Firestone Walker is Back in da Club with Bottle Service

image courtesy Firestone Walker

A long time ago, I went to my friend Tom’s thirtieth birthday party at some swanky club, where they had bottle service for something lame like Korbel and Titos. The bill was like $599 at a time in my life I was sort of on the thin-wallet side of things. I quickly learned to hate bottle service and clubs in general.

A decade later, when beer clubs became a thing, I was all in, until every damn bottle was filled from a bourbon barrel. I love a good bourbon, and love myself a stout, but the flavors of bourbon barrel-aged beers started leaning on the sweet side and lost all ability to be interesting. Once a year, I may get a taster of a BBA stout to remind myself why I don’t drink them anymore.

image courtesy Firestone Walker

Fast forward to today, where Firestone Walker is filling their annual quarterly Brewmaster’s Collective, and something happened to me that I haven’t felt in a long time…I felt interested. Like, yeah.

In the first shipment, there’s bourbon barrel-aged Parabola (which I’ve always rated 5/5) and a variant with ancho & figs….hmmm…interesting. Then there’s a Green Cheek and Pinthouse collab…hmmm…very interesting. SAISON WITH PAIR. Okay okay, you have my full attention.

the rest of the quarterly collections are even more interesting, with things like Tripel aged in chardonnay barrels, BBA wee heavy, a few wine BA sours, four-pack of propagator beers, and even a coolship wild ale. Of course, there are a lot of BBA things in the packs, but for some reason, their 12oz format makes them so much more appealing.

The beers alone are worth it this time around, but there are also perks:

  • 15% off all purchases, including beer, merch, and dining
  • Access to member tastings and events at Firestone Walker locations, including complimentary Collection Flights on designated days each quarter
  • VIP Taproom access and complimentary Paso Robles brewery tours for up to four guests
  • Complimentary taster and $7 flights at Firestone Walker taprooms
  •  Access to Library beers and earlier Brewmaster’s Collective exclusives
  • Lottery for a chance to purchase tickets to the 2025 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest

Head over and sign up, starting today. I just might.

firestonewalker.com/brewmasters-collective/ 

How Sour is Your Sour Beer?

Total Acidity vs pH by Jeffers Richardson at Firestone Walker

by Greg Nagel @OCBeerBlog

Back on an old episode of Four Brewers, we sampled some Barrelworks beers and noted something we haven’t seen before on a beer label, “Total Acidity.” We cracked jokes at our ignorance, “how much more acidic can it get? Uhhh, like 7.”

Over twitter, we got some response from Firestone Walker, but we shrugged it off as Barrelworks seems to be the only people using this format in the beer world. (Here’s the show for reference! )

[Download here if player is flakey]

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Recently, Jeffers Richardson, director of brewing operations at Firestone Walker Barrelworks, tied me to a chair at 10am on a Saturday in their cannery dungeon and forced his acids in my mouth, 10cc’s at a time. With a cooler full of Barrelworks beer sitting nearby, I put on my trust underpants and went with the flow.

People often mistake aroma for taste. Acidity is just the measure of acid in a solution (or soil). There’s two ways to measure that, pH and tactile acidity. In terms of tactile-wise, it’s a sourness on the tongue. One reason we use TA instead of pH is pH can be affected by buffers, so you don’t get a true measure of taste of acids. Just think of our bodies, if we eat all acidic foods, we don’t become acidic as we have buffers to break that down. PH is literally the measurment of hydrogen ions. Every time a free hydrogen ion goes into solution, pH lowers.  – Jeffers Richardson of Firestone Walker

In front of me is a place mat with four taster glasses filled with clear liquid. “Don’t drink!” yells Jeffers, as I secretly sniff each one. “Taster glass one is lactic acid, taster two is acetic acid and number three is citric acid…we couldn’t get Malic acid so use that fourth for water,” he continued.

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Dropping Acid Breakdown

Lactic Acid – This is what gives most sour craft beers their sourness. It is created by lactic-acid creating bacteria such as lactobacillus and pediococcus. At low levels, it’s soft and not really harsh (no burning sensations). I noted aromas of wet sugar and raw baked goods prior to baking. On the sides of the tongue and back of the throat, it is perceived as tart and sour. Plug your nose while swishing it around your mouth to avoid aromas: you can taste the sour sensation. Some mentioned it tasted like Greek yogurt, which is interesting as lactic-acid bacteria is also responsible for creating yogurt. Someone else noted it tasted buttery.

