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Looks like the El Camino is back out of storage…..
El Camino (Un) Real, a three way collaboration with 21st Amendment, Firestone Walker and Stone Brewing will soon return for the first time since 2011.
The collaborative canned beer is a dark ale, brewed with fennel seeds, chia seeds, peppercorns and figs.
Fun Fact: This year’s Firestone Walker Anniversary XX barrel-aged beer is really only the 10 version of the beer. The tradition started with their 10th anniversary beer and has only grown in esteem and blending talent and barrels. So many, many barrels.
It took the competitive wine juices of 17 winemakers who gathered back in August to create this years blend. Scott Hawley of Torrin Vineyard was declared the winner and his blend serves as the base for XX which is broken down from (5) beers and 250 oak barrels!
Parabola –Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout / Aged in New Oak and Bourbon Barrels / 40% of Final Blend
Stickee Monkee –Central Coast Quad Brewed with Belgian Candi and Mexican Turbinado (brown) Sugar/ Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels / 20% of Final Blend
Velvet Merkin –Traditional Oatmeal Stout / Aged in Bourbon Barrels / 17.5% of Final Blend
Bravo –Imperial Brown Ale/ Aged in Bourbon Barrels / 12.5% of Final Blend
Helldorado –Blonde Barleywine / Aged in Bourbon Barrels / 10% of Final Blend
Another Fun Fact:
X was sold for $9.99 per 22-ounce bottle and it was considered a really high price, this year bottles will start at $23.99 and be more than worth it.
Would you consider VIP access to next year’s Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest on June 3, 2017 enough of a prize to get excited about?
What if you add in the opportunity to brew at the R&D kettles in Venice? And then add more, blending beer at the Barrelworks in Buellton?
To reiterate, you get to….
Prize 1
“The Firestone Walker Expedition begins at the Propagator pilot brewhouse in Venice, California for a crash course in brewing the types of experimental and R&D beers that will set the pace for what’s next from Firestone Walker. The day concludes with a celebratory meal at the Propagator restaurant.”
Prize 2
“Next up is a visit to Barrelworks in the town of Buellton in Santa Barbara County. Here, Barrelmeister Jeffers Richardson and Master Blender “Sour” Jim Crooks will show the participants how to blend their own unruly brew from a variety of eccentric Barrelworks creations.”
Prize 3
“The journey concludes in Paso Robles in the heart of the Central Coast wine country, where participants will enjoy a private tour of Firestone Walker’s main brewery with Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. On June 3, the group will head out for VIP early-entry to the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest, which has been hailed as one of the nation’s top beer festivals”.
All you have to do is :to nominate their favorite Firestone Walker fanatic by producing and uploading a video explaining what makes that individual worthy of joining the Expedition. Three winners will be selected. The prize for each winner is two all-expenses-paid spots on the Expedition.”
All the rules and FAQ’s can be found HERE. You have until December 11th to create a compelling video.
You know that I am smitten with Firestone Walker. Just had the 003 Luponic Distortion at the Craft Beer Summit and now there are two more new ones on the horizon. One seemingly adversarial and the other friendlier.
Since I bought Firestone Walker’s canned Oaktoberfest while I still had some of the Sierra Nevada / Mahrs Brau Oktoberfest in the ‘fridge, I thought I should do a taste test. Then I thought that I should do a blind taste test. Then I had my sister-in-law do the pouring so I could get down to business
Here are the results:
Beer # 1 poured a darker shade of yellow in the taster glass with less bubbles but bigger ones. Malt and sweetness on the nose. Flavor wise the minerality comes through. Wheat toast and some floral character add to the roundness.
Beer # 2 is just a skosh lighter color wise with the bigger difference being more tiny bubbles. Not as much aroma on this entrant. The taste is a little sharper initially. Sweeter with minerality more in the background. Touch of honey as well.
# 1 is my winner. It seems heartier to me. More toast and fullness to it. This was really close though. Not a huge gap between them.
Most importantly, I guessed correctly. Identifyingy my choice of winner as Oaktoberfest from Firestone Walker.
The third Revolution has arrived. Which means 1. Triple-check the neck of the can or bottle for 003. You don’t want to accidentally get 002 or 001, god forbid.
So what hops are featured in Firestone Walker’s Luponic Distortion – Revolution No. 003? It’s a blend of nine different hops with two German hops in the lead. Both currently nameless it seems. The first gives off a mandarin orange character while the second hasn’t even been presented on such a big scale and stage yet. The last hop to mention is Comet which lends a fresh fruit aroma.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the first two in the series and I look forward to the newbie too.
As far as choices of beers to can, Firestone Walker made a good one, in my mind, by adding their “Paso Märzen Bier” AKA Oaktoberfest to their 16oz cans. Even if it is just a seasonal.
Usually this classic Märzen style with a skosh extra West Coast hoppiness is mostly available on draft. But this is the second time this all German ingredients beer has been packaged. The last being a couple years back since it didn’t make the schedule last year.
Which means, best try it now. Who knows if it will take another sabbatical.
Three months have passed and we are now onto the 002 version of Luponic Distortion from Firestone Walker.
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.
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.
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.
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.