Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
It has been a bit since I have mentioned Firestone Walker and Buellton but a new beer is coming out that changes that trend and it is a unique one, Saffron Saison a wild saison ale with (take a guees) saffron, sweet orange peel and Indian coriander. It is a Batch No 1 release.
This will be sort of a mini-re-hash of the Firestone Walker Invitational at the start of the month. When you have that many good breweries together, you are going to run across something stellar. But I will highlight one other beer from the rest of the month.
For me, what stood out was the Leeds based brewery Northern Monk. Their Very Stable Genius hoppy lager from their Patrons Archive was just bright and tasty which is saying something because the festival is home to a ton of fantastic pilsners and lagers.
Second was the Wild Pirate tiki-esque sour from the BarrelWorks program at Firestone Walker. It had a nice balance of vanilla sweet and fruit sour to be a hybrid of both.
Lastly, no homer-ism but I really took to the Artifex Beer Paper Pale Ale. Yes, I contribute the odd piece to the beer periodical but the beer itself was flavorful and 3-D.
Hood River meets Buellton as two iconic breweries in iconic towns go in on a Saison together…
Firestone Walker and pFriem aren’t going fancy. Unless you count the bottles. Just a barrel-aged Saison
Firestone Walker dropped some new beer s from their BarrelWorks division and from their cocktail inspired series…
…and I am in a bit of a quandary. The Gin Rickey beer which I had such high hopes for was not to my liking at all so can they re-find the magic of past beers? The Blackberry beer sounds intriguing but mint and cinnamon in a wild ale? In normal times, I would just order tasters and see which won out.
Firestone Walker’s Barrelworks division has gotten in the mood with Sante Adairius Rustic Ales for “Big Mood”, “a new wild child crafted with Blenheim apricots and white wine grapes.
Here is more info on the collaboration
Jim “Crooks used the Sante Adairius yeast to ferment 2,000 pounds of Blenheim variety apricots sourced from Sante Adairius’ supplier in Hollister, California—enough to fill 50 oak barrels of beer, which underwent six months of aging. This apricot beer was then blended with a special selection of barrel-aged wine hybrid lots dating back to the 2017 vintage, all made with local Santa Barbara County white wine grapes.”
There are not too many sour stout based beers out there. But now Barrelworks from Firestone Walker is adding a dark sour to their range. Here is the backstory on this new beer “…Velvet Merkin which was then given our treatment and transferred to French, American and Hungarian oak barrels thus transforming one amazing beer into something inconceivable. Mordred offers a depth of dark chocolates, espresso and spices of nutmeg and clove.”
I had not read Stephen King’s IT in a long time. IT and its main disguise as Pennywise is not something one forgets though. And with the movie adaptation coming up, I thought it a good time to face down my fear of clowns and re-read the 2nd longest book by the horror writer.
I soon realized that Pennywise is only a cameo player in the travails of The Loser’s Club of Derry. Henry Bower’s and his roving gang of bullies cause more mayhem and broken bones over the course of the book to our heroes. King does a great job of structure with the book. Laying out the events leading to the first major encounter in the 1950’s between Bill, Beverly, Ben, Richie, Mike, Eddie and Stan, interspersed with the special (and deadly) history of the Derry Township that IT had caused. Plus the return of the older versions in the 80’s to do final battle and end the killing once and for all. To weave those threads throughout 1000+ pages of book without the action flagging is a tremendous feat.
Though there are jolts enough in the book, I was more scared by Pet Sematary and The Shining in book form as the ordinary takes evil form as opposed to the hibernating and shape-shifting IT. And considering the age of the kids I was surpirsed that I also didn’t remember the sex scene at the very end of the book. Overall, IT and The Stand work King territory well. There is a reason why they keep wanting to film his books.
For beers, let’s start with Maine’s best known brewery, Allagash and their Ghoulschip Wild Ale. A sour pumpkin ale blend to set the sour mood. Then move on to the Maple Beast from Rockingham Brewery in Derry (New Hampshire). After sitting in a chair reading for so long, you might have achy bones. So finish with Krieky Bones from the BarrelWorks crew of Firestone Walker.
Then make sure to steer clear of the house on Nieboldt Street.