Acetic Acid – More harsh and punchy when found in beer. This acid is caused by acetobacter, which needs oxygen to survive.  At any level, it smells like vinegar or pickle juice. It is quite rough on the palate with noticeable burning sensations while swishing it around and swallowing it. Breweries consider acetobacter a spoiling agent. Some Flanders-style beers, such as Duchesse de Borgogne have small amounts of acetic acid to perhaps mimic properties and complexities of wine.

Citric Acid – More of a wine or mead thing, but it has a Sweet-Tart candy character. In homebrew shops, you can typically buy an “Acid Blend” that contains Citric, Mallic and Tartaric acids which can adjust acidity in wines. Not harsh.

Tasting Three Total Acidity (TA) Levels of Lactic Acid

Measuring sourness with three T.A. Levels as reference points

tongue_mapLevel 4 TA Lactic Acid: Slight tinge of numbness to the gums and roughness to the cheeks and big sourness on the sides of the tongue.

Level 8 TA Lactic Acid: Felt like my tooth enamel was coming off. Rough cheeks, mouth wateringly sour.

Level 12 TA Lactic Acid: Instantly caused the inside of my mouth to feel dead, like rubber. So sour I couldn’t taste it due to its offensive nature.

Next: I was presented with three Barrelworks beers and tried to guess the Total Acidity of each (at gunpoint).

AgresticBeer 1: Agrestic Ale (2014): Starts out as DBA (minus the barrel union) and undergoes primary fermentation at Barrelworks in Buellton. Once complete, it undergoes secondary in 87% French oak / 13% Freedom oak with Brettanomyces and two strains of Lactobacillus. My perception was a nice tannic/oaky beer. I plugged my nose to taste the sour and focused on what it did to my cheeks, teeth and gums. I thought it was in the middle of 4-8 and I picked 6. Actual TA? 6.6. 

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 Beer 2: Lil Opal (2014): One thing I love about Barrelworks beers is the level of oak. It’s a definite calling card for their beers I’ve tried thus far. Lil Opal is a truly wild Saison with juicy notes of citrus and tropical fruit like pineapple. Are the flavors and aromas yeast or barrel driven? Regardless, It’s a refreshing beer with a sourness that cleans up your teeth nicely with a little bit of gum tingle. I picked 5. Actual TA? 4.01.

SLOambic

Beer 3: SLOambic (2014): Olallieberry jam and oak all up in your business. I find it hard to say Olallieberry, so I just call it LOL-Berry. The berry itself is blackberry in appearance and grows in Central CA. I’ve long-loved the Framboise style of Belgian beers (raspberries) but this may dethrone it! Tons of jammy berry character with an aggressive sourness that bites at my teeth enamel and roughs up my cheeks. I thought it was a little bit less than the TA 8 sample and I chose 7.8. Actual TA 8.7. LOL-Berry! 

After all that acid trippin, I was fed crackers as they untied me and forced me into the Firestone Walker barrel room. After fifteen minutes smelling boozy wood at 50 degrees, I was left to fulfill a life of religious consciousness.

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Thanks LA Beer Bloggers and Firestone Walker for this unique opportunity! Disclosure: FW provided food, beer and transportation to the event, but wasn’t required. Hotel and take-away items were all purchased at full price on my own.

Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival – In Romance Novel Form

Every year, I strive to up my game covering events that I love. Last year I did the “Beer and Loathing in Paso Robles” piece which was a lot of fun. I recently hung out with New York Times best selling historical romance Author Tessa Dare and was inspired to write a short-form romance novella surrounding the 2014 FWIBF. Why not? 

I will warn you, the story is trashy with flashes of BDSM. It’s harmless though, if anything goes past your threshhold, just yell “PANCAKES” and I’ll stop. I promise. The story is fictional, but the beer and festival info is non-fiction. enjoy!

