Tag: Firestone Walker

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Review – Luponic Distortion – Revolution 002

Three months have passed and we are now onto the 002 version of Luponic Distortion from Firestone Walker.
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Before the review proper, let’s get the Luponic 002 Lowdown, as it is called in their press release: The lead hop this time is a new cultivar from an experimental plot in the Pacific Northwest. “It has these vivid peachy flavors with tropical notes reminiscent of papaya,” per Matt Brynildson, the brewmaster.

“Hops from New Zealand and Germany are also in the mix. Of the seven hops in the blend, only two are carryovers from Revolution 001—and three are hops never used by Firestone Walker before.”

“This beer truly touches every corner of the hop growing world,” Brynildson said. “The southern hemisphere hops add these bright Sauvignon Blanc-like accents of grapefruit and gooseberry, and there’s this new variety out of Europe that ties everything together with honeydew aromas and an underlying herbal pine quality.”

Those are the hop ingredients but what I get from this dark yellow hued IPA is a mix of apricot and peach that folds into a really rindy grapefruit taste. The beers really seems to be striving to have a juicy quality but the bitterness really pulls back on the reins. In the end you are left with a resiny taste in the mouth and all the fruit disappears. You could say this was three different beers. Peach aroma. Citrus to Resin flavors. This is one of the IPAs that makes me long to taste beers made from the individual hops.

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The 2nd Nitro

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Here is the quote that should make you place an order at the bar, “DBA is the beer that started it all for us in 1996, but this may be its truest form yet,” said David Walker.

The English-style bitter, Double Barrel Ale (DBA) from Firestone Walker will be on offer nitro style. This is the 2nd nitro after Velvet Merlin and they have picked another from the stable that really will be affected by the dispense. I highly suggest trying regular one night and make notes and then get a pint nitro’d and see what differences you spot.

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#LABW8 – Polly Want a Whiskey?

Reverse barrel time for #LABW8 as Steve Lipp, owner of Alexnder Murray & Co, and the esteemed David Walker, of Firestone Walker Brewing Company, will be pub crawling this Saturday, June 25th to showcase their collaboration Polly’s Casks in Santa Monica.
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What are Polly’s Casks? It is a “Highland Single Malt Scotch that has been aged in Bourbon Casks previously used to age American Craft Beer.”

The three bar crawl will feature specialty cocktails with Alexander Murray Scotch whisky line along with Firestone Walker’s core and specialty beers (Parabajava Coffee, Sticky Monkeee Qua). Participating bars include: The Basement Tavern, Areal, and The Library Alehouse.

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ONS – Firestone + Barrelworks

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Now, that I have talked up Firestone Walker so much, you may be wanting to have some of their beers. You could go to Venice and the Propagator restaurant but if you wanted something tonight, well Beer Belly has you covered with a One Night Stand (ONS) that spans sours to hops to Nitro and the year 2015.

Check out the list below: (My picks are highlighted)
2015 Parabola • Sucaba • Bretta Weisse • Krieky Bones • Bretta Rose (bottles) • Velvet Merkin • Luponic Distortion • Nitro Merlin • Easy Jack • Double Jack • Opal • Pivo Pils

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Happy FW Invitational Day – STiVO

Could this be a pilsner whale? Well, if STiVO Keller Pils a collaborative beer from Russian River owners Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo and Firestone Walker’s Brewmaster Matt Brynildson isn’t, then I can’t imagine what could be.
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STiVO Keller Pils was brewed for this year’s Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest on June 4. Perusing the list that Firestone Walker made public, it is one of many pilsners that will be offered which is fantastic considering that it might be another hot day.

According to Brynildson, the STiVO recipes were already pretty close, “Our water philosophies and malt profiles were already essentially the same, and our yeast strains were pretty similar, so it really came down to how we wanted to handle the hops, and the overall weight of the beer we wanted to make.”

