apparently firestone walker can make a beer i don’t like

Smells like a cocktail with bitters; sweet, dry, couldn't tell if this is what it would taste like fresh, much like some of the other FW "cocktail" beers we've had aged. I don't know my liqueurs enough to dissect the flavor here.

This went bad, very bad. This was basically rubbing alcohol with a fungal aftertaste.

Quite sour with a buttery funk at the end. Good but also challenging.

Still extremely excellent. Chocolate, toffee, a little bit of fire on the finish, but overall very mellow.

Dream come true to get a new release of this, one of the first epic beers I ever tried. Did not disappoint. Smooth chocolate, incredibly smooth finish, medium sweet.

Thickish as you’d expect from Parabola. Strong mocha, fainter coconut… something of a stronger bitterness than expected to finish.

Cinnamon actually goes really well in this stout. And nitro of course. Yum.

I’m surprised I’m giving this such a low rating but it just seems over the top after the Georgetown. Not integrated in its strength yet.

Comparing this to the Zephyros from the day before, this was somewhat less appealing though it is, I think, meant to have a similar flavor profile. The sourness is sharper, more unrelenting, and I don't think I got any interesting hop flavors. Maybe the elderflower in the Zephyros is what made the difference? Or maybe this was just not as well-conceived.

Seems to be right at the perfect stage of aging. Fruitier, a little fizzier, just a touch more bitterness than the XXI. More toffee, more bourbon. Can definitely tell there is booze here, still.

Almost to the edge of too smoothed out, but still delicious. Light date flavors, caramel, just a hint of bitterness before dissipating to nothingness. Whatever edges were there are gone. This isn't the oldest anniversary ale I have, makes me wonder how the XIX is.

Smells strongly of strawberry puree, just deliciously fruity. The flavor is just a bit more tart than I was expecting, but still bright. This was delicious, and definitely lives up to Barrelworks' name.

Somehow this seems more cider-like though there are apparently no apples involved. Much more tart than the D'Vine, with a sourness that lingers on the lips.

Tart, clean apple, lightly sparkling. Finishes straight through sour with some bracing bitterness.

Harsh, almost tequila like, coconut is obscured. Fiery. A little vegetal.

Still tasted young but super interesting, cinnamon notes (from the wood if the descriptions are to be believed!), smoothly sweet and caramel.

The herbality of the orange bitters was a bad fit here, I think. I found it off-putting.

It is still very good, and probably smoother than before (but I have no clear memory to compare it to). Still, though, it's less coherent than other Parabolas have been and it finishes somewhat bitter after an interesting vinous opening. Maybe the tannins from the wine are creating a bit of disharmony with the hops. Still, small complaints!

Superlative Urn beverage consumed with gratitude to Eden.

The cinnamon and chili are immediately present in the nose. So much so that I expected it to overpower the palate, but surprisingly, it balanced it really well with the cocoa. Very good. Just short of perfection. Also happy birthday Mike. Thanks for the beer!

A super-resinous hop-bomb of a hazy IPA, the kind of beer I intensely dislike, but the coconut really mellows everything out. I couldn't tell if it ever became a harmonious experience or if my brain kept switching between "yuck" and "yum" but I guess it averaged out to decent.

Smooth. Burnt bitterness. I think this one is now clearly on the side of over-aged - it's definitely missing a lot of the complexity and there's nothing to buffer the finish.

Tasty and balanced.

I had just a sip or two of this but it was nice.

Lots of rum, caramel, a kiss of licorice at the end.

Very good; slightly sweet, smooth coconut; creamy Merlin flavor.

Honestly, this felt like a big disappointment after the other two - especially right after the Molé Merkin. In comparison, there was a bit of a vegetal weirdness to the flavor here. It evened out after the palate adjusted, and it's hard to argue the easy appeal of sweet, but it definitely colored my experience.

This was super yummy! Not overwhelmingly sweet, but just smoothly dessert-like. A bit of heat on the backend.

So many winners from Firestone. This one was exactly as advertised, a sweet bourbon Manhattan flavor; cocktail-like until it veers back to beer territory right at the end. Boozy without being punchy or strong. Smooth, refined, and delicious.

Watery and bleh.

So, I realized recently I haven't liked any maple stouts, and this one edges toward the same faults, but - it's just barely not too sweet, and underneath it's still Parabola, dark and complex and a bit dry, balancing it out. That said, the maple still floats a little separately, and while it's still great, it's maybe my least favorite Parabola so far.

Love wine barreled stouts, and this is ... big winner. I foolishly didn't take notes and this was a couple weeks ago, but I have another bottle so I'll write more then.

This beer has now been ten years in the bottle, and it definitely seems like that was too long. This is like the skeletal remains of a great beer - it's there in outline but all of the character has smoothed out to the point where it's just a vaguely empty chalkiness and a pure alcohol flavor. Real uncanny valley stuff.