 

Love Buzzed up the Central Coast With Firestone Walker Page 2

…Continued (page 1)

Breakfast at 8: “Are there any egg bagels?” says I, Greg Nagels. I’ve been waiting my entire life to unleash that line of hilarity on a water/sleep deprived crowd. “You should start a youtube channel called ‘Egg Bagels with Greg Nagels like ‘Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis'” says Kip Barnes . Ten minutes later I find myself next to David Walker as I chomp down on a lightly toasted blueberry bagel with moderate schmear. “So, you like bagels?” I ask awkwardly. “Not really”, he says walking away, arms folded. Best first episode ever. I slurp my hot coffee and act cool.

credit Kelly Erickson - Girls Who Like Beer

Firestone Walker’s Sensory Man: Norm Stokes – credit Kelly Erickson – Girls Who Like Beer

10:30 A.M. we arrive at Firestone Walker’s production brewery in Paso Robles. It’s bright and sunny as birds chirp near the bus. Hop steam bellows out of the brewery tower sending all the hoppy grape nutty smells to my nose. Despite the early morning beer sweats, I feel revived.

“Welcome to sensory analysis” says Norm Stokes from their quality team. Analyzing my beer senses after a heavy night? I’d say my blistered tongue and histamines from debauchery twelve hours prior will have their way with any real analysis. My palate is shot to the point I can’t make out what the first beer is. “Is this DBA? It’s either got a woody note from barrels or repeatedly smacking my tongue with a barrel stave last night” I moan to my table. I’ve done blind tasting before but never with a blindfold on my tongue (well, maybe there was that one time in UCI’s dorms).

Sensory Analysis

P1070223A flight of five beers and a flavor wheel before me. Beer one opens up like a lid of Parkay margarine and says “butter”. You’ve probably heard a neckbearded beer geek say the word “diacetyl” while snapping their fingers and head from side to side; but until you’ve had a beer spiked with it, you haven’t lived. It reminds me of making out in a movie theatre with a drunk chick in the worst way possible. Subsequent samples are just as gross; DMS being the worst.  Dimethyl sulfide in this beer tastes somewhat like sour milk aged in a urine-soaked diaper, in a black car, in a parking lot, without trees, on a hot day, in Bakersfield, outside Wal-Mart. Fuck.

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The second panel of oxidized Union Jack is not much better. Beer served at 3, 30 and 300 days at room temp and refrigerated. The oldest/warmest sample tastes like cardboard that once carried asparagus, then a gene-positive asparagus pee odor vagrant ate some asparagus and then peed on the remaining box. All of the essential hop aromas and flavors drop out like a teenage pregnancy. The old one even has a haze like a pregnancy test; two lines of fog = abort down drain, pronto.

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same beer, 300 days apart

Although we all should know by now IPA’s are best served fresh, Firestone Walker’s beers are date stamped and good for 120 days, and best by 30 in my sampling. Moral of the story: Don’t hate, Check the date…Refrigerate, sucka. 

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This is part two of four from a recent beer-junket up to visit Firestone Walker Brewing Co. with the @LABeerBloggers group. Bus/Food and some beer was provided courtesy FW.

Beer and Loathing in Paso Robles | Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival

P1050620This post originally appeared on the website  West Coaster, a new Southern California beer magazine.

We were somewhere around the edge of wine country in Paso Robles when the craft beer began to take hold(1). Baked and dripping with sweat, I dump the remnants of my tasting plate on the ground and use it as a makeshift fan. The air is thick, hot and pointless, laying on us like a sleeping bag you can’t escape. Black bugs have somehow managed to attach themselves to odd parts of my body and pinch every so often. “Holy Jesus! what are these goddamn bugs?”(2) One clings to my armpit as I smack it and smack it again, making it bite harder. “SHIT! Shitfucker!” I yell as spectators laugh wildly. I duck in the bathroom and dunk my head under the bathroom sink, then sling on my hat to grab a beer…the only cold thing in this dusty, arid place called Paso Robles.

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Two seconds after this picture was taken, purple girl trust-fell into they guy behind her.

