Oakpocalypse Now
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

Pours a ruddy reddish brown, decent tan head. Some fruit, booze, wine, caramel and wood, both aroma and flavor. Smooth texture, feels thicker than it looks, coats the palate nicely. I don't like wine, but it worked well here.

 

12 ounce bottle into a snifter. A 2024 release, had 2/22/25.

Pours a semi opaque orange amber color, with a quarter inch foamy head and spotty cling. Aromas of caramel, rye whiskey, vanilla, red wine, light oak. Pretty much the same flavors: rye whiskey, red wine, caramel, oak, malt, some vanilla. Smooth, a very good medium body, appropriately carbonated.

Very enjoyable. The wine barrels pop when it’s warmed and the rye barrels also show well. It’s quite good, but maybe less intense and more delicate than expected. Not a negative, just an observation.

 

Lighter brown clear body with a khaki cap that becomes a collar. Aromas of big bourbon and wine barrels, brings molasses dipped dark fruits, toasted caramel, toffee, with a rye, barley, dry earth, and oak backing. Tasted features molasses forward bourbon, red wine forward raisin, apple and a kiss of red currant, and rye booze with barley and earth. Sweeter but kept in check by the barley and wood. Where Oakpocalypse later was deep and dark, this stay lighter yet has plenty of complexity. Highly recommend both, but preferred later

 

Pink and brown, some foam.

Barrel and fruit on the nose, roasted malt too.

Yeah, that's a blend of beer and wine. Not too sweet and balanced by some bite. More malt, more flavor like toffee would be a plus, still very pleased.

Fine carbonation.

Received from @DIM in his onslaught of my poor porch in the second annual (I’m hoping!) Stouts and Barleywines BIF.
I approached this one cautiously as I have tried stouts aged in red wine barrels before and have not really enjoyed them. But my concern was unfounded.
The pour is a daaark amber color that is capped with a 1” tall beige head that recedes to a ring that stays there for the duration.
The taste; where to begin? The flavors seem to all come at me at once. There is that familiar malt base that is probably a little sweet for most but for whatever reason, I like it. The oak and tannins from the red wine swirl in with leather and vanilla, toffee and raisins. It just keeps going.
The feel is viscous, no partial about it, full on viscosity. Not thicc, just fully viscous.
OA, not sure if I am happy to have tried this or as it was the first in a series, whether I should have waited to compare.
Nah, I’m thrilled to have been able to try this.

 

 

Look - nice reddish brown with great rimming and lacing
Smell - rye, wine barrel, malt, caramel
Taste- complex layers of caramel malt with the rye whisky and red wine
Feel - full body creamy light carb
Overall - outstanding

Sampling a cellar temp 12 oz bottle poured into my snifter. Bottle is 2024 vintage, but no bottling date on the label that I can find.
The beer pours a fairly clear chestnut color with dense creamy beige head of 2.5 cm. This foam fades to sturdy surface covering and that remains throughout the sampling. I do get dense lattice on swirls or sips from the glass. Looks real nice.
Aroma is toffee, red grapes, brown sugar and hints of spicy rye whiskey. I dont get any hop character and there arent any fusol notes to betray the ABV on this beer.
First sip reveals a medium body and smooth texture with gentle, very fine carbonation. There is a little bit of a coating across my palate, from each mouthful. No warming booze, beer feels nice in my mouth.
Flavor is sweet, toffee, brown sugar, some red grape and raisins mix in and a little general fruitiness. Definitely sweeter end of spectrum up front. Beer moves to a little black peppery bite and dries out a lot on the finish.
Im really enjoying slowly sipping this beer on a chilly rainy evening. Would gladly drink this one again!!

 

3/22/25 - (Bottle- Home) (Chicago, IL) Bottle Notes: Purchased at Beer on the Wall for $11.01 on October 25, 2024 at store temperature. I refrigerated this bottle upon returning home before opening this afternoon. 12 oz, bottled in 2024, Vintage No. 01. 11.8% ABV. Barleywine Ale Aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels & Red Wine Barrels with French Oak Staves. Firestone Walker in collaboration with Revolution Brewing. O. G. 31.5 p [PLATO]; F. G. 11.6 p [PLATO]. 700 cases produced [LTD.], Color 48 SRM [MEDIUM CHAR]. Barleywine Ale Aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels & Red Wine Barrels with French Oak Staves. Always refrigerate, Store at 45 F, Serve at 55 F. Beer before glory. Brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, California.