A little different than I expected; opening is smooth, sweet chocolate, a notable alcohol flavor (not whiskey; just... strong), and a more bitter than expected finish. It's as if the aging erased a lot of the middle complexity of this beer leaving a strong beginning and end but no progression between. I mean, it was still excellent.

I spy a glass of this left in the bottle for me. Woah. Boozy & Chocolate. I’m suddenly very sleepy...

Aged a bit but just short of perfection today...

Sooo smooth. Toasty, light coffee, caramel.? Clean not to sweet finish

Tropical-citrus "juicy" hop flavors of the type that are common in Hazy IPAs, however this one was so mild in all of the other aspects of hoppiness (bitterness, resin, sharpness) that it crossed over into highly unusual territory. A "juicy light blonde" is maybe the closest I can come to describing it.

Smells strongly of rum. Mellows out quickly, with lime and ginger subtly mixing to create a harmonious, possibly healing concoction. Yum!

This was good. I only rated at the time, didn't write notes, so I can't say more than that, except that I remember thinking this was as expected for Firestone Walker.

Not bad. Fairly mild, a little brackish but with hints of sharp juice.

Just hints of spice, primarily caramel. Super mellow, less booze, more barrel.

Very rich, butter and cornflakes, yeast Tang and grass. Takes a little away from crispness, but it is tasty.

Just as good as I remember, light,tart, vinous, clean. Doesn't stick around in the throat, and I appreciate that it wasn't an ABV bomb too. Cause on a day like this... Anyway, see my previous entry for this.

Such tart. Many raspberry. Seriously, though, this was so sour that I think it gave me a headache. I'm reading my previous description of this beer and it doesn't even sound like it's from the same universe.

This is the first time I've had this beer on draft, and it seems... different. In the bottle it's got very honey-like, mellow buttery notes. This was a little more like straighter butterscotch flavors on top of a strong, good barleywine. It was still very good but it wasn't sublime. Out of the bottle it was sublime.

I mean, this is a very good beer but after two Parabolas it's going to lose. Sorry not sorry. Lighter, a little sharper. Definitely less intense in every direction.

Yeah, this was delicious. Still thick and intense, but with the wonderful complexity of Parabola smoothed out by coffee. Absolutely delicious, and you could almost say this goes down easy after the Scotch!

I mean, this is just a whole heck of a lot. This is smoky, peaty, and also a lot less sweet than what gets transmitted to the regular Parabola from its barrels. It tastes like Scotch, basically, and that character is dominant. Parabola is here, thick and rich, but smoke is king. Something to chew on more than adore, this needs to be sipped in small increments.

Very tasty.

Still a superb beer. Not profound, I think its lightness prevents that, but so, so smoooooth.

Sweet, plummy, smooth.

Unnnnngggggghhhhhh

I’ll just add what Mr T said here because he so rarely gives a description: “Mmmmmmm. Smells like something worn many, many times by a lady of the night.” “I can smell the arthropods.” “Are you trying to get me drunk?”

Fragrant and super-flavorful. Decent amount of cereal body. For something with the words "imperial" and "rye" in the name, this was actually refreshingly light and smooth. Then again, I thought the same thing about Fortem and then was totally disappointed the second time. WE'LL SEE.

Sploosh.

Complex, lightly sour weisse. Funky, aged-cheese character plays with the mind but doesn't really detract from the flavor in the end. Only wished for slightly more carbonation.

Anise and cinnamon

This was a lot more grapefruit and alpha than I remember for this beer. Very meh this time around.

Bubblegum and alpha. This is a much different flavor profile than I expect from a Firestone Walker IPA, so at first I thought it just tasted weird. Then I realized it was just my expectations.

A very dry berry sour, one of the least juicy I've tried. The berry flavor is very realistic, but muddied by a kind of tomatoey murkiness. Finish leaves a salty feeling on the lips and a few smacks of the mouth. It's... more good than it is enjoyable, I guess?

Definitely the style of IPL I do not enjoy, this was decidedly in the hops camp with high alpha bitterness and a kind of undefined tropical guava flavor (but definitely not the real-guava of Back Pedal earlier in the week). Slightly metallic.

Pours very dark. Lots of astringent chocolate and a lot of roast. A lot like a CDA in that there's a fruity hop spiciness that kind of fights the normal dark ale flavors, but with additional spices added. Some dried-fig/molasses and a ginsengy root flavor.

Another really strong sour beer from Firestone Walker; fruity, stone fruity sour with a medium-strong tartness and a super-clean finish.

Thick, sweet and boozy. Not as purely enjoyable as I've remembered from the past, but the competition was decidedly strong.

Less overwhelming than Parabola and more nicely balanced for today, I thought. Good barrel overtones, definite whiskey/toffee notes, but in a more medium-bodied porter. Definite roast-smoky character further distinguishes it as its own beer.

