Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA

Brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Paso Robles, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Gold with big, foamy, white head / Vibrant, sweet, nose of pine, citrus, and bubblegum / Medium, creamy body, resinous, lightly sweet with good hop bite and nice, bitter, finish / Flavors of cut pine, resin, grapefruit, pineapple, bubblegum, and honey / Not out there in any direction, just textbook perfect.

IPA have been my favorite for about 3 years now. When I first started drinking microbrews I gradually moved toward brews with more hops until I found my first IPA. Wow, it was intense! I still have a special place in my heart for them, and this one is my favorite of those I have had.

Incredibly fresh floral aroma - very inviting. Pours to a great sized head that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Excellent lacing. Golden color. Flavor is equally superb - great mouthfeel, great hop notes, nice kick that doesn’t overpower, rich malty aftertaste. Almost like the Stone Ruination of single IPAs, just more sessionable. Aftertaste lingers and lingers. All it is lacking is a tad more citrus in the flavor - that is it. Only Founders Centennial IPA has this beat, IMO. WOW. Had a family member sample it, and he was blown away, too.

I first tried this beer at the Oregon Brewfest in 2010 and I fell in love. For me it is the perfect IPA. Nice hop aroma and extremely smooth well-balanced taste. Drinking this on draft gives me a beergasm every time and it’s hard for me to stop drinking it once I start. Purely delicious.

My go to IPA. Can’t think of single thing wrong with it. Didn’t get a perfect score because it’s not the Double Jack.

Pours a brilliant clear orange amber with a small frothy head made up of complex tiny bubbles. Lacing sings as it sticks to the sides of the glass. This is what a beer, especially an IPA, should look like. The first whiff of Union Jack yields a tantalizingly complex aroma of fresh mango and tangy pineapple. This is accentuated by a light grassy pine somewhere off in the background. The first taste is sublime. Sweet candy malt hits the palate first, before being washed away by perfect bitterness. As the palate acclimates the beer becomes almost juicy, like you are biting into ripe piece of citrus, again I think of mango, pineapple, and grapefruit. Lots of that heavy-duty lupulin taste hangs out in the middle of the beer, the ones that only the really great IPAs seem to capture. Mouthfeel has medium carbonation, and isn’t watery at all, though it is almost slightly creamy. Despite the initial wave of sweetness up front, Union Jack leaves the palate dry and begging for more.

The gold medal winner of the 2008 Great American Beer Festival. Out of 104 IPAs, it took first place. Enough said.

If you like Racer 5, this is a great one in comparison. Very tasty. 7.5% Union Jack! Have only seen it in grocery stores in the area of the brewery (central coast, ca).

UPDATED: JUL 25, 2009 22 oz bottle via Hagen. Pours a semi-hazy amber with a decent sized somewhat chunky head. Doesn’t leave much lacing. Nose is all hops..mostly citrus..grapefruit, pine. Taste is very good. Wish they would have used some Simcoes in the finishing hops though. I love Simcoe flavor, ashamed to waste them in just bittering part of boil. I think i can almost tell they are there at least, and the the Centennial is nice along with the Cascade in the end. The tomahawks give it that extra punch in the aftertaste. THis is a very very good IPA and a half, bordering on IIPA territory, but without the high alcohol bite often found in IIPA’s. I think 7.5% in this case is just perfect. The body is just right too. Medium/full body. Malt backbone is there, but allows the hops to ride a 20 foot wave atop it. All this could use to make it perfect, in my eyes, are more Simcoe hops in the flavor profile,and more dry hopping for aroma. Not complaining though, this is better than almost every IPA out there. Well done! Now out to the freezer to get some Simcoes to drop in my Firestone! Do it yourself dry hopping!!!

One of my favourite beers of all time. There is a reason why this brewery won the 2012 Brewery of the Year at the World Beer Cup. This is their flagship beer and for good reason. A hop lover’s dream, right up my alley.