Lil' Opal | Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Brewed by:
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
California, United States
firestonewalker.com
Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 4.30%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
A low alcohol Belgian-style Saison session beer aged for 17 months in lightly-used medium-plus toasted American oak barrels.
Added by BeerAdvocate on 05-25-2008
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers
Ratings: 478 | Reviews: 61
Reviews by paulish:
3.75/5 rDev -5.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
More User Reviews:
4.17/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Reviewed from notes.
Pours clean blonde color with a good white head and a ring or two of lacing on the way down. The nose carries some oak and light acidity plus a bit of white wine. Fairly strong sourness comes around along with a bit of funk. The flavor is fairly-funky and brings some white-wine acidity as well as a bit of lemon. Oak comes in as well. Mouthfeel is really nice with the acidity pairing well with a bit of a tannic presence. Really tasty and another solid experiment into the wild category from Firestone. I really hope this becomes a bigger program in the future.
585 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Reviewed from notes.
Pours clean blonde color with a good white head and a ring or two of lacing on the way down. The nose carries some oak and light acidity plus a bit of white wine. Fairly strong sourness comes around along with a bit of funk. The flavor is fairly-funky and brings some white-wine acidity as well as a bit of lemon. Oak comes in as well. Mouthfeel is really nice with the acidity pairing well with a bit of a tannic presence. Really tasty and another solid experiment into the wild category from Firestone. I really hope this becomes a bigger program in the future.
585 characters
4.24/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
just when i thought normal opal was the best saison going, i go and have a glass of this one, wow is it delicious. refreshing light wheat malt base with copious brett and oak characteristics, and just enough tartness to be both citrusy and refreshing. maybe a little less dramatically hopped than regular opal, which i loved for its hoppy finish. this replaces hops with funk, and its a great tradeoff. so much sweet oak in the middle, it almost feels more substantial than its low alcohol really is. plush fuller body for a lighter beer too, with brett moving from almost grassy up front to all the way funked out as it finishes. super dry, just a little oak left on the tongue after i swallow. a joyous beer that i really need about a pony keg of to enjoy to the fullest. this is all day drinking wild ale, it would make a great sixes for firestone walker, although i bet we never see that. it would really do well i think, i would be a regular on it in that format! great accompaniment to almost any cuisine, versatile and delicious wild ale all around. maybe not the most complex or distinct, but its flawlessly put together.
1,129 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
just when i thought normal opal was the best saison going, i go and have a glass of this one, wow is it delicious. refreshing light wheat malt base with copious brett and oak characteristics, and just enough tartness to be both citrusy and refreshing. maybe a little less dramatically hopped than regular opal, which i loved for its hoppy finish. this replaces hops with funk, and its a great tradeoff. so much sweet oak in the middle, it almost feels more substantial than its low alcohol really is. plush fuller body for a lighter beer too, with brett moving from almost grassy up front to all the way funked out as it finishes. super dry, just a little oak left on the tongue after i swallow. a joyous beer that i really need about a pony keg of to enjoy to the fullest. this is all day drinking wild ale, it would make a great sixes for firestone walker, although i bet we never see that. it would really do well i think, i would be a regular on it in that format! great accompaniment to almost any cuisine, versatile and delicious wild ale all around. maybe not the most complex or distinct, but its flawlessly put together.
1,129 characters
3.48/5 rDev -11.9%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
3.74/5 rDev -5.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.99/5 rDev +1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Light gold in color with just a faint trace of head. There's abundant carbonation bubbles erupting from within. The aroma is of tart wild yeast, tart raspberries, plum, and woodsy oak. The mouth is reminiscent of carbonated seltzer water, but is somehow watery and fairly quaffable for a wild ale.
300 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Light gold in color with just a faint trace of head. There's abundant carbonation bubbles erupting from within. The aroma is of tart wild yeast, tart raspberries, plum, and woodsy oak. The mouth is reminiscent of carbonated seltzer water, but is somehow watery and fairly quaffable for a wild ale.