Firestone Walker Box Notes: It may not be the end of the world, but it's definitely earth shattering - welcome to the Oakpocalypse. Conceived in collaboration with the strong ale savants at Revolution Brewing in Chicago, Oakpocalypse Now is a Triple-Oaked Barleywine initially aged for nine months in Estate Oak Rye barrels inherited from WhistlePig Whiskey. We later racked half of the beer to Herman Story red wine barrels while adding new single-forest French oak staves to the remainder of the WhistlePig casks. The beer then spent an additional three months soaking up all of this oaky goodness. The result is an insanely complex barleywine with shades of rye whiskey and red wine, all interwoven with notes of vanilla, toffee, licorice and dark fruits. Enjoy this beer now, or cellar in a cool, dark place between 45 F and 55 F. Allow it to warm up in the glass when serving.

Appearance: Poured about 10 ounces into a 12 oz snifter, yielding a dark bronze murky base, light tan creamy head which quickly clings around the rim like humans on a gravitron, negligible cover above the rest of the base. 4.0

Aroma: Let this sit 30 minutes to yield a nice barleywine blend of malt, caramel, red wine, oak, and rye whiskey. Mild in strength, components drift in and out of the lead, enjoying. 3.75

Taste: Somewhat consistent with the aroma, though the malt is sticky and syrupy and dominates over the rest of the blend components. Red wine and rye whiskey follow, with caramel and toffee backing. Rye whiskey the only component helping stave off unmitigated sweetness. 3.75

Mouthfeel: Sticky medium to full body, drinks at or perhaps above the ABV; it's quite strong. Faint slightly fizzy carbonation, sweet over all, thank you rye whiskey for your efforts to contain. Barrels the primary finish component, rye whiskey and red wine, plus sticky sweet malt and caramel. 4.0

Overall: This is a solid effort and collaboration. Perhaps I waited to long to dive in, but really not a wide variety of strong flavors beyond the aroma. Sticky sweet malt and rye/wine barrels. As advertised, but not as nuanced or enjoyable as my high expectations from these two breweries. 3.75

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a nice dark brown with a reddish tint. The nose is toffee, red wine, biscuits, tons of rye, slight maple, oak. Definitely a fruity sweetness that comes through.

The taste is lovely. Caramel really comes through here. Rye, oak, raisin, vinous, bread, malts, vanilla, and plums. A jammy note is there as well. Really easy drinking!

2025-03-16
12oz bottle served in a tulip. 2024 vintage (if there are any other vintages). Got it from @DIM return fire in Stout/Barleywine BIF #2.

Pours dark brown, burnt caramel / light chocolate color. Maybe it's hazy...think so, with a back light to confirm. Pours with a decent sized maybe one inch head on the pour, settles into a thick, even dense skin with a thicker less even ring. Smell is oak, berries, toffee, maybe some nuts and vanilla.

Taste is similar, but throw in a ton of dates. Maybe berry fruitiness is heavier, and there's something creamy. Rye isn't exactly noticeable on its own, but barrel is pretty clear. Red wine and rye barrels...if I think specifically about those, the flavors are more obvious, and quite interesting -- not perfect, but makes me think of rye with luxardo cherries.

Mouthfeel is thick, creamy, sticky, chewy. Overall, very nice.

 

 

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a Rev Deep Wood Series tumbler. Pours a fairly see-through dark amber but settles in the glass closer to brown with shiny, clearer maroon edges and a quick-to-fade dark khaki colored foam head that leaves a similar colored collar around the rim of the glass. Dark fruits, cherries, amaretto, red wine, light vanilla, toffee and bourbon on the nose. Taste follows. Dark fruits and red wine up front but in the background you get more oak, toffee and vanilla. Super tasty. Quite complex. Full mouthfeel. Almost syrupy. Quite the collaborative effort between these two titans of oak-aged ales.

Bottle pour - Biased opinion here so here goes - looks like something from a barrel. Nose is sweet and woody. Taste follows with stone fruit deliciousness. Excellent representation of the style.