The beer will be hop split between Pivo’s German Saphir hops and STS’s Alsatian Aramis hops. Plus it “was racked to kegs unfiltered and will be presented in the classic keller style, naturally carbonated and slightly hazy.”

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Propagator is Open – Tomorrow

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The wait was worse than those last couple hours before Christmas. Now, (well, tomorrow night) the Propagator – the latest location from Firestone Walker will be open for limited dinner hours.

Let’s touch on the beer first “Firestone Walker favorites, including taps dedicated to Barrelworks wild ales, guest taps and beer engines for select cask favorites” will be offered to begin with. When the final paperwork comes through and the government finally lets FW loose, there will also be an intriguing, new set of beers to try.

As described by Brewmaster Matt Brynildson “rustic ales—a loose category of unfiltered, largely barrel-conditioned, often farmhouse-style beers—have not had a fitting home at Firestone Walker until now, as they are too unstable to make at the clean production brewery but also too susceptible to souring influences at Barrelworks.” There is also a chance that they will collaborate with LA breweries but not in the typical way. They are pondering bringing another breweries wort into their aging and staging area for conditioning.

That dream and the beautiful (and expensive brewing system) will have to wait as for now the focus will be on what is created in Buellton and Paso Robles as well as the food. Speaking of, “The menu will offer a mix of small dishes, sharables, tacos, pizzas and large plates. Initial menu items include Smoked Brisket (16-hour brisket, grilled asparagus, smashed potatoes); Tempeh Banh Mi (marinated tempeh, pickled veggies, spicy soy may, crispy shallots); and Pork Belly Tacos (handmade corn tortillas, beer-braised pork belly, pineapple pico, chicharrones).”

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Firestone Boulevard

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It was really only a matter of time before Boulevard Brewing added Firestone Walker to their collaboration series of beers. Them being cousins and all.

Collaboration No. 6 will build on the blending know-how of Firestone Walker with a brewing dream team of Matt and Boulevard Brewmaster Steven Pauwels will be pulling beer from Boulevard’s stockpile and then will “brew, ferment and age Firestone Walker beers at Boulevard in Kansas City using recipes created by Matt and his team in Paso Robles to complete the final blend.”

More concrete information on the beers included in the blend will come later.

The beer is slated for a July release, will be available on draft and in 750ml bottles throughout Boulevard’s distribution network.

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Distorted Details

A while back I noted the future plans for a new IPA from Firestone Walker and now more details and a release date of March has been announced for Luponic Distortion
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Here are those details….”Luponic Distortion is not a single beer, but rather an ongoing series of beers that will evolve and revolve approximately every 90 days. It all kicks off with Revolution No. 001 in March.” Then do the math for when 002 will show up on tap.

“The base beer will remain the same with each new release, but the hop blend will change every time, so that no two releases will be exactly alike. As many as nine different hops will be included in each release, with up to six used in the dry hopping alone. However, with each release, the brewing team is going to turn up the volume a different featured experimental hop, which will be dry hopped in greater quantity than the others.”

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Nitro Merlin

January 6, 2016 marks the Central Coast foray into Nitro with Nitro Merlin Milk Stout from Firestone Walker. The variant of the original Velvet Merkin will be available on draft all year-round and will be introduced with a series of “Milk & Cookies” events that will include another Central Coast business, Brown Butter Cookie Company.

What makes NMMS different? It is basically Velvet Merlin oatmeal stout, but…. “with one critical twist: the inclusion of non-fermentable lactose sugar (a.k.a. milk sugar), the ingredient that transforms the beer into a milk stout”
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You can read more about Milk Stout HERE and more about Nitro HERE.

Details on upcoming Milk & Cookies pairings will be posted HERE.

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Check the Schedule

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You can’t (and probably shouldn’t) schedule for everything. But it is good to have a framework or skeleton of what beers will be done in the next year. Some breweries fly by the seat of their pants but the ones that don’t can greatly help out their customers by whetting their appetite for the beers of 2016. So, thanks Firestone Walker for helping me plan mine.