Wild Pirate
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

 

 

Bottle pour- murky and turbid reddish brown with foamy eggshell head leaving scattered lacing and bubbles. Nose is tangy with a bit of berry, funk and vanilla. Taste follows with a sweet/tart mashup and some barrel wood that lingers on the finish.

Taking a swim on the wild side, Firestone Walker corals the flavors of brown ale, bourbon, rum, strawberry and vanilla down a wily path. A path only suitable for the pirates of craft beer enthusiasm.

Pouring a russet, ruddy and reddish brown, the hazy garnet Wild Pirate comes out from its slumber to greet the nose with an earthen funk, whisky spice, buried cellar scent like its been locked in the bottom hull of a wooden ship. Citrus, woods and brine precede a scantly sweet taste of steely caramels, light toast and a hint of cola.

With the berries leading the way, the beer's middle palate shows a bright and tangy middle palate chocked full of balsamic-like sourness with crabapple cider, lime, grapefruit and lemon all having a branch-dried earthiness. Red grape, plum and berry carry a red wine personality with the bourbon and rum barrel influence taking the final frame into a brandy spice, grappa-like direction.

Light, crisp and off-clean, the refreshing nature of its acidity ensures a dry palate with a high degree of refreshment. It finishes spicy, snappy and toasty with an aftertaste of dry and spicy cola with those fruity acidities ensuring a sour acetic closure.