Tag: Firestone Walker

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All Who Wander

This very blog has monthly pairing posts of podcasts, books and sports. One that I do not do is music, but Firestone Walker has you covered the next time you reach for their hazy, Mind Haze.

Click HERE to read more.

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Holiday Season 2023 – Day 16 – Arctic Wookey from Firestone Walker

Good to see one of my favorite breweries both bringing holiday cheer and bringing back in a new form, the infamous Wookey Jack.

“Wookey wonderland? We’re sippin’ in it! The Wookey has come in from the cold, and it’s fully reimagined for the season. Arctic Wookey is our classic black rye IPA reimagined with abominable amounts of flavor courtesy of a dank and resinous hop profile takes it to frigid new heights. It’s as black and cold as your blessed heart.”

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Firestone Walker Anniversary Now and Five Years Ago

Each year, I taste test the current FW Anniversary blend and then taste the blend from five years ago.  This time around it is 27 vs 22.

This years anniversary beer, aka XXVIII or 27 was created by the team of Molly Lonborg from Alta Colina, Kevin Sass from Halter Ranch Beer Club Member Ezekial Palmer. Below are strands used in the blend:

DDBA Batch 10k – Aged in Wheated Bourbon Barrels (33%) – Imperial Special Bitter

Dividing Time – Aged in Wheated and Rye Bourbon Barrels (29%) – Munich Wine Made in Collaboration with Private Press

Bravo – Aged in Bourbon Barrels (13%) – Imperial Brown Ale

Rip This Joint – Aged in Bourbon Barrels (13%) – Imperial Stout Made in Collaboration with Side Project

Velvet Merkin – Aged in Bourbon Barrels (12%) – Milk Stout

XXII is made up of the following componemts: 44% Stickee Monkee, 22% Parabola, 22% Bravo, 7% Rum Barrel Helldorado, 5% Gin Barrel Helldorado.

Now onto the reviews…

22 – even though the rum and gin barrels are only 12% of the total, I am getting a bit of both. There is chocolate and a kick of spice here that I like the interplay between. Has a definite Belgian quad taste, sorry Central Coast Quad.

27 – seems kind of one note to me overall. It is a really good chocolate brownie. in beer form. Thick and muddy in a good way. Not much barrel notes to be found which I was sorta expecting considering the beers in the blend.

Even five years on, the 22 wins. If there has been more bourbon in 27, I might have given it the nod though.

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Barrel Day – Bravissimo

Clapping hands loudly for the Double Decker new release from Firestone Walker

“Bravissimo lands as a revved-up edition of our signature barrel-aged Bravo brown ale. After a year of maturation in bourbon barrels at our Paso Robles brewery, this small-batch barley wine was blended back into a lot of traditional barrel-aged Bravo. The final blend was 70 percent traditional Bravo and 30 percent high-gravity Bravo. The result was a beautiful barrel character permeating the finished beer, with Bravo’s signature maple sap and chocolate flavors reaching another level.”

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27 is Coming

One of my most anticipated beers of the year is the anniversary blend from Firestone Walker.

If you are in Los Angeles or Paso Robles, now might be the time to see if their company stores have any lingering 26’s on shelves so you can prepare a taste test.

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Review – Bread Spread from Firestone Walker

Let’s keep that FW energy going with a review of the weirdly named barrel-aged Bread Spread. I had two excellent barrel beers at their Invitational (Wild Pirate and Boilermaker), will this be a third winner….

There is a lot in this bottle. Vanilla beans, hazelnuts aged in chocolate bitters barrels and Bourbon barrels. First, Weirdly, what I get in big amounts is banana. Not hefe banana but a chocolate covered banana. Yet, not sweet at all. There is that Bourbon note lurking in the background. Second, Weirdly is that as this warms up, the hazelnuts really pour forward. In both the aroma and flavor. Almost two different beers.