Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin

Brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Style: Stout
Paso Robles, California USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

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Bottle. Pours very dark brown with a diminishing frothy tan medium head. Aroma is toasted malt, caramel, raisin, flowery, roasted malt,mild licorice, chocolate, oatmeal and a wooden note. Taste is light+ sweet, bitter and very light acidic. Body is medium, texture is light creamy, carbonation is moderate.Finishes light dry and bitter with caramel, oatmeal and a mild burnt malt. Excellent stuff.

Jan 2013 bottle into a snifter. Very dark brown pour. Foamy tan head. Smooth cocoa coffee flavors. Dark red pit fruits. Plums pudding. Slight ash and spice. The oats successfully mute the sweetness. Excellent blend - though the barrel aged version (Velvet Merkin) is so much better.

Sample at CBC 2013. Black with a beige head. Aroma and flavour of roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, vanilla and oak.

Draught @ CBC2013. Pours brownish black with a small goldensih beige head that is rather quick to dissipate and doesn’t leave much trace on the glass while doing so. Smell is malty with sweet dark bread, roasted malts, coffee, burnt cereal, chocolate and charred wood. Taste is slightly sweet, bitter and malty with roasted malts, dark bread, burnt cereal, cocoa powder, dark roast coffee, charred wood and very subtle hints of laundry detergent. Mouthfeel is round, soft and medium bodied. Finish is tiny sweet and bitter with roasted malts, dark roast coffee, pumpernickel bread, charred wood and burnt grains.

Bottle. Taste is dark coffee, dark chocolate, roasted nuts and wood. Decent, but not as good as I had hoped.

Copenhagen Beer Celebration. Tap, 040513. Black with beige head. Aroma of roasted malt and barn. Flavour with chocolate and coffee.

Drinks a little flat for the style. It also poured with virtually no head. The bottle I am enjoying does show to be about 4 months old so maybe the 5.5 abv is starting to fade. Good but I don’t agree with the 98 score.

Bottle. Black with a medium sized ok lacing beige head. Roasted malt, light dark chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, wood. Taste is light/medium sweet and bitter. Light/medium body, velvety soft texture, soft carbonation. Very nice on the palate and easy to drink.

Got in a trade with swingracex. 12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 2/21/2013. Pours fairly crystal clear almost opaque dark brown color with a 1 finger fairly dense khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of milk chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, oats, toast, brown bread, light coffee, floral, and roasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of roasted malt notes with oats and light hops. Taste of milk chocolate, cocoa, oats, roasted malt, toast, brown bread, light coffee, floral, and roasted earthiness. Slight earthy roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, oats, roasted malt, light coffee, toast, and light earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice balance of roasted/bready malt flavors with oats and light hops; with nice robustness and zero cloying flavors after the finish; moderately dry on the finish as well. Medium carbonation and body; with a moderately creamy, smooth, and crisp mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with hardly any warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice oatmeal stout. All around nice flavor balance and robustness; and extremely smooth and crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.

CBC. Black with a light brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee and dusty. Flavor is quite sweet and moderate bitter. Dry and roasted moderate bitter finish. 040513