Flash backward a few hours as this ‘Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival starts and I’m in ‘kid on Halloween’ mode. Media check in and pre-fest starts early and I’m not taking any chances. It’s peaceful. Nearby cows moo. It’s time to drink.
P1050609Standing near Russian River Brewing I hear brewer/owner Vinnie Cilurzo say the words “five-day old Pliny and two-year old Temptation.” These words fish-hook multiple members of the press. We walk like we’re in a Broadway musical, jazz hands fluttering. A pretentious voice behind me mutters, “I’ve had two-day old Pliny once” while clearing his throat nervously. Five day old must taste like piss to this this guy. I toss it back, note the fresh Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial and CTZ hops and move on quickly for a glass rinse and something dark before it gets too hot. The forecast is dialed in at 104 degrees.
agostino from birrificio italiano and terrance sullivan of SN
At this festival, beers like Pliny the Elder are ‘just beers’. Not to discount the highly baited Double IPA from Santa Rosa, but there’s some serious beverages to be consumed today. Brandy Barrel Aged Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout from Cigar City (won the People’s Choice award), Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Lord Three Floyds Brewing and other barrel-aged treats that elude the west coast. Lambics, framboise and collaborations are being unleashed from MikkellerThe Lost Abbey and Firestone Walker.  Orange County’s sole contingent, The Bruery, is leaking several rarities on the crowd every hour. Tyler King, The Bruery’s senior director of brewing operations  quotes, “It’s an honor no matter where we’re from, we love so many of these breweries and to pour beer next to them is pretty amazing.”
P1050650As much as the public loves this festival, brewers also gush at the prospect of getting an invite.  Tony Yanow of Golden Road/Tony’s Darts Away quips, “We are a very young brewery and to present our beer along side our heroes is an honor.” Meg Gill, also of Golden Road reminisces, “I cried in a department head meeting about it today…I have the fondest memories of pouring beer with Tony the last hour and fans gushing over our Berlinerweiss. It was the first festival I brought my parents to..their first beer fest ever.”
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Fascinated with the thought of sampling fresh beer from Europe, my associate Daniel Fernandez and I make a trip to the fest’s ‘little Germany’. “I had no idea Germans were so tall” says Daniel with his sub-sombrero sized hat. The guys at Mahr’s Brau Bamburg put David Hasselhoff to shame, and the girl at BraufactuM is at least three inches taller than me in flats. Birrificio Italiano sent Tipo Pils, a beer that inspired Firestone Walker’s brewmaster Matt Brynaldson to brew Pivo Pils which should be arriving in the southland soon.
P1050662Of the many, many beers sampled, three are standouts:
  1. Mikkeller’s Spotancherry Lambic gives me repeatable goosebumps. Juicy tart cherries burst in my mouth with the tiniest sip.Tastes like fresh tart cherry pie.
  2. Lagunitas is shocked to hear my love for Sonoma County Sour Stout. “It’s pretty shocking considering we aimed to break every rule when making it…a stout on a hot day that goes down easy? Shocking!” says the biker-looking guy pouring. Layered flavors and aromas hit me, then hit me in waves with each sip. Tart roastyness, oak, tart fruit, some pleasant funk. The sign aimed to debunk it’s tastiness, only made me want it more.
  3. The Lost Abbey’s Framboise de Amorosa is also among my standouts. Very bright and clean raspberry tart without any metallic notes. Finishes dry with tons of flavor. Shocker, I know.
P1050624Food at the festival is dotted potluck-style amongst breweries. 25 local restaurants brought small-plate tastes to serve throughout the day. I really enjoyed the Bloody Mary Granita from Luna Red and Ancho Duck & Cheese Quesadilla from McPhee’s Grill. Near the end, most food was gone.
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The Music from Hot Buttered Rum fit the mood of the festival – hyperactive progressive bluegrass is something I could very well be a fan of without  knowing it. The White Buffalo also performed later in the day but I was blissfully altered by craft beer at that point in time (see top paragraph).
P1050623The Gripes – None! If you go to one festival a year in California, this is it. It’s like a GABF greatest hits mixtape in a small venue with really good food and music. This is the gold standard of beer festivals! Despite the hot temps, there was no problem finding shade, misters, water or an NFL sideline cooler.
Title,(1),(2) – quotes inspired by “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, copyright 1971 by Hunter S. Thompson
Bonus – I found out who signed this girl’s breasts…none other than Agostino from Birrificio Italiano.
P1050693Birrificio-Italiano_smal

Brewers Gone WILD! Firestone Walker Barrelworks

credit Beer of Tomorrow

It’s no Pea Soup Andersons! (credit Beer of Tomorrow)

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11:35 A.M – Buellton, CA Two and half hours up the coast from Orange County, the bus door snaps open like a UFO in a corn field. I jump out, apply a fresh coat of lip-balm, and crack my bones like I’m in a home run derby. A seagull flies over my head, lands atop a nearby flagpole flapping a British flag, craps, and flies away.

