The newly re-branded L.A. Beer Media had their first meeting of 2019 and thanks to the generosity (excellent as usual) of Firestone Walker, we learned quite a bit about the creation of the newest year round beer that the brewery will be releasing, Rosalie.
The company is branding this as Beer Rose and after remarks from the Lion himself, David Walker, Evan Partridge the Propagator brewer and the soon departing Rob Emery from what I will just call “the lab” gave us the full rundown of how this beer came to be.
They started with (3) components that they wanted the finished beer to have:
- Acidity – light but noticeable
- Color – a reddish hue
- Wine – to connect with the wine region of Paso Robles
The process started back in January of 2018 and Partridge and Emery walked us through acid spiked versions of the Firestone Walker lager to show what they were looking for in component # 1, then we tasted a mixture of water and hibiscus to show the color aspect and then lastly, they gave us a sample of wine/grape juice as well as a sample of wine created with the grape blend that they filled a silo with.
Firestone Walker had teamed with Castoro Cellars to provide them with a blend that included Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat and Viognier. Once the grapes were in place the recipe honing process could begin. We tasted four of the steps along the way as well as the finished product and it was fascinating to see how the blend went from tart to less tart but still wine forward, to pilsner with hibiscus, to finally a blend that truly mixed beer and wine AND had the right color.
Rosalie comes in the Sixpoint 12oz skinny can and I found it to be tilted to the wine side of the fence but the acidity comes through just enough to make this unique. Plus it actually looks Rose and not just red. It really worked for me.
Considering last year’s Terroir event that was a blend of wine and beer hybrids and the fact the BarrelWorks has been toying with it as well with ZinSkin among other creations, this seems like a no-brainer, gateway hybrid that will draw those curious as to how wine and beer mingle. And using Paso Robles grapes as part of the equation really makes it unique as the Rose style becomes more Brut sized.
