Firestone Walker 11 (XI Quercus Alba)

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

Medium cream head, fast gone, over deep dark-brown beer with ruby reflections. Vinous, brandy, fusels, raisins tempting the nasal cavities... Rich malty, alcohol, fusels and fruity esters’ flavours, with just a touch of hops and vanilla spiking. Superbly slick & viscous, molassesfeel, balanced, just the carbonation lagging. This is a truly great, well-balanced beer. And compared to the names present in todays tasting, that counts! Big thanks to CK!

Sampled at Noogfest High 5. Pours reddish brown with beige head. The aroma is cigar tobacco, mocha, raisin, a little bit of caramel, and some toffee. The flavor is toffee, alcohol, and a strong woodiness. The finish is pleasantly clean. Tobacco notes come through from time to time, which I really like in a beer. High quality brew, this.

Bottle shared by hoppymeal at Kuhnhenn’s Summer Solstice. Mahogany pour with a tan head. Hot, hot bourbon aroma with a touch of rich, over-ripe dark fruit. Kinda tough to smell much else over the intense alcohol. The flavor is caramel, dates, brown sugar, vanilla, and oak. Sticky medium body with moderate carbonation.

Thanks to hoppymeal for sharing this beaut. Pours a nice mahogany with medium off-white head. Aroma strong of alcohol, obvious barrel aging, toasted malt, and raisins. Flavor is quite strong, but no surprise, except for a bit more bitterness and hints of chocolate and vanilla. Overall, pretty good.

Shared at Kuhnhenn Summer Solstice. Thanks hoppymeal! Poured into a snifter, dark red/brown with thin brown head. Aroma of bourbon, oak, hot booze, chocolate, roast malt, and dark fruit. Taste of booze, wood, fruit, chocolate, and bourbon. Thin/medium mouthfeel. Very good!

Bottle from DarkElf shared with friends at AleSmiths tasting bar: Dark brown-burgandy color with a small light beige head. Aroma is light bourbon and mild vanilla. Flavor starts with a little bourbon followed by vanilla, oak, raisin with a light bitter finish that has a hint of licorice. Medium body is smooth with lively carbonation.

Bottled. A red-amber beer with a thin tan head. The aroma is sweet malty with strong notes of over-ripe fruits and medium notes of wood. The flavor is sweet with strong notes of alcohol and medium notes of malt, over ripe fruits and wood, as well as lighter notes of bourbon, and chocolate. Thanks Papsoe for sharing.

In short: Molasses, dark fruits and bourbon barrel dominate this brutal, heavy and overly boozy dark ale.
How: Bottle 22oz. Consumed when a little over 1 year of age. Sent to me by WeeHeavySD, thanks a whole lot Jon.
The look: Very dark ruby body topped by a small beige head
In long: Nose of big malted beer (which it is) with plenty of molasses and some vanilla. The body is heavy and syrupy. Taste has a lot of ripe dark fruits, a lot of molasses, bourbon, vanilla and way too much alcohol. I think there was an attempt at bitterness/dryness in the finish but the alcohol was so dominant that it kills everything. They only good thing I can say about the alcohol is that it covers up the sweetness. As the beer warms up (and it had plenty of time to warm up with me) the bourbon character came through more and more and even became dominant. Some kind of bourbon spiciness (peppery-ish). Imho, this brutal beer is highly overrated. It’s rare and it is brutally strong, when this happens ratings become as biased as a review of a Michael Moore movie in the Socialist Daily.