Firestone Walker 10

Formerly brewed at Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Paso Robles, California USA

[263-20070413] 22floz (c/o HogTownHarry, w/ him, blankboy, jerc, mds, tupalev). Oaky grape notes in the aroma mixed with lots of bourbon booze. Hazy, dark dark brown body with a quick light brown head. Flavour continues boozy sweet candy malt and strong bourbon. Full sweet body. Small samples are wise, good blending.

22 oz. bottle. Thanks to a trade with dirty_martini. Pours a nearly opaque dark brown with a thick, luscious tan head. Very pleasant aroma of malt, caramel, dates and to a lesser extent cherry. Flavor is malt, caramel, lightly charred wood, and figs. This beer coats the mouth nicely but is not syrupy or cloying. A bit dry at the finish with a moderate alcohol burn. Very good stuff!

22oz bottle. thanks to FlacoAlto for this extra! pours dark brown with soapy tan head. nose is interesting, smokey, toffee, charred wood, caramel, and some roasted chocolate. flavor is pretty sweet with notes of brown sugar, caramel, cotton candy, grapefruit hops, vanilla, tobacco, chocolate, a little harsh with wood and hops at first but as drank this it really starting coming together better. alcohol was really well hidden. i did enjoy this a lot but it lacked a real polished feel to a really complex beer and process. this beer is just short of something special, but i hope more breweries take note and blend more.

Bottle courtesy of tever, sampled on 1/26/07: Pours a transparent dark mahogany with a thin coating of off-white head. Faintly sweet, earthy grapefruity hoppy aroma has a touch of oak. Body starts with a nice, mild dark caramel sweetness with bourbon oaky flavor, some fresh piny hop character, and a smooth dark chocolatey finish with a hint of warming alcohol and bourbon.

Bottle (650ml) shared with HogTownHarry, jerc, mabel, mds & tupalev -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pours a murky dark orange-brown with a spare diminishing tan head. Aroma of sweet malt, oak, brown sugar and chocolate. Flavour’s malty with oak, brown sugar, chocolate and quite a bit of alcohol. Medium to full bodied. Great stuff, I really liked it!

Bottle shared with Blankboy, Hogtown Harry, Jerc, Mds, and Mabel, Harry’s bottle.. Deep dark brown - like a forest at night - still, no head. Oak, vanilla, booze aroma. Oak, vanilla, booze taste. All alcohol. Nice flavour, but too over the top in booze and oak for my liking.

Sampled March 2007
This produces a very thick head that starts out at about four-fingers in height. The head is a light brownish to dark tan color and the beer is quite dark. It sits an almost black color in my glass, but showed, a clear, dark chocolate color as I poured it. The aroma is definitely influenced by the barrel character, but by barrel aged beer standards it is fairly subdued. At least it is not so big that it is obnoxious, which so many barrel aged beers can be. Spicy oak notes, soft butterscotch, vanillin and some whisky-like notes mix together to form the most noticeable aromatics. Underneath this is a nice malt character; leaning towards the dark side of the spectrum notes of toasted grain, browned soda crackers and even some notes of chocolate are noticeable if you dig for them.

Served lightly chilled, this beer is definitely rich and chewy. It has a palate coating mouth feel to it without quite being syrup-like. Again the flavor profile is most noticeably influenced by the barrel character, but again it is fairly well kept in check. It is interesting that a beer that so heavily relies on barrel aging for its flavor profile is so easy drinking. Prior to this I would have said that a beer that predominantly relies on the barrel for its flavors would be undrinkable by me, yet this one is quite drinkable and even enjoyable. Somehow the barrel character seems subtle here, despite being the most noticeable thing about this beer. Don’t get me wrong though, the flavor of this beer has a lot of other things going on besides pure barrel character. First off the barrel does contribute spicy oak notes, a touch of butter-like character, some whisky or bourbon flavors and a definite tannic edge. The tannic note in the finish intermingles with a solid hop bitterness, both of which linger on the tongue after the beer has left my mouth. This beer is quite hoppy all the way through; fresh hop character up front (notes of pine, menthol and even lots of big, yet subtle because of the wood influence citrus character) as well as a herbaceous note that moves to a lightly astringent bitterness in the finish. The malt is what coats the mouth up front; it is sweet, yet not sticky, with notes of chocolate, toasted malt and even touches of medium roast coffee.

This beer is certainly multi-layered; notes of leather, tobacco, cherry, and even something like coconut (I would not have expected that here) compliment the other noted flavors as well as all sorts of facets that I can’t quite describe. This beer is a great example of why you should blend; nothing is too strong or unbalanced about this beer, yet it seems to be missing that certain something that would make this mind-blowingly good. It will just have to settle for being great, but I certainly hope that more brewers get into this multi-brew blending, because this is a great start to that. The blend of flavors here is just so interesting and there is such a depth here. The more you dig, the more you find; quite an interesting brew, I will certainly enjoy seeing how this beer ages. My biggest question though is if this thing is bottle conditioned. It does not seem so, and I fear that this would have much better aging potential if it was. Still, it is 12% so it should hold up for some time.

Bottle. Very dark brown body with a fast fading tan head. Extremely boozy, woody aroma with a pleasant hint of vanilla in the aftermath. Flavour is similarly quite boozy and alcoholic. The start is quite abrasive really, but as you get further into the glass it rounds out - or perhaps you just acclimatize to it - and some delicate vanilla, and mocha creeps out with sweet malt underpinnings that are actually quite nice. Average to medium palate. Too aggressively boozy, but has some lovely moments.