Firestone Walker 14

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

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A solid pour into my Lost Abbey Teku glass produces a two-finger thick, lightly browned, dark tan colored head. The beer is a dark, deeply concentrated brown / amber color that shows clear, brown tinges around the edges when held up to the light. The aroma smells of deeply caramelized wood (think toasted coconut and vanillin) and malt; the malt gets rich and concentrated enough to smell umami like with notes of savory, chewy, at times almost smoky raisins, deep caramelized sugar and even some slight sherry / nuttiness. Touches of roasted grain seem to add to the sherry notes some how and in the finish there is definitely some light touches of noticeable roasted character that contributes dark toasted / burnt, whole grain bread-crust aromatics as well as a hint of dark espresso roast character. The up front barrel derived caramel and vanillin notes accentuate a concentrated, caramelized fruitiness that reminds me of rum soaked raisins, dark molasses and notes of brandy. At times this can seem a bit too focused on the barrel / wood character, but the whole thing is so well integrated and there is truly a lot of complexity noticeable in the subtle portions of the nose.

Thick, chewy and viscous as it first hits my palate, the beer lingers for quite some time almost seeming to coat the mouth with a layer of viscous, sweet beer. Somehow the beer does not end up being cloying, much of this is due to the complexity of all the flavors. The long finish sees a bitter, herbal hoppiness meld with some roasted bitterness as well as some warming / spice from the alcohol and some additional spiciness from oak. Up front the beer tastes of deeply caramelized malt sugars, some notes of molasses, rum or even brandy soaked raisins and dates as well as really reminding me of a dense, sweet, incredibly moist, brown sugar and molasses focused cake or bread. Showing up in the flavor is a rich, umami like malt character that, while not quite as expressive as in the nose, still produces flavors that hints at salty-smoky peat and savory concentrated malt notes (not really teriyaki or soy, but that is the best I can describe this flavor with). There is actually a fair amount of herbal hop character (including the bitterness) that this beer has; I don’t know why but I wasn’t expecting a lot of hop character from this beer. A biting bitterness (that is honestly a bit overwhelmed by the rich malt), a nice herbal / pine / touch of hemp oil hop flavor in the middle and perhaps a hint of citrus character that gets subsumed in the rich maltiness of this brew.

Coming back to this beer after dinner, my changed palate has me noticing subtle notes of dark cocoa in the finish that melds quite well with the rich molasses like malt character. The herbal hop character seems to also play a more prominent role now as does the spicy, warming alcohol.

This is drinking very nicely right out of the gate, while not a dominant character, I am really enjoying the vibrant hoppiness that this beer currently has. Wow, again I am just quite impressed with how tasty this beer is right now; I haven’t had 13, but this beer is definitely starting out much stronger than any of the other beers of this series have for me. This is purely a contemplative sipping brew, there is a ton of complexity and it is way too sweet to be something to be drunk quickly; despite the ample sweetness I am quite enjoying this beer, I expected / wanted it to be rich and satiating, and this beer most definitely is. I wish I had quite a bit of this beer in my cellar right now and not to age, but so I could drink a lot of this beer this winter.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with a beige head. aroma is oak, alcohol, coffee, vanilla, caramel. flavour is oak, vanilla, coffee, alcohol, caramel, sugar, cocoa. full body. Very nice beer.

Served from a 22 oz bottle from OTM. The appearance is a deep mahogany brown hue with a nice soapy light brown head. The nose is full of brown sugary, light molasses, dark chocolate, nice oak notes, aged hops, butterscotch, all sorts of fantastic stuff. The flavors enter with tones of butterscotch and caramel, aged hops take the middle with some tangerine and grapefruits. Butterscotch and caramelized light molasses follow on the finish with a bittering oak ting in the aftertaste. There is a little kumquat and grapefruit over caramel and butterscotch for a while but that bitterness fades some. Lot’s of barrel characteristics with the Brandy and raw/Union Barrels being the must inflectional at this point. The mouth is a little bitter at times and a little stingy from oak and could use some melding and smoothness. The body of the Parabola just doesn’t come through as much as I expected. Lot’s of barrel characteristics. Overall I think this year should of been enjoyed a little fresher even though there is still a ton to offer. Great beer and I love this anniversary line. I wish the price was $8-$10 cheaper but I will still buy them until they really disappoint.

