Olde Hickory gets wild with long-awaited brews

After years of waiting and waiting—and waiting—Olde Hickory Brewery might have a new beer, maybe.

When the Hickory-based brewery released its wild Flanders Oude Red Ale, it had been sitting in bourbon barrels for 30 months. At 56 months, its Wheat Wine took even longer.

Why rush the process?

Sales Ambassador Sarah Miller said brewer and co-owner Steven Lyerly isn't in any hurry get his creations out.

"(You ask him,) 'So, Steven, when is such-and-such beer going to be out?' (He says,) 'Hmm, it's not ready yet. Ask me again in a couple weeks.' ... He absolutely won't put out a product until he is 100 percent satisfied with it," Miller said on the 919 Beer Podcast.

Lyerly's patience pays off.

The Event Horizon, a barrel-aged imperial stout, took home a silver medal at last year's Great American Beer Festival, and their Irish Walker barley wine, won a gold medal. Irish Walker also won silver in 2013.

For the new wild ales, Miller said Olde Hickory turned its original brewery, which is located in a restaurant called Amos Howard Brew Pub, into a lab for production. While more wilds are in the future plans, Lyerly is brewing some beers that haven't been around in a while, like imperial brown ale Daniel Boone and the collaborative Olde Rabbit's Foot.