Firestone Walker Double Jack IPA

Brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Paso Robles, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Crystal clear light copper color with a thin white head. Slightly resinous, grassy hop aroma. Excellent balance of malt and hops. Unlike a lot of DIPAs, you don’t get hit over the head with hops and then get the malt as an afterthought. There’s an equal play between a strong, fruity hop bitterness and a lightly sweet, medium bodied malt fullness with caramel/butterscotch undertones. As big as this beer is, it would pair very well with food without overpowering it (as long as the food was hearty enough to stand up to it).

Purchased at Pike Place Deli and Grocery, or what ever the hell it’s called. Still, that place has a nice selection. In fact, it’s the only place that I’ve seen where this is available. Anyways, a nice fluffy head sits on-top of a coppery orange transparent beer. This beer has a pungent grapefruit, orange citrus aroma that just smacks my olfactories, like Ike slappin’ Tina. Sorry for the misogynistic statement, but I can’t think of anything else. This has a nice subtle fruit aroma, that is pleasant to smell. Wow, this beer is delicious. It has a bit of a rough beginning, but it has a nice citrus and fruit hop flavor that blends almost perfectly with the sweet flavor coming from the malts. The beer uses hops perfectly, in my opinion. There is this lingering bitterness, but it’s not caustic. I’m enjoying the lingering bitterness. The alcohol isn’t noticeable. The texture is nice and resinous. I hope they produce this year-round. Pliny, watch out, someone is giving you a run for your money.

Not hard to believe that Firestone would get this beer so right. Wonderful pine, grapefruit and orange with some herbal notes. The taste is where the malt shines: caramel sweetness and earthy notes with a nice bit of alcohol heat. Finishes with a medium to high bitterness and is nice a dry so that the bitterness doesn’t linger overlong. This beer is up there with some of the best Double IPAs out there, hands down.

UPDATED: FEB 8, 2011 651mL. Pours a clear amber with a very thin, yellow, dense head with fair retention but sticky, webby, white lace. Aroma is pineapple, fruity/tropical hops, caramel malt, lemon, sweet candies, sweet cherries, passionfruit, incredible amount of fruit juice tropical notes. Taste brings very sticky sweet malt as the base with some serous alcohol presence. Big fruity tropical hops with an oily mouthfeel. No cloying. No newspaper. No nutty, nut skin bitterness. Fairly soft and easy to love. Nice. Pretty solid, fresh, DIPA.

(22oz bottle, courtesy of BMan1113VR) Pours a clear golden body with a small white head. Aroma of weed, grapefruit, nuts, tangerine, grain, florals, and passion fruit. Flavor of passion fruit, nuts, citrus, caramel, grain, and grass. Excellent!

Really enjoyed this one...bright, floral, strong pine presence, and just a touch of noticeable alcohol. Oily Ponderosa, Douglas Fir, and Spruce notes with grapefruit, citrus, and lemongrass. Nice aromatics...fairly assertive...fills the nostrils. Still a bit hot but really enjoyable. Love Union Jack...this definitely kicks it up a notch.

Big DIPA from the hops perspective. Light amber color, aroma is not as strong as you’d think considering the taste. Taste is both piney and citrusy hops all at once, a real hop assault. Very good.

really does taste like an imperial union jack. i loved the big full body and huge bitterness. lots of pine, the finish lingers on for EVER. holding it back was maybe too much caramel malt for my liking. compared to hoptimum it really lacks the delicious tropical flavors and complexity, which is why I can’t rate this higher than a 4. this is a truly good beer but I really was expecting something a little more special from one of my favorite breweries, this one kind of felt "same old, same old" compared to Green Flash and even Hop Stoopid.

6.99 for a 22oz to the dome. pours a very light yellow orange, crisp, with an ample but not overdone creamy white head, leaves some spotting. aroma is bittersweet, lots of citrus and floral notes, some abv in there slightly, but the malt is most prominent still. the taste is great, nice malty breakfast breads are slathered with tons of sweet hops, very fruity and floral, tons of ruby red grapefruit, nice. good stuff, drinks pretty easy, a nice offering. glad i got to try this in a bottle, and fresh at that! definitely some good stuff, overall very sweet, especially for a west coaster, but i still like it.

UPDATED: MAR 18, 2012 This was tasted at MeKong restuarant in Richmond. This was a special beer for the day. The color was a clear deep amber with very head. There was a typical bitter taste of hops with some citrus but deceptively high alcohol. The smooth finish had no bitter aftertaste.