Firestone Walker 10

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

Had at Logan’s Oceanside beer tasting with AlohaC, and Hair, and Matt, and Ken, Jeff, Colleen, Bill, and others. Jeff the brought this Ebay $100 gem. Been wanting to try this, because of the hype. Lots of malty aroma. Some very pleasant oxidation aroma. A little too much burn when you taste it. Deep amber color. Great sweet flavor.

Beer is very dark brown. Head was small, off-white, frothy, rapidly and totally diminishing.<P>First impression on the nose is hard to untangle, dominated by mild cardboardy oxidation. Malty with light notes of roasted grain, chocolate; Hoppy with light note of herb, light-to-moderate notes of resin/pine; Light-to-moderate miscellaneous note of distilled alcohol/bourbon, woody alcohol, light note of jammy red fruit.<P>The flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter with a long, moderately bitter, lightly sweet finish.<P>The body is full, the texture is watery/velvety and the carbonation is softer than average.<P>Doesn’t stand up to the hype. Too much of everything to be anything but an aromatic cacophony.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark brown, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, nuts, roasted grain, dark chocolate), lightly hoppy (resin), with notes of sherry/cardboard, walnut shells, oak, whiskey, cherry. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. The oxidation is too strong for me to really enjoy it...that cardboardy, sherry-like waft makes my stomach clench uncontrollably. It’s a minor train wreck besides that, being a rather disjointed collection of aromas which never seem to gel into anything elegant. Kinda watery and non-luxurious in the mouth. Ok balance. Disappointing based on the average score here and long story that came with it. I enjoyed the samples of FW 11 I had at GABF, though.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with a little head. Very complex aroma of caramel, hops and hints of oak. Great flavour of burned caramel, oak, hops and ends up quite bitter and with a warm feeling from the alcochol.

Bottle purchased at the Daily Pint. Very surprised to see this sitting in the fridge. Ruby brown appearance - soft elegant carbonation. Aroma was quite excellent seeping with a bourbon, vanilla, caramel, oaky fragrance. Flavor was much the same - and while not being extremely complex and lingering - it was very intense. This thing is a meal - get out your knife and fork.

Courtesy boboski. Brown, ruby/orange edges, 2cm creamy tan foam. Lightly roasted chocolatey malt, nutmeg/paprika like spice, oak, vanilla, vinous wood, bourbon, hint of dark berry like sourness. Very unique taste. Full/medium body, balanced carbonation. Excellent.

Clear dark brown body, slightly red shine, lasting melted mocha ice cream like head; Medium sized very special nose, very nice licorice, rich caramel, creme brulee; Soft body, velvety, but not a lot of feel to it; Huge finish with a big alcohol burn, lots of caramel licorice aromas.

Bottle. Cloudy red brown coloured with a small off white ehad. Sweet aroma of cocoa, chocolate, wood and vanilla. Flavour of dried fruits, cocoa, chocolate and vanilla with roasted notes roasted finish. Nice.