Tag: Firestone Walker

Posted on

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”
Nitro Merlin
You can read more about Milk Stout HERE and more about Nitro HERE.

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

Posted on

Check the Schedule

Capture
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.

Posted on

Distorted

As if I wasn’t bad enough that Easy Jack and Pivo Pils are tempting me on shelves, now Firestone Walker has to go and add a revolving hop series?
Capture
I will be searching for this one to compare against Union Jack to see what hops tricks have been happening up in Paso Robles.

Posted on

A Very, Merry Un-Hopped Birthday

FWBC_XIX-AnniversaryAle_22ozBottleBox
Firestone Walker should televise their annual Anniversary Blending Battle for the Cardboard Crown. Each year the stakes are high, the competition is fierce and sometimes you encounter unknown obstcles.

This year Brewmaster Matt Brynildson eliminated the use of hoppy beers in the blend. And XIX is comprised of only four beers: Parabola, Stickee Monkee, Bravo, and Velvet Merkin.
Brynildson “… was concerned that hoppiness might begin to encroach on the intended style of the Anniversary Ale, so [he] eliminated the temptation.”

13 winemakers participated under the more stringent rules with Sherman Thacher and Daniel Callan of Thacher Winery creating the winning blend which is…..
Parabola Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout / Aged in Bourbon Barrels / 33.33% of Final Blend
Stickee Monkee Central Coast Quad / Aged in Bourbon and Whiskey Barrels / 33.33% of Final Blend
Bravo Imperial Brown Ale / Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels / 16.6% of Final Blend
Velvet Merkin Traditional Oatmeal Stout / Aged in Bourbon Barrels / 16.6% of Final Blend
And now that you are partway to the car, ready to buy, you will need to be a little patient because XIX will be available in select markets across the United States starting in November. The suggested retail price is $23.99 for an individually boxed 22-ounce bottle.

Posted on

With More Velvet

Anything that Firestone Walker puts into a fancy box should be a must buy for beer fans and that goes double for Velvet Merkin, their barrel-aged oatmeal stout which is set to return in its third bottled vintage.

Screen Shot 2015-09-12 at 10.20.01 AM

What’s different?  The 2015 Velvet Merkin includes a barrel-aged lot of an experimental milk stout version of Velvet Merlin.

Then the beer was aged in bourbon barrels from the Heaven Hill family, including Elijah Craig and Old Fitzgerald.

The 2015 Velvet Merkin will be officially released at the brewery on Saturday, September 12. A total of 3,500 cases (22-ounce bottles; $16.99) were produced, with availability slated for select markets across the United States.

Posted on

A Book & A Beer – Tarkin

I did feel a little self-conscious checking out a Star Wars universe book at my local library. But with the first trailer for the Force Awakens out and the Comic-Con appearance of the stars young and old, I felt a little nostalgic for the original trilogy which is the only set of movies to my mind. (No matter how much you edit the abominations of Phantom, Attack and Revenge or re-order their viewing order.)

But after a long book on Alan Turing that nearly drained me, I needed something light and easy and Tarkin by James Luceno was just that. The book charts the rise of Peter Cushing’s DeathStar Grand Moff from his upbringing on the Outer Rim planet of Eriadu to commanding the construction of the destroyer of worlds.

Screen Shot 2015-08-15 at 7.18.39 PM

Darth Vader and the Emperor are along for this novel too. Tarkin comes off as a supreme tactician who knows moves way before they happen, with Vader and the Force they seem unstoppable until they come across a rogue who can match them step for step with help from the inside of what will soon be the Empire.

It gets a bit repetitive with T&V making correct chess moves to match the rebel as they hop from planet to star system via lightspeed. Then it happens again and again. The flashbacks on Tarkin’s childhood are good as is how he rose in prominence in the power structure due to the fall of others but in the end this is all just backstory. Something that the actor probably didn’t have unless Lucas had an outline like it in his head. It serves as something that could be brought out in a bit of dialogue and actorly looks on set. But you can’t write every minor and sub-minor character their own backstory in a screenplay so if you are the completist type, this will scratch the itch for more on how Tarkin ended up on the original DeathStar.

Obviously, the beers to go with this are easy to pick. For SoCal locals Galaxy Defender from Monkish Brewing a Belgian-style blonde with grapefruit peels & Galaxy hops would be an excellent choice as would be the Citizens of the Galaxy IPL from Cismontane. No matter where you are in the country, there is probably a Galaxy hopped beer that will do the trick.

Or you could go to the dark side with the Black IPA Hop Vader from Beachwood Brewing or Wookey Jack from Firestone Walker.

Posted on

Get Away and Brew

Capture
Are you a homebrewer or a brewer fan geek?  Well, here is an opportunity for the well-heeled….

“….brew with some of the world’s best master brewers over two days at the rustic, yet luxurious Devil’s Thumb Ranch:

Matt Brynildson, Master Brewer at Firestone Walker
Steven Pauwels, Master Brewer at Boulevard Brewing
Andy Parker, Master Brewer at Avery Brewing
And one more mystery brewer who will be announced soon

Not only will you be brewing and hanging with these brewing greats, Craft Beer & Brewing will ferment and bottle these beers and send you a handful of bombers to enjoy. Just think! You’ll have the ultimate collaboration beers to share with your friends.

Two nights of luxury lodging at the spectacular Devils Thumb Ranch, delicious lunches and dinners at the ranch on Sunday and Monday, round-trip transportation from downtown Denver or Denver International Airport (at specific times only), craft beer at designated events, all the brewing supplies you’ll need, two Cooking with Beer Seminars and all taxes and gratuities are included in this memorable experience.”

Intrigued?  Check out the LINK for more info.

 

Posted on

FW + DM = New & Improved Paso

After I put this week’s L.A. Beer Blast to bed, I started rifling through my e-mail and came upon one from Firestone Walker.

I reflexively smiled thinking about some barrel-aged beer or new sour surprise from Barrelworks. But when I clicked the link, this is what I saw:
Announcement_Letter
My first thought was “Oh no, I now have to see a bunch of ill-informed beer snobs posting about how they won’t drink FW beer because they aren’t independent anymore.”

Then I calmed down and realized that this might just be the straw that breaks the beer snobs anti-consolidation back. How can they use their copy/paste rant here? The near universal love of Firestone and the stewardship of Duvel with Boulevard and Ommegang will pretty much lay to rest any qualms that the auto-haters have.

I will post more about this next week over on Food GPS as I process the news with some pithy answers from the David Walker himself to my hasty questions that I e-mailed last night.

Posted on

New Beer Sunday – 1

The Firestone Walker anniversary beer components are becoming more and more readily available which may well lead to blending parties as people try to make an even better blend.

The next beer to buy for your blending or cellar or just to share with friends is the strange hybrid Helldorado—a blonde barley wine aged in retired spirits barrels.

Helldorado2015_22ozBottle_Box

The beer will be released on the 18th and is a great way to see how a base beer, in this case a pale blonde, can be barrel-ized into something really intriguing.

Posted on

Not too Stickee

Today! That is when the Central Coast Quad that drives spellcheck crazy is back.  Stickee Monkee 2015.

mjPLNf8Mzg7gWNns3U7BYgJ_GOrdIGwkP0JruArHzR0

The 2015 vintage is year two of the release of the CCQ from Firestone Walker and it is a wonderful mixture of the Quad and its Belgian influence with the aging in three different types of bourbon barrels from Woodford Reserve, Elijah Craig and Four Roses.

It will be available in select markets across the United States. The suggested retail is $16.99.