Here are the photos I liked the most from the Firestone Walker from #FW3 with the L.A. Beer Bloggers. Here is a sour and blending collage….
Bootlegged & Blindsided – Photos (Part 2)
Bootlegged & Blindsided – Photos (Part 1)
Here are the photos I liked the most from the Firestone Walker from #FW3 with the L.A. Beer Bloggers. We start with the From the Barrel party at the Santa Margarita Ranch……
Bootlegged & Blindsided – Day 2
Whiskey and beer and wine. Firestone Walker has treated the L.A. Beer Bloggers very well for #FW3.
And Day 2 was no different. Starting at 10am with a tutorial on Ph. Acid. Malic, acetic and citric. The most lasting impression from these weekends are the lessons learned. With sour beers, it is about balance. Is s level of four OK? Or is it eight? Tasting the base acids and then tasting Li’l Opal, Agrestic and SLOambic was a great way to see that complexity is better than puckery.
Lunch was next but was a prelude to another learning experience. Blending. A test of eight groups to see who could produce a reasonable facsimile of an Anniversary beer. Paired with Kip Barnes and Tomm Carroll, I fancied my chances. But our Velvet Merkin based blend was not in the top three, though I did like it.
After a short break it was off to dinner. At a winery no less. Thacher Winery hosted a tasting of GSM. A trio of red wines with grapes from different vineyards. Tasting wine is foreign to me but quite enjoyable because I don’t have knowledge that would lead me to overthinking. More blends came with names like Controlled Chaos and Resident Alien. Then done serious BBQ. All in a beautiful, bucolic Paso Robles hills. All very relaxing.
The night concluded with a scene you do not get in L.A. A lightly roaring fire. Sitting on hat bales with a snifter of beer and a cupcake and the stars above.
Bootlegged & Blindsided – Day 1
Off to Firestone Walker the L.A. Beer Bloggers go for #FW3.
The bus left the still in build-out mode future home of FW Venice mid-day yesterday and pointed north to Paso Robles with the destination being From the Barrel at the historic Santa Margarita ranch.
First though, a quick stop at Barrelworks to see “Sour Jim” and Jeffers and sample some beers. A little backtrack first, each trip with FW has started with a sneak peek at a beer not yet released. Two years ago was Bretta Weisse. (Still a favorite of mine) and last year was Bretta Rose a delightful sour fruit beer. This year we got another winner, Sour Opal. Woody and tart. Simple and flavorful.
With an eye on the clock we re-boarded the bus and headed to the hotel to dress up for the party. The end of prohibition was the theme and the whole troop was in period outfits.
From the Barrel might not get the love that the Invitational does but it offers a different brand of fun and libations. You enter the large and historic barn (a halfway stop between missions) and get your glass, plate and program. In front of you are seemingly table after table of food, spirits and beer. Moonshine to sliders to Pizza Port beer then you might find port, hand rolled cigars and dessert.
All of the food I tasted was quite good, of course it had to do battle with the drink. You could get a barrel aged Manhattan or Blueberry Sour from Crooked Stave.
The intersection of an old barn of stone, wood and brick and the night sky of the country with the company of the LA Beer Bloggers made for a great night.
In the Tap Lines for April 2015
There will be some Firestone Walker coverage this month. For that, I do NOT apologize. This year marks the third trip to beautiful Paso Robles to catch up on all things Parabola, Easy Jack and Feral. Don’t worry, there will be plenty other beer news too.
~ e-visits to three breweries from new-ish brewers in the GunBarrel District of Colorado Asher Brewing, Vindication Brewing, Finkel & Garf
~ special reviews of beers from Bell’s (that I didn’t do last month)
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ Beer-centric podcast review, Tales from the Cask
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 98 will converge bloggers onto a single topic, this month it is Cans or Bottles
Here are two events to get your April started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) April 7th – National Beer Day at Project Taco
2) April 15th – Beers and Cheers with El Segundo Brewing at the Doughroom.
