Pallen, owner of Mikerphone Brewing, invited us to participate in their Pick of Destiny single barrel program. Pick of Destiny is their brand of single barrel-aged imperial stouts chosen by Mikerphone’s most supportive retailers.

So in early December we traveled to Elk Grove Village to visit our friends at Mikerphone Brewing to select our barrel for our 8th anniversary.

The Process

Head brewer Mike Witkowski pulled 10 different samples of barrel aged stouts for us to sample blindly, meaning we didn’t know what the base stout was, which barrel type it was aged in, or how long it was aged in the barrel.

We then wrote down our individual tasting notes and thoughts. Once we finished making our way through the 10 samples, we each selected our top 4 picks. Two of the sample beers that we all loved had a very unique dark fruit (cherry, red grape) tasting note. Mike W. then revealed the base stout, barrel type, and age length of each sample and shared with us that those two samples were both aged in Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year bourbon barrels for 15 months.

We then headed to their barrel cellar (a tight squeeze!) to find our chosen barrel and inscribe our name on the barrel!

The Name

Once the beer was picked, Mike W. pulled a sample and sent it to the lab for analysis and quality control. A few weeks later once the lab results were in, Mike P. called us to tell us the beer came back at a whopping 19.05% alcohol by volume. We were stunned!

In 2019, we released a collaboration beer with Mikerphone called Taking Back Sundae. As an homage to that name and to the band we all love so much paired with the insanely high ABV on this stout, we knew we needed to add a TOB touch to the name – Set Phasers To Stun – the name of the first track on Taking Back Sunday’s 2004 album Where You Want To Be.

About The Beer

Imperial Stout Ale Aged 15 Months in a Single Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Barrel, Picked by The Open Bottle. 19.05% ABV

Preorder and Release Details

Pick of Destiny will be exclusively available on draft at The Open Bottle during our Pre-Anniversary Party on Friday, January 27th at 5pm. We will also have a very limited amount of 500ml bottles for sale.

Draft and bottle of Pick of Destiny: Set Phasers To Stun

Preorders for 500ml bottles of Pick of Destiny: Set Phasers To Stun will also be available on our online store on Saturday, January 21st at 10am. Pickups for these preorders will start at 12pm on Sunday, January 29th at our Tinley Park location.

To Mike P., Mike W., and the rest of the Mikerphone crew for a great day of learning, sampling, hospitality…

Thank you!

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Written by Patrick · Categorized: Blog, News · Tagged: mikerphone

About Patrick

Co-owner at The Open Bottle and all around self-described pretty-great guy. Certified Cicerone and Certified Dad of three.

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok

Hours

Sun – 11am to 8pm
Mon – 12pm to 9pm
Tues – 12pm to 9pm
Wed – 11am to 9pm
Thurs – 11am to 10pm
Fri – 11am to 10pm
Sat – 11am to 10pm

  • Blog
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donation Requests
  • Terms & Policies

The Open Bottle LLC © 2025 - 16437 159th St · Lockport, IL 60441

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d