Parabola
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

 

 

Poured from a bottle. 2023 vintage.


Appearance - Body is black as the night with a dark brown short head that disappears into some wispy bubbles. The dark brown head was expected and didn’t disappoint.

Smell - Malty and molasses, chocolatey and some boozy bourbon hints. Not overpowering but pleasant.

Taste -Malty right away. Some coffee tones and darker fruits. Smooth chocolate finish with some mild hints of booze. Great taste and pleasantly surprised by the subdued alcohol boozy presence throughout the sampling. Very rich beer.

Feel -Lower carbonation, minimal boozy sting and a lighter body than expected.

Overall - Great beer that I feel privileged to try. I couldn’t drink many of these in one sitting as they are pretty rich but a very enjoyable beer everyone should sample.

2011 edition from the bottle at home with Humiston. Just great all around.

 

Firestone Walker Brewing Co. "Parabola 2015"
$10/10 oz. on tap @ Falling Rock Tap House, CO on 6 October 2019

Notes: Labeled at 14% ABV. Very dark brown-black body beneath a short head of tan. Malty in the nose with notes of dark malt, Bourbon, roastiness, charred oak, vanilla, and coconut. The flavor is intense. It's malty, sweet, and a touch "hot" from the alcohol with notes of coffee-like roastiness, Bourbon, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, plum, molasses, charred oak, caramel, vanilla, and coconut. It's full bodied on the lower end and remarkably smooth and creamy. There aren't too many beers like this one.
Review #8,682

 

 

Poured from the bottle into a cool tulip glass. 2023 vintage. Consumed at approx. 50 degrees F.

L: Solid, jet black. Very slight desaturated brown head.
S: Strong sweet chocolate nose, a bit of something like caramel and even some coconut. A bit of booze.
T: Dark coffee and chocolate brownie, not terribly sweet. Again, something akin to lightly toasted coconut flakes. Surprisingly there seems to be some more acidity than I was expecting. Big boozy finish.
F: A bit lighter than expected, but still fairly heavy. Slight carbonation. Moderately warming.
O: A brighter stout than I was expecting, but still fantastic. Just the right amount of warmth, and plenty of rich, dark and sweet flavors to play with. One of the best stouts I've had.

 

 

 

2021 Vintage. Pours a very dark cola brown, half-inch tan collar of head that leaves wisps of lacing. Nose is big on whiskey and rye, along with wood, vanilla, char, licorice, molasses, brown sugar; aromas really gel and round at as it warms. Flavor is equally complex - lots of spice from the rye, sweet molasses, wood, Canadian whiskey, light vanilla, sugar in the raw. It manages to avoid becoming an overly boozy nightmare while still highlighting the spirit barrels, all without loading up on sugars and adjuncts. Mouthfeel is thick and chewy, though not so much as BCBS; there's also some light carb as well. Pretty exceptional.

12 ounce bottle poured into a snulip.
2023 release

L: Clear dark brown and oily, has legs, half inch of red-hued light brown head recedes to a tight creamy foam ring.
S: Bourbon barrel, fairly strong alcohol, as it warms notes of fig and molasses-like dark sugars come out.
T: Bourbon barrel and alcohol, roasted malt, bitter dark chocolate, notes of dark fruit, finishes with a woody hop tang
F: Medium-full body, medium carbonation, smooth and creamy, small viscous oat feel, finishes with some heat.
O: A big sipping RIS, a little hot, the alcohol character dominates, still really good.

2023 release:
L: as you'd expect motor oil
S: Big bourbon & cherry nose with a little coffee.
T: Taste follows with chocolate vanilla & oak. The malts are subtle and tannins from the barrels
provide a pleasant counterbalance. Cherry flavour lingers a long while, but does not dominate.
F: neither thick nor thin
O: always love a Parabola.

 

L: Poured from a 12oz bottle into a sniffer - Jet black pour with a decent head appearing. About 3 fingers length to be exact. No lacing left behind as the foam dissolves back into liquid form.
S: Getting a sweet bourbon cherry aroma from the first sniff, can definitely smell some coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and oak in there. Very well done on the nose! It hit all the marks that they advertised and it was very noticeable/ well balanced. This deserves a 5/5 for me.
T: Tasting bourbon, cherry up front as the nose indicates. Getting some big coffee, chocolate, vanilla and oak as the nose followed. It's rare the nose is tasting the exact same in a similar order to the nose.
F: A good sipper - easy to sip in my opinion, full bodied, medium acidity.
O: I can see why this is a world class beer. this big 13.5% beer showed us what we can expect on the firestone walker website and this is exactly what we got. I tried to look for more flavors and one can argue it can have some dark fruits but I would say it's pretty rare a beer company hits it spot on and actually tastes good. Good job firestone, I applaud you for this one.

 

2022. It didn't taste like a Russian Imperial Stout to me, too sweet, in fact I think Rasputin is a better representative. And forget about comparing it to Sam Smith's RIS. I was thankful the bourbon still came through strong which did a lot for the taste. I think the most noticeable things about this beer are its ABV of 14.1% and it's "weight", both of which put it in the one-and-done category...and that's if you can finish the 12 oz bottle, which I was barely able to do after about 2 hours from the time I poured it. The ABV and the weight really work against the enjoyability of this beer.