Firestone Walker 11 (XI Quercus Alba)

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

Sample from the bottle at The Red in Santa Cruz. Poured into a sample-size wine glass. A little cap of head forms atop a dark brown body with copper highlights. Smells very bourbony with less booziness. Oak, vanilla, raisin, brown sugar. Taste includes that bourbon note in a big way, but also incorporates brown sugar and oatmeal. More bitter notes like sharp molasses, leather, and a bit of char help to balance the sweetness. Very smooth and dry despite the thick body. Even though the flavors of bourbon are prominent, the alcohol really isn’t. Nice experimental beer from Firestone.

HUGE props to Ibrew2or3 for bringing this super rare brew back for us from California. You rock, Dave! Black body with lighter brown edges, 2 finger light tan head with incredible retention. Tons of impressive lacing as well. Great looking beer. Nose of bourbon, liquor soaked wood chips, vanilla bean, chocolate, tobacco leaves, earthiness and dark fruit esters. This beer has a ton going on in the aroma and gets better each time I go back. Flavor profile is spot on to the aroma, but somehow improves on everything there. The woody earthy and alcohol notes blend masterfully with the fruit and chocolate sweetness. A wave of heat from the ABV crashes onto you after a few sips, but it’s pleasant and not a detraction. Medium bodied, very round and filling, slightly sticky. Bourbon and oak are the stars on the back end of the beer and throughout it’s lengthy finish. I just can’t get over how a beer with this many moving parts has come together so wonderfully and ended up being this good, right off the bat. I can only hope to see another bottle of this somewhere down the line in an aged state, because I am sure that would be a treat. Easily the beer of the night, in a tasting filled with very good to excellent beers. Amazing.

Bottle split with jimbowood. Pours dark brown with thick tan head. Aroma of bourbon, vanilla, caramel, and oak. Awesome mouthfeel that was velvety smooth. Nice creamy, caramel taste with hints of oak and bourbon. Bourbon is just right and not overdone. Great beer and thanks Jimbo!!

Mildly soapy nose with touches of grain and oak. Vanilla, almond paste, bourbon and brown suagar pedominate. Mildly astringent and and overattenuated body. Thin mouthfeel with an overabudance od wood.

(22oz bottle) At hospitable Enniskillen’s RR Batch 001 Party. Dissipated almond head with an opaque body. Alcoholic nose, malt and fig. Flavour is highly alcoholic, burning, prunes. Very good. Thanks Chris!

Shared with jarspag for the final brew that we managed to transport to Whistler. Pours dark brown with a near black center, with just slight microbubbles and beige swirls, kind of a watery thickness. Very pleasing aroma that improves as the beer reaches room temperature. Oak barrel is truly all over the nose, lots of charred wood and bourbon, with vanilla extract and molasses. Flavor follows up the aroma nicely, with smoky malt, more vanilla and bourbon barrel galore. Mostly burnt wood and earth with a touch of chocolate cake batter. The palate lingers with oak and ash. A bit of a thin body but the flavors compensate for it. Definitely intriguing how they managed to balance it all out between multiple brews.

Another bottle graciously shared by hapjydeuce on the last night of Whistler doom. This was a great finisher to a great trip...a perfect cold weather sipper. Aroma was bourbon, oak, caramel, boysenberry, and a ’vanilla covered banana’. Tasted of plum, ashy smoke, charred wood, lots of lingering bourbon barrel, vanilla. Full bodied and palate coating mouthfeel - but missing that last bit of depth to push it to a 5. Overall, an outstanding beer, but it lacks that "wow" factor . . . nonetheless, an amazing concoction.

Shared with Naven. Not sure what the big gold rush was with this particular beer. It’s tasty as all, get out, but I liked the ten a little more. Nice, subtle oak flavoring with an easy drinking backbone. Great, but nowhere near justifying all the hooplah Naven had to go through to get it. To all you assholes sitting on cases of this, thanks for representing and reminding me about everything I hate about craft beer. Fkn dorks.