Firestone Walker Saucer Full of Secrets

Brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Paso Robles, California USA

FoBAB 2008, Chicago: The program described this as a "Belgian Quadrupel aged eight months in Heaven Hill/Old Fitz Bourbon and rye Whiskey barrels" and that didn’t ring true. Here it’s a Dubbel. Doesn’t seem right, either, it was such a lightweight drink. It poured a deep amber body with a respectable off-white head. It had a boozey aroma with a hint of caramel, vanilla, and wood. Seemed pretty thin, boozey and lightly fruity. The finish? Again, boozey and sweet. Whatever this was, it was just okay.

Draught at the brewery; bourbon barrel aged; 10.2%abv. Ruddy brown with a creamy beige head that has good retention. Bourbon and vanilla are quite forward in the aroma, along with some fruity, bright scents (cherry, peach). There is also a nice caramel-maple thing going on, and some dried fruit sugars. The flavor is sweet, with a dried fruit/maple quality. The barrel is evident here as well, with a good doses of oak, vanilla, and bourbon. The alcohol is quite mellow, and along with the wood, works pretty well to just dry out the finish. The body is medium, with plentiful, yet quite soft carbonation; slightly syrupy as well. I think that before aging, this would have been a respectable yet not outstanding belgian dark strong, but the synergy between the bourbon, oak and sweet malty flavors really made this interesting and quite good.

FoBAB 2008: Coppery hue with a nice off-white head and produced fine lacing. The aroma has a lot of rye whiskey character and bourbon barrel influence of vanilla and oak. Caramel and bready malts with a hint of Belgian yeast ester. The taste is a muddled boozy and malty combination in which neither seems to take control and play well with others. Fruity and twangy around the edges but I really wanted the Rye Barrel to shine more on the palate. The mouth feel is chewy and slick, warming with a tannic finish. Ends up just okay after such a promising start, sniff.

On tap at O’Brien’s for CBC/WBC. Pours a clear, dark red hue, thin layer of white head, moderate lacing. Smell is sweet malts and dark fruits, some vanilla, moderate alcohol, and light hops. Taste is light malts and sugary fruits, pillowy chocolate/cocoa malt in the middle with some vanilla extract, hints of hops peek through, and finishes sweet with light alcohol presence. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, creamy smooth texture is very pleasant, ample carbonation. Drinkability is moderate, wonderful texture good balance of flavors, gets a bit cloying in the long run but overall a solid strong ale.

Thanks to ?moniesocal? for bringing this to Dr. Bill’s Hazy brown w/ a nice head, very nice fruity aroma w/ a complex flavor that I caught some plum, date and other fruit in

On tap at Liar;s Club. Hazy brown with a creamy tan head. Sweet fruity aroma and thick buttery palate. Tastes of pear, dates, raisin, sugar, and chocolate.

4-26-08 tap at DLD ’08 (one of the huge mixups of DLD ’08)
Amber brown in color with a super thin beige head. Tart and fruity flavor. Smell is light fruit. A hint on the creamy carbonated side. Drinkable. Not bad but the confusion between this and RR Compunction threw me off.

In short: Caramel and juicy and fruits abound in this sweet Belgian Ale. Good beer.
How: Tap at Dark-Lord-Day 2008
The look: Clear amber body with a long-lasting medium beige head
In long: Rather sweet beer with rich fruity caramel covering a fruit salad. A nice kind-of-oak flavour nicely complements the complex fruity notes of raisins, prunes and more. Carbonation is very lively, even a bit too aggressive. Short finish. I would have like something to dry it out a bit (hops, dusty yeast, something…) cause this could have been excellent. Very good nonetheless. They had the tap lines mixed-up at DLD 08 and for about two hours this was served to people ordering the Russian River Compunction. This Firestone Dubbel is a good beer but really not what I was expecting from the Compunction. I was relieved when I heard that this beer wasn’t the Compunction and the real Compunction was being served. I haven’t gone from hopeful to disappointed to hopeful again so quickly since the day my girlfriend told me “I think you friend Annie is hot, not that I wanna do a threesome with her, although maybe in the right circumstances…”.