On tap with David Walker for Firestone Walker Event at Capones. I know I usually do the review but the owner’s notes and description of what went into 14 really captured the complexity of the beer. Here is David Walkers description. Blend of 5 different beers. DDBA leads the blend lending American toasted oak, english caramel toffee, and light leather nuances. Newcomer Sticky Monkey, folds in the taste of brown sugar, mollasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and over ripe figs. Parabola brings the familiar flavors of bitter dark chocolate, and cherry pit. Velvet Mirkin carries silky smooth bourbon chocolate cake notes. Black Xantus explores coffee and tobacco. Lastly, Good Foot brings the floral hops, lemon zest, tangerine. Awesome finish. Amazing American Strong

Rare beer alert. Vanilla to start, some darker fruits, toasted and roasted nuts, and brown sugar. Pours brown. Flavors of nutty malts, strong brown ale base on this one, a good deal of vanilla and brown sugar, a little roast, and a little bitterness. A splash of dark bitter chocolate comes through form the parabola for sure. Seemingly hot and a little thin but not bad at all.

(bottle) pours a darkest clear copper colour with a frothy deep beige head. aroma of heavy caramel and vanilla, chocolate fudge, light tropical fruit, brown sugar, raisins, milk chocolate and light burnt cereals, quite heavily oxidised. flavour is less caramel and oxidation and more toasted malts, dark chocolate and espresso, with unobtrusive but perceptible notes alcohol and a medium roasted-bitter finish, quite sweet. heavy-bodied with average carbonation.

Aroma is leather dripping with molasses, vanilla bean and brown bread. Flavor is intensely more of the same but with a lively alcohol and barrel prominence at the finish. Nothing short of fantastic. This is one rum raisin cookie of a beer that I hope to enjoy many more times. Thank you firestone walker. 2011 22 oz.

@HallingHansen tasting, thanks for sharing. Pours cloudy brown with a beige head. Aroma is roated malt, dark fruit, plum, raisin, chocolate, oak and vanilla. Flavour is roasted malt, chocolate, heavy alcohol, oak, vanilla, plum and raisin.

I brought this one to Imminent Liquidation II. Bottle poured into a taster glass. A - Pours dark brown with a decent one finger tall off-white head leaving light streaks of lace down the glass. S - Smells of chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, caramel, toffee, toasted nuts and some warm bourbon. Some booze creeps in as it sits in the glass. T - Starts off with quite a bit of sweetness - same flavors as in the nose - slowly giving way to the warm bourbon that only grows stronger as it sits in the glass. Finish can best be described as sweet heat. The combination works very well. Once the booze dies down a little more this one will really be something. M - Rich, slick feel with plenty of candy sweet flavors and moderate carbonation. The only real drawback is that the booze is still pretty noticeable. O - I really liked this one. It had nearly all of my favorite flavors and was fairly easy to drink. I hope to try this one again in the future, I think it could really end up being one of the better in the series.

Got this in Dec 2010 and let it sit in a temp controlled cellar since. Dark pour with a dark tan head. Aroma is dark fruits, oak, chocolate, bourbon molasses. The taste is a mind rush of so many tasty bits- creamy, chocolate, hops, light bourbon, molasses. Such a tasty beer. Alcohol is noticable.

From notes. First reviewed 12/10/2011. Served on tap on a few different occasions. This is a compilation of my notes. A full brown color all the way through for the beer itself, with a foamy, fast-fading tan head that does not really leave any lace. The aroma is quite sweet, with milk chocolate and cocoa, brown sugar, molasses, toasted marshmallows, and a smooth bourbon presence. The flavor really brings out a few different types of chocolate. I pull out milk chocolate, cocoa, and a darker, bitter chocolate from the malt presence. Brown sugar, molasses, and a graham cracker sweet malt impart a s’mores type flavor combination. Bourbon, oak, and vanilla add some further complexity, with a bit of coffee bitterness working with the dry oak flavor at the end. The flavor definitely has some English character to it, falling on the barleywine side, which makes sense given the blend. It is tough to accurately describe the impact of the bourbon on the flavor; it is so well integrated. This has a great smooth character and a full body, making it an enjoyable sipper. The carbonation feels on the lighter side and adds to the creamy nature of the beer. Firestone 14 is a well crafted cuvee that blends together a number of nice flavors. I was interested in trying some of the components of the beer, but it seems like the bigger components are draft only.