Paso Can Robles
German and Swiss technology right here on the Central Coast is ready to roll out stronger this month as Firestone Walker Brewing will add three new beers to the cans with Union Jack IPA, Easy Jack session IPA and Pivo pilsner following last year’s test run of 805 into six packs this month.
And this is a serious canning line with lots of science-y stuff like ionized air, bubble breakers, inversion of cans and auto assembled (around the cans) cardboard carriers! But the important nugget is that it can, at full speed, shoot out 400 12 oz cans in a MINUTE!
Plus the cans should be perfect to give extra light protection to the light but hoppy Pivo and Easy Jack so that we can get the full impact of the bitterness. And though I know they wouldn’t dare bring any Wild Barrelworks stuff near the line, I think it would be cool to see Feral cans.
Review – Velvet Mocha Merlin from Firestone Walker
Part of me loves the special variety packs. But part of me knows that it is a market-y sort of way to get people to re-try old favorites via a special. But that is a corner that new chasing beer geeks have painted themselves into. But in the case of the Winter Bundle from Firestone Walker, I did not think of either for a moment. I just opened the box and dove in. And I saved the Velvet Mocha Merlin for last.
This is the regular Merlin accented with an “infusion of Intelligentsia Coffee House aromas and cocoa dusted chocolate truffle flavors.” And I have to say that it is more on the side of the chocolate truffle. Which is weird because most Intelligentsia coffee, to me, is strong. Or if not strong, very uniquely flavored. But the aroma is cocoa powder. The taste is creamy and cocoa intermingled. Like a dark chocolate hot cocoa. I love the taste and I love the 5.5% ABV too. But I am not getting any coffee here. There is a bitterness at the back end of the beer but to me it is like biting into a dark chocolate bar. No roast notes here. But again, to reiterate, I really liked it. But if you are into the coffee beer scene, this one might puzzle you.
Sucaba is Back!
There are two mysteries surrounding §ucaba. Well three if you count the weird Double S at the start of the name.
1 is this fact:
“We’ve never talked about it, but §ucaba is actually a blend of two separate beers,” Brynildson said. “The base beer is what you would call §ucaba, but each year the final blend also includes around 10 percent of another barrel-aged beer, which gives it this chocolaty, dark cherry dimension.”
2 is how you say
So what’s the official pronunciation? “There is none,” Brynildson said. “SUC-a-buh, SOO-cah-ba, SOO-cab-uh, you hear it all, so it’s kind of fun. But in the brewhouse, we still call it by its original name.”
Either way, this is one of the Firestone Walker beers that you buy two or more of. One to try and one to cellar.
The Library has Lions and Bears
OAKstravaganza is right! The Library Alehouse has been sitting on some Firestone Walker beers and has set the date of January 15th to put them up on tap. Including one of my favorite beers that they have done, Bretta Weisse.
The list: XVIII Anniversary, Parabola, Sucaba, Stickee Monkee, Double DBA, Velvet Merkin, Velvet Mocha Merlin, Li’l Opal and Agrestic.
This is one surefire way to start off the SoCal beer year with a bang.
XVIII
When I see the all cap words, THE FINAL BLEND, in a Firestone Walker press release, I start scrolling like a madman. And when it refers to their 18th Anniversary beer, I pour over the list and start comparing to past years.
38% Parabola Aged in Bourbon Barrels
16% Helldorado Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels
16% Bravo Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels
14% Stickee Monkee Aged in Bourbon and Whiskey Barrels
5% Velvet Merkin Aged in Bourbon Barrels
4% Hydra Cuvée Aged in Bourbon Barrels; collaboration with Flying Dog
3% Wookey Jack 100% Stainless Steel
2% Ol’ Leghorn Aged in new American oak barrels; collaboration with 3 Floyds
2% Double Jack 100% Stainless Steel
Now I won’t presume that I could pinpoint the flavor and aroma that each component brings to the bottle but the addition of two collaborations beers is what jumps out to me.
More numbers to throw at you, FW “blended together 227 oak barrels and nine different beers” to create this year’s version.