Smells quite tart, flavor is puckering but somewhat less sour than I expected. Very clean, bright cherry flavor, dry, savory-ish lip smacking finish. Another keeper from Firestone Walker.

A deep red color, with an effervescent sour scent. A lovely drying sweet/sour flavor.

Yasssss

Dug this out for a special occasion. Yeah. That's... smoooooooooth.

I can totally see where that taste in the anniversary ale came from now.

Pretty delicious; doesn't taste nearly as strong as the Imperial moniker would hint at and with the pretty much perfect balance of hop and malt flavors that you'd expect from Firestone Walker. This might be my favorite IPA of theirs yet.

Plum, booze, toffee. Very, very smooth, which is a nice surprise for an anniversary ale this young. Otherwise, has a great deal in common with the most recent years of this series.

Bracingly tart, complex sour ale. Clean, "aged tasting" finish. Really, really delicious. I didn't notice a sweetness in the finish as the previous log entries state, but it may just have been in comparison to the noticeably sweet finish of the Saint Archer Gose.

Mild for a sour.

Assertively tart to open, with a funky, crisp, undefined-fruit (cherry x apricot?) sourness. The funk starts with a white wine fruitiness and finishes with a curl, but not quite into the goaty cheese territory of a Cantillon, etc.. In fact, it borders on refreshing, somehow. Some tannic / metallic dryness to finish.

Mild hoppiness that was good but a little weak.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Tequila at the forefront, blunts the natural sweetness of the base beer with agave vegetal flavors. Finishes clean. Can't decide if this is better or worse than the regular Merkin, but it's certainly fascinating.

Excellent lager with well-integrated fruity-hoppy notes - like a grapefruit pale ale combined with a pilsner. As refined as you'd expect from this pair of breweries. I think I like this better than the Pivo Pils.

Fresh-tasting IPA, much like I remember the #001 tasting, although in context, the dry-hopping seemed a little blatant and oily-feeling. Lemon-droppy hop character. Still pretty good but I couldn't help thinking I could have done better.

Heavy on the bourbon, clear toffee and caramel and alcohol on top of a solid brown. There's some kind of interaction between the hops and the wood here, though, making for a dry pucker and acrid bitterness on the finish. This should have been an easy winner and instead it bordered a bit on unpleasant.

The Sure Thing, starring John Cusack.

Clean, tart, sharp opening. Some fruit, with a sweet, wheaty finish.

Very complex, a perfect balance of the thick molasses and the lingering oak finish. So easy drinking it's dangerous.

Oatmeal sweet, mellow stout. Smoothed out considerably by nitro but without the chemical/soap flavor that usually hits me with such beers. Not surprising, because the original Merlin was so good, but a really tasty nitro stout.

So I'm not normally into light hoppy beers, but this one has a nice mouth feel and the hoops are nice and pine needley and grassy. Comes together well.

Dry raspberry, very clean. Not very beer-like, and surprisingly little funk. This was cleansing, and I liked it a lot.

Very smooth. Chocolate, caramel, roasted flavors.

Tasty. So tasty it'd be worth walking a block over to a friend's place to drink.

Beeeeeeeeers

Still really tasty. Maybe even better than I remembered.

Still one of my favorites! Smooth, buttery, dark fruits, molasses, caramel, dark chocolate.

Pretty good oatmeal stout. A little light though. Boozy, fruity, very slight carbonation.

Fruity hoppy, citrusy, bright, grapefruit.

Wonderful coconut, vanilla smell. Similar flavors with some additional bitter flavors. I get some kind of rice pudding flavors?!?

Holy sweetness blowout, after the Simple Malt.

So this is the proper level of sweet in a beer.

Firestone knocks it out again! A strong blonde barleywine with a similar scent to Sucaba but with a much mellower, honey-butter-like finish, with a touch of florality on top. You can even taste the barley in there, which is nice for something so boozy

Very nice. Tastes a little bit stronger than what I remembered. A little bit more bitter also. Otherwise it's a great barley wine with nice roasted caramel flavors.

Wow. Really well done. Citrus and hops hit you right away, but smooth's out to a lovely rye spice finish.

Bright hop smell, forward snappy hop taste and strong hop finish. Cereal taste is flat after the hops are accounted for.

Deceptively smooth, but hard hitting. Loads of citrus notes with a lovely hop forward finish. Great beer.

Loads of citrus load up this smooth easy drinking session ipa. A lovely beer.

Amazing beer! Reminds a lot of the Sticky Monkey I like so much. Great mix of caramel, molasses, dark fruits and oak flavors.

My first impression of this is that this was largely Stickee Monkee in composition, due to the color, thinner mouthfeel and forward plum/date flavor, but apparently this beer is almost 50% Parabola. Never would have guessed. A clean-ish finish with just a bit of tannic / woody astringency to close. This probably needs time to mature -- it was really good but I'd take a straight Parabola or Stickee Monkee any day.