How I spent my Sunday.......Bottling a Flanders Red Ale - a 2 year project completed

Two years ago my son scored a used wine barrel.  Some folks would make a planter, some would bust it up for smoking chunks.  He decided to make a Flanders red ale which is a sour Belgian style fermented with Lactobacillus in an oak barrel for a year or more.  How to get 55 gallons of beer to start with?  Line up 11 home brewers to contribute 5 gallons each - I was one of the 11.  He coordinated it all and in November of 2012, the fermented wort went into the barrel and was inoculated with the Lacto.  It has been resting and fermenting in the basement of an old house in Buffalo since then, today was bottling day.  7 30-something beer geeks plus I were there, bottled slightly over 23 cases over about 4 hours.  Of course we tasted, and if you like the style, this stuff will be excellent.  It needs about 2 months in the bottle to carbonate, but will cellar for years - Flanders red is a lot like wine in that regard.