300 characters
4.56/5 rDev +15.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
On Tap
Churchill's Pub & Grille
San Marcos, CA
Hazy golden with a finger of creamy near-white head. Not great retention or stick, but this is a very low ABV beer. A pretty color. Looks inviting.
A cornucopia of bright, juicy fruit character: lots of peaches, apricots, and maybe even some mango. A tiny bit of wheat grain and mild grass with a bit of wood. Interesting, complementary, earthy and fruity yeast as well. This is a really wonderful beer.
A juicy, delicious, complex, but incredibly drinkable beer. Peach and apricot character combine nicely with mild funk and grass, a little bit of oak, and some citrus zest. Somewhat dry.
Thin to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Fantastic creation. I really want to see this in bottles.
752 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
On Tap
Churchill's Pub & Grille
San Marcos, CA
Hazy golden with a finger of creamy near-white head. Not great retention or stick, but this is a very low ABV beer. A pretty color. Looks inviting.
A cornucopia of bright, juicy fruit character: lots of peaches, apricots, and maybe even some mango. A tiny bit of wheat grain and mild grass with a bit of wood. Interesting, complementary, earthy and fruity yeast as well. This is a really wonderful beer.
A juicy, delicious, complex, but incredibly drinkable beer. Peach and apricot character combine nicely with mild funk and grass, a little bit of oak, and some citrus zest. Somewhat dry.
Thin to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Fantastic creation. I really want to see this in bottles.
752 characters
4.42/5 rDev +11.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Bottle into teku:
A vigorous pour leaves a small, weak, soapy, quickly-dissipating bright white head that has medium-large bubbles. The beer is quite effervescent overall. A beautifully vivid, moderately hazy, golden orange hue paints the body.
The nose is a luscious combination of peach, tangerine, lemon peel, and an earthy breadiness that shows a hint of vinegary acidity (the faintest) surprisingly intermingled with a luscious orange-peach marmalade sweetness.
Everything else comes along with no surprises (except a surprising amount of carb), following the previously mentioned attributes, but with perhaps with a touch of wood, and a surprisingly firm level of sourness. It's complex, it's delicate, yet intense. Notes of peach, lemon, apple, and a touch of a honey-like sweetness, yield near the end to a smoky, oaky, barrel-driven funk that finishes dry, but more woody than one might expect.
Overall, an exquisite beer. Complexity is the name of the game here. I appreciate this, considering my recent string of quite one-dimensional sours. I think this is an underrated brew.
1,095 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Bottle into teku:
A vigorous pour leaves a small, weak, soapy, quickly-dissipating bright white head that has medium-large bubbles. The beer is quite effervescent overall. A beautifully vivid, moderately hazy, golden orange hue paints the body.
The nose is a luscious combination of peach, tangerine, lemon peel, and an earthy breadiness that shows a hint of vinegary acidity (the faintest) surprisingly intermingled with a luscious orange-peach marmalade sweetness.
Everything else comes along with no surprises (except a surprising amount of carb), following the previously mentioned attributes, but with perhaps with a touch of wood, and a surprisingly firm level of sourness. It's complex, it's delicate, yet intense. Notes of peach, lemon, apple, and a touch of a honey-like sweetness, yield near the end to a smoky, oaky, barrel-driven funk that finishes dry, but more woody than one might expect.
Overall, an exquisite beer. Complexity is the name of the game here. I appreciate this, considering my recent string of quite one-dimensional sours. I think this is an underrated brew.
1,095 characters
3.58/5 rDev -9.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
A: Deep, clear, golden yellow with no head.
S: Flowers, brett funk, and a faint tartness.
T: Rich light malts, a quick wash faint tartness, then a very funky finish. Aftertaste is of strong wood flavors.
M: Medium body, light carbonation.
O: Interesting but not my favorite saison.
285 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
A: Deep, clear, golden yellow with no head.
S: Flowers, brett funk, and a faint tartness.
T: Rich light malts, a quick wash faint tartness, then a very funky finish. Aftertaste is of strong wood flavors.
M: Medium body, light carbonation.
O: Interesting but not my favorite saison.
285 characters
Lil' Opal from Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Beer rating:
3.95 out of
5 with
478 ratings
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