Five of the 10 highest-rated beers on the review site ratebeer.com have something in common: They're aged in oak barrels that previously held bourbon.

Full-bodied, high-alcohol, malt-forward ales like imperial stouts and barleywines tend to react best to bourbon-barrel aging, and beer geeks go gaga for these special brews. The time the beers spend in barrels — from several weeks to more than a year — imparts notes of vanilla, toasted coconut, dried fruit and earthy booziness from the bourbon-soaked wood.

Another thing those top-rated barrel-aged beers have in common: None are from Missouri. A new collaboration between a St. Louis liquor store and several local craft breweries may soon change that.

Paul Hayden, manager of the Wine and Cheese Place's Clayton location, began sourcing single-barrel bourbons this year to be bottled exclusively for sale at his shop. As part of the program, the distillery offered to ship the spent barrel — washed, rinsed and stained to look pretty for display — along with the bottles of bourbon. That gave Hayden an idea.

"We asked if they could give it to us as-is — not washed — and they said yes," Hayden says. "I thought maybe Schlafly would be willing to do a beer for us if we supplied the barrel. I emailed (St. Louis Brewery co-founder) Dan Kopman and suggested the idea to him, and he said he was on board."

On Aug. 5, a freshly emptied barrel that had held Buffalo Trace bourbon arrived at the Wine and Cheese Place. Hayden drove it to the Schlafly Tap Room, where brewers Stephen Hale and Brennan Greene filled it with the brewery's Quadrupel. The strong (12 percent alcohol by volume) Belgian-style ale is available year-round in 750-ml bottles, but this marks the first time Schlafly Quadrupel has undergone barrel-aging. (Since 2006, Schlafly has released a yearly vintage imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels.)

The special-label, single-barrel bourbon proved to be a hit at the Wine and Cheese Place. When the store sold out of its stock of about two dozen cases in less than two months, Hayden decided to order another batch, and another, and another.

His second barrel, which had held Knob Creek 9-Year-Old bourbon, went to the newly opened Perennial Artisan Ales. Brewers Phil Wymore and Cory King filled the barrel last week with Heart of Gold, Perennial's wheat wine (think barleywine, but with a fluffier mouthfeel from lots of malted wheat) that clocks in at 10 percent ABV.

A third barrel, previously containing Elijah Craig 12-Year-Old bourbon, will go to 4 Hands Brewing Co. in a few weeks. Kevin Lemp, owner of the brewery that's set to open this month about a half-mile south of Busch Stadium, says he and brewer Will Johnston will fill the barrel with an imperial stout made with vanilla beans and locally roasted Goshen espresso. "We feel the espresso and vanilla will play very nicely with the bourbon and oak," Lemp says.

And a fourth barrel, from Buffalo Trace, will head to New Haven's 2nd Shift Brewing Co. for a beer to be determined. Brewery owner Steve Crider is asking for help deciding which of his beers — Cat Spit Stout, Imperial Hibiscus Wit or El Gato Grande Imperial IPA — to barrel-age. Help him decide by voting at thewineandcheeseplace.blogspot.com.

Release dates for these brews are a work in progress.

The barrel containing Schlafly Quadrupel has been sitting in the Tap Room cellar for 10 weeks, and although Hale says he and Hayden plan to taste it soon, Hale has yet to set a date for it to be bottled. Perennial plans to let its Heart of Gold hang out in the barrel for six months, meaning a possible springtime release.

One thing that's certain: When they're ready, these bottles won't be around for long. A single barrel will yield about 20 cases of beer packaged in 750-ml bottles. At 12 bottles a case, that's 240 bottles — about as limited as limited-edition releases get.

Another certainty: This unique collaboration series — the Wine and Cheese Place may very well be the only liquor store in the country regularly supplying bourbon barrels to local craft breweries for exclusive one-offs — is sure not to end anytime soon. Hayden says Perennial's Wymore and King have already requested another barrel, and Urban Chestnut and O'Fallon breweries have expressed interest.

With some of St. Louis' best craft breweries on the case, these barrel-aged beers are likely to incite anticipation and delight from local beer enthusiasts, and envy from those afar. Who knows — maybe one of these beers will even help Missouri crack the RateBeer Top 10.