A Firestone Walker Night at the City Beer Store

Dropped in on The City Beer Store and the taps boasted more than a few annual releases by Firestone Walker. Ok, maybe I’ve been laying in wait for this and I bolted over when I got wind of it. And it went a little like this…

Abacus: The barely wine nose was loaded with a lot of fun sugar. A great, traditional granular intensity defined the body with a bitterness seeping through the sweet, barrel aging. A mature barely wine that manages to be intense and robustly sweet but not cloying.

XV: The bourbon flavors were cloaked but unveiled themselves midway, wood notes were subtle but solid, lush fleshy, peachy fruit nose combined with a wish of vanilla in the body, and curious nutty note somewhere. Solid heavy mouthful, brown sugary, vanilla, bourbon roasted into a near endless tail. And the bourbon and malt flavors were more prevalent as it warmed up. Where can I find a cask…

Sticky Monkey: A true rarity, mid-sweet nose, both carmel and lightly vegetative, the intense sweets of the abacus are rained in with british or reserve. That is, the sugary nose and body quickly crashed into a wall of complex and satisfying malts. And the lingering wreckage is a pleasant way to pass the palate, a bit of plum and hops drowned in darker, deeper tones. But there is no lack of liquor. You may call it boozy, I call it home…

Black Xantus: Roasted and yummy. I have written this up and it often ranks as my beer-at-the-end-of-the-world, so I won’t get too poetic here. As for the 2010 served on tap in 2012… The bourbon intensity has been cashed in for chewy, stout taffy forged in a roasted malt forge and layers of char. And yet you can still taste that insidious, vanilla bourbon somewhere. Dark and pleasing.

Firestone Walker’s expert use of barrels and even more brilliant approaching to blending barrels without smothering flavor (indeed, they seem to be able to accentuate flavors but blend the edges into a well knit medium) works well across there lineup. I love this time of year. City Beer’s current lineup satisfies in every way… so long as you have a little pocket money, a penchant for 11%-plus beers, and a palate thoroughly addicted to quality, thoughtful barrel maturation and blending. Kudos to Firestone Walker. –Nate

Scarface makes the jump from screen legend to beer…

Dropped into City Beer and, what a surprise, another special release was on tap. Coincidence? I think not. Ok, so maybe I got a heads-up… but I probably would have ended up there anyway. Speakeasy’s special edition stout, Scarface was pouring. Speakeasy can brew up some good beers and I drink a fair share of their Hunter’s Point Porter. Scarface, however, I would say is their best expression. A solid, traditional stout with Speakeasy’s no-nonsense flavor profile. Roasted malts – dark and satisfying – and not a gimmick in sight. And then the special edition was tapped for all’s drinking pleasure. This was what the doctor order…and daddy needed his medicine. Dark black. Very dark… bordering on pitch-dark. Dense bourbon in the nose but not all at once… something held the spirit in check so as not to be overpowering. Enough olfactory foreplay. The body was roasted with chocolate, and coffee/caramel. Roasted… and smoothly tied together. The whole thing ended on a satisfying stout palate of dark and simple hues. A respectable melee of flavors… front-loaded with bourbon but conquered by stout.

Changing It Up a Little: Stone Brewing Co.’s Vertical Epic

I like to think of myself as more than just a one trick pony…and this goes for my alcohol consumption as well. Truth be told, I was into beer, specifically the craft beer scene, before I even whiffed a hint of peat. And arguably there are few better places better to be than in California for a front row seat in watching the craft brewery scene. I lived in San Diego for a couple of years and as a result I have always had a soft spot for Stone Brewing Company located in Escondido California.  I have enjoyed their Arrogant Bastard, Ruination IPA, Imperial Stout and Old Guardian Barley Wine to name a few.  But I have been much intrigued by one of their on going releases called the Vertical Epic.  Each year since 2002, Stone has been releasing a special edition brew.  The release date corresponds to all three numbers in the calendar being the same.  February 2, 2002, March 3, 2003, April 4, 2004 and so on.  This year the Vertical Epic was being released on October 10th.

This year’s release is definitely an interesting one.  This is a direct quote from Stone’s website regarding this year’s release:  “Stone 10.10.10 Vertical Epic Ale is mighty tasty right out of the gate. Fermented with the legendary Ardennes strain of Belgian yeast, 10.10.10 is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale brewed with pale malt and triticale (a cross of wheat and rye), hopped with German Perle hops, and steeped with chamomile during the whirlpool stage. In secondary fermentation, we added a juice blend of Muscat, Gewurztraminer, and Sauvignon Blanc grape varieties. The wine grapes came from Temecula’s South Coast Winery, located about 30 miles north of our brewery.”

Being up in Northern California it took me a little while to find a bottle.  Well today I finally picked up two bottles at my favorite beer store in San Francisco The City Beer Store.  If you haven’t been there and you live in the area, you are missing out.  Immediately upon nosing it you can identify its Belgian pedigree.  Deep rich fruits and a soft subtle spice invigorate the nose.  The taste is a little beguiling: fruity Belgian notes mixed in with the sweetness of the wine grapes, it is also very dry.  The spices linger and are very pleasant.  I forgot what chamomile tasted like, so I broke out my chamomile tea to refresh my memory and bam! there it was.

This edition of the Vertical Epic is an excellent complex beer.  If you are looking for a beer that you can sit with and really dig into this is it.  But be warned, get it while you can as this is a limited release.