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I’m outside Firestone Walker’s Barrelworks, which I understand pours my style of drink: wild, sour and funky beers. After sitting on the road for a couple hours, I could easily drink a beer out of a hobo’s shoe! Stepping inside the warehouse, I’m sucked into a booming craft beer vortex. Nipples slowly erect with the temp, retinas dilate to the dark…I slide my fingers across a barrel and knock on it for good luck. “There’s creatures living in there” I whisper to myself like the creepy little lady in Poltergeist. The lights kick on, revealing an aging beer mothership of deliciousness. I feel like we’re here for a beer séance. Lets join hands!

Audio: Jim Crooks explains some history and philosophy behind Barrelworks

 

Inside, QC manager/Master Blender Jim Crooks (aka Sour Jim) gives the rundown on Barrelworks. Teamed up with OG brewer Jeff Richardson (originator of the Firestone Walker barrel union) started this “padded room for brewers” to create wild beers away from the production brewery. Micro-organisms like Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and wild yeast can wreak havoc in a brewhouse like an infected cruise ship, hence the need to “infect” these beers well away from home base. At the production brewery, bugs “can be the end all, the be all…We test for these bugs every single day, if any show up anything, be it in the DBA union, the entire union will get cancelled…get thrown out” says Jim. In a controlled environment such as Barrelworks, brewers can go nuts.

Starting with only 28 barrels last year, Brewmaster Matt Brynaldson secured 400+ two-year old Opus One barrels (pictured above with colored stripe) to use at Barrelworks. Using base beers brewed at the production brewery in Paso Robles, fermented beer is racked into barrels and transported to Barrelworks for inoculation and/or aging.

As of early 2013, the barrels are being used for:

  • Aggrestic Ale = DBA + Brettanomyces in secondary + Lactobacillus. Takes on a Belgian style Flanders quality.
  • Sour Opal = Lil’ Opal + Bugs
  • Reginald Brett = Double DBA, Aged in Bourbon + re-racked and inoculated with Brett.
  • Brettaweisse = Hefeweizen + Brett (Described in this post)
  • Raw Barrel aging with no bugs/brett is also done to see the character a raw barrel will impose on a base beer.
  • Collaboration with Mikkeller – Brewed saison, hit with bugs and locally sourced wine grapes. Will be available at the Firestone Walker Invitational beer festival in June.

Blending Session!

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After a beautiful Taphouse lunch, Jim puts my sour beer protégé Simon Ford and I to work blending a batch of Sour Opal.  With samples from three barrels, paperwork and a Ph meter, we get to work making notes of each and what works best. With souring, beers don’t really start to get interesting until the Ph gets less than 3.8, but we opt to use our palates instead of a meter. In the end, our zippy blend makes our palates do the Harlem Shake. “I think I’ve got a winner here” I say to David Walker. He samples it silently and slides the glass back on the table without saying a word. Ah well, we enjoyed it. Must be a British thing.

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Stealing Bugs - Credit Simon Ford

Stealing Bugs – Credit Simon Ford

Using my best guilt tactics, I ask Sour Jim if I can take some bugs home to further my own sour beer program. “Is there any way you can pay it forward like Vinnie Cilurzo did for you?” “(laughing) We used to steal bugs on coasters, let me get you some baggies” says Jim. Simon and I are giddy at the thought of dumping bugs from this roller coaster day into our homebrews.

P1050307The fun doesn’t stop there, as the unimaginable happens: Jim sneaks Simon and I deep into the barrelhouse for an impromptu tasting. Pulling a nail out of a few special barrels, Jim shows us the nuances of a few favorites. The same base beers with the exact amount of inoculent in similar barrels can have vastly different character. Each barrel is its own microclimate, its own universe. I have goosebumps. What a day!

P1050336Barrelworks in Buellton is not only a place for the brewers to go wild, it’s a place where the craft beer curious can learn more about barrel aged beers. It’s a beer geek’s classroom! Barrelworks has a full Taproom restaurant, gift shop, brewery fresh and cellared beer store, funky tasting room and a climate controlled barrel warehouse. Self guided tours are available. With a beautiful 2.5 hour coastal drive up, this is the perfect weekend getaway!