Tag: Firestone Walker

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Bootlegged & Blindsided – Day 1

Firestone Walker Blogger Trip

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.

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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.

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In the Tap Lines for April 2015

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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.

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Paso Can Robles

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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.

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Review – Velvet Mocha Merlin from Firestone Walker

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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.

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Sucaba is Back!

Screen Shot 2015-01-10 at 9.58.54 AMThere 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.

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The Library has Lions and Bears

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Where (and when) the Wild Things will be Released

If you thought tickets to the Firestone Walker Invitational were hard to get and worth every penny then how about the special Barrellworks beers?  One new one is coming out shortly, Agrestic which has been seen in the past but is now coming back in 375ml bottles.  Believe it or not it is a weird spin off of a DBA base.  Just with a bunch of what FW calls “a proprietary collection of microflora.”
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Then of course aged for a bit and blended just so to the point where even super beer geeks are wondering what sort of magic they do.  But that is not all….

Feral Vinifera
Feral Vinifera is an ultra-limited release also being liberated on September 20. Feral Vinifera was born of a collaborative effort with local grape growers and winemakers in Barrelworks’ backyard of the Santa Ynez Valley. Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Orange Muscat grapes were co-fermented with wheat-based wort, then inoculated with proprietary wild yeast to create this trailblazing hybrid.

SLOambic
SLOambic is Barrelworks’ foray into the funky world of lambic style beers. It was inoculated with brettanomyces lambicus, brettanomyces bruxellensis and lactobacillus, then infused with ollalieberries to create a distinctively, dry, cidery, fruity, vinuous and oh-so sour beer. November release date TBA.

El Gourdo
El Gourdo is what happens when the local pumpkin patch calls the barrelmeisters on the day after Halloween, asking if they want some orphaned gourds. Not only did the barrelmeisters take the leftover pumpkins last year, they roasted them in a pizza oven with brandy staves, bay leaf and walnuts before tossing them into a base wheat beer for secondary fermentation prior to oak barrel aging. We’ll just leave it at that for now. November release date TBA.

Reginald Brett
Big, malty, and alcoholic, this hefty brew is supported by a firm oaky backbone and slight tartness from its time in French oak barrels in the discreet company of a certain B. Lambicus. Scandalous! Release date TBA.

 

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Wild Ride Time

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Do you like sour beers?  Do you like driving around LA?  Or are you like me and picking one spot to grab some Firestone Walker beer?

“Walker’s Wild Ride is back during L.A. Beer Week! Join the Lion & the Barrelmeister on Saturday, Sept. 27th as they make their unruly trek in “Olivia”, the ’64 Land Rover, hosting a crazy LA pub crawl with four sour beers in tow! Follow along as we make stops at Tony’s Darts Away (12pm), Library Alehouse (2:30pm), Naja’s Place (4:30pm) & The Federal Bar – Long Beach (7pm).”

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Merkin ’14

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In ten days, Firestone Walker’s Velvet Merkin barrel-aged oatmeal stout will return with the new 2014 Vintage.

Here is the barrel breakdown from the brewery: “The 2014 Velvet Merkin was primarily aged in bourbon barrels from Elijah Craig and Woodford Reserve, along with a selection of Rittenhouse Rye whiskey barrels. The Elijah Craig and Woodford Reserve barrels imparted fine bourbon qualities, while the younger Rittenhouse Rye whiskey barrels provided subtle spiciness with an elevated vanilla character.”

Five different iterations of the beer have been blended to come up with this beer, almost a test blending drive before the Anniversary beer which comes later in the year.

Last years oatmeal was splendid and I can’t wait to see how this one turns out and how it compares.