Firestone Walker 11 (XI Quercus Alba)

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

Bottle. Papsoes MadsBerg homecoming blindtasting, bottle #5. Pours hazy and golden amber to brown with a lacing off-white head. Chocolate and dry malt aroma. Flavour is medium dry malt and chocolate smooth. Mild whiskey malt flavour slowly increasing in intensity. Warming and smooth malt finish. Holds a mild bitterness and a dry malt flavour into the finish. Fruity and whiskey finish.

Clear mahogany red with little head. Strong oak aroma with leather, caramel malt and smoke. Crazy smooth palate with an extremely rich body. Complex flavors dominated by vanilla and oak but with toffee, citrus rind and malt playing second string. Though this ale wasn’t planned as such, the blended result is pretty nice.

Bottle. [After party @ Papsoe, thanks buddy] Mahogany dark color. Aroma of explosive bread and smooth toasted malt, mild dark fruity tone, hint of alcohol, almost port wine and very vinous. Over the palate came heavy and complex wood and vanilla like notes with some spicy notes as well. Full bodied with a soft carbonation and thick mild alcoholic texture. Heavy sweet flavor with good counter bitterness. Lingering bread and vinous like finish. Very nice! 8 / 3 / 8 / 4 / 16

2008-06-11. Very dark brown body with a small tan head dissipates. (3+) Modest bourbon and wood in the aroma, light alcohol, vanilla touches. (7+) Warming wood and alcohol in the through, woody vanilla, muted sweet malt base. (7+) Pretty good, and the barrel is not overbearing, but I did find it to be the dominant character on my palate. Nice, but fails to take it up a notch for me because of that. Bottle shared by HogTownHarry

Thanks to BigErn for cracking open this rare gem.
Pours brown in color with only a slight head at first. Smell is wonderful. You can definitely tell that the base majority of this beer is the imperial brown. Both in the smell and taste. Just the perfect amount of heaven hill barrel aging hits you in the taste. I don’t think the brown is a big enough beer to be able to holdup against the onslaught of stout, porter and infusion from the barrels that hits it. A little thin on the mouthfeel. I was really looking forward to this beer, and from what I read on the paper insert the brewer provides, sounded mouthwatering. But I have to say, this may be one of those beers that fails to live up to the hype/demand.

Bottle.

Pours a rich brown with a very limited head. Lovely aroma, oak and caramel, vanilla and tannins. Spicy, barrel-driven flavor, vanilla and bourbon, on the sweet side (toffee, caramel), creamy mouthfeel hiding almost all of the alcohol burn that really ought to be there at 11%.

This is a very nice blend. Somehow the components doesn’t quite pull together into the sort of synchronicity that graces the very best beers in the world -- but this is nonetheless a gem and and a delight to have tasted.

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. Dark brown pour, sparse thin off-white head. Ton of oak on the aroma, some sweet candied malts and alcohol. Real tannic tastes over a defined malt sweetness. Lots of oak on the finish. The barrel-aging mixes nicely with the sweetness and neither gets to be too much. Alcohol becomes more apparent as it warms.

Pours dark brown, with a rather small, light broen head. Aroma is brandy, bourbon, vanilla, oak, malt, and fruit. Flavor is bourbon, oak, vanilla, oak, fruit, brandy, caramel, and chocolate. A very nice brew, I’m impressed. It might be even better with more brandy and less bourbon, and a bit of a heavier body. Even so, I’m liking this alot. It get better as it warms. Thanks to Pepsican for this bottle.