Favorite and Least Favorite from Firestone Walker

Favorite: Sucaba

Least Favorite: Easy Jack

I still haven't tried any of the anniversary brews or Parabola yet though (even though I have bottles of 17th and Parabola sitting in my garage)

 

Favorite: the soon to be gone double DBA :-(. And Parabola

Least favorite: DBA

 

Favorite: I'd probably have to say Sucaba, but Feral One is pretty damn close.

Least Favorite: 805, which is by no means a bad beer, just not anything I would ever pick over any of their other choices.

 

Favorite has gotta be Sucaba. Honorable mention to Double DBA.

Least favorite is easily regular DBA.

 

Favorite- Refridgerated Union Jack
Least favorite- Shelf Union Jack

Just feel I have to mention that UJ seems to fall off quicker and more extremely than any other IPA in my experience. I love it fresh, though.

Honorable mention- DBA. I like a little more hoppiness in oaked beers, but still one of my favorite english bitters/pales.

 

Favorite: Everything
Least Favorite: Velvet Merkin.

 

Favorite: Sucaba, Parabola, DDBA in a three way tie
Least Favorite: Union Jack, Double Jack, Velvet Merkin

 

Lists like this make me sad. Union/Double Jack are seriously amazing (I'd take either fresh over Heady any day). Too bad they're so hard to find fresh for so many people. Not to discount your opinion, just pointing out that DJ/UJ often don't get a fair chance.

 

Favorite Barrel Aged beer: Abacus. The Sucabas I've had since have been great, but I have very fond memories of my 2011 Abacus. Close second would be Double DBA.
Favorite non-barrel beer: Wookey Jack. I'm really not a big fan of black IPAs but this one totally changed my opinion of what a black IPA could/should be. Also was a big fan of Walkers Reserve porter before they got rid of it.

Least favorite: Umm... Maybe... I don't know. I've never met a beer from them I didn't like.

 

Favorite: '14 Parabola. Pretty much everything I want from a barrel-aged RIS: rich, decadent, yet not overly harsh like the previous vintages were. One of the few barrel-aged beers I'd call perfectly balanced, even.
Least Favorite: Double Jack. I should preface that I've never had this super fresh. Still, something's wrong when the most dominant flavor I pick up is pure table sugar...

 

Favorite: Wooky Jack
Runner Up: Parabola

Least Favorite: Sucaba (yeah, that's right, I really don't like barleywines so this one doesn't do it for me)

Firestone-Walker has been one of my favorite breweries over the past 4-5 years but I've been feeling differently of late. I still think they do some great things but I've come to feel that maybe a lot of their beers aren't particularly suited to my tastes. Let's run 'em down:

DBA - A perfectly fine ale but rather ordinary in this day and age, right?

Union Jack - I used to enjoy this more than I do now. Maybe it's a freshness issue, but it's still a maltier IPA and I prefer hoppier IPAs. I would take a Sculpin over UJ any day.

Double Jack - I first tasted this at their brewery just before it was officially released and I was thrilled. And I've had a lot of it the past few years. But I think there are better double IPAs out there now. These days DJ tastes a bit cloying (too sweet) and sometimes you can taste the alcohol. Again, maybe a freshness issue, but I'll take a Stone Enjoy By over DJ these days.

Opal Saison - Good beer but Saisons aren't really my thing so it's not something I'm going to buy very often

Sucaba - As I said above, I'm not a barleywine guy and this is a really expensive barleywine. I've sprung for a few bottles because when I find a hard-to-find beer I usually will grab it. But for the price, well, I think there are comparable barleywines out there for less money.

Anniversary Releases - I've bought 'em all for the past five years and I've come to realize that, at least for the past few years, they all taste pretty similar to me. And they have a lot of barleywine flavors and characteristic so, I'm finding these are not really for me, especially for the high price. I may still pick up a bottle if I come across one because it is fun to see what they've done, but for the money these just haven't done it for me of late.

Parabola - A great imperial stout. No complaints.

Wooky Jack - Probably my favorite black IPA out there.

805 and Pivo Pils - Perfectly fine beers but do they really stand out that much in today's craft beer market? Neither one strikes me as particularly innovative or different. And I realize they probably aren't supposed to be, but these are plain vanilla releases in my book.

Easy Jack - For a session IPA I do enjoy this one. Probably better than Stone "Go To" IPA but I like Lagunitas Daytime IPA better. And, with the exception of Alpine's Hoppy Birthday, most of these session IPAs just taste like watery IPAs. But EJ is a good option when I don't want to drink a high ABV IPA so I'm glad FW is brewing this one.

Double DBA - Besides Parabola, this is my favorite of their expensive special releases. I'm sorry to hear it's going away.

I haven't had the Sticky Monkey yet so I can't comment on that. Did I leave out anything else from their bottled releases?

Also, I visited their Paso Robles brewery a couple of months ago and they only had one special beer on tap (an IPA that was pretty good, but I can't remember the name). The rest of the offerings were the same as what I can get at the local store. So I was pretty disappointed by that. What is the point of going out of your way to visit a brewery if they're not offering anything unique? Maybe I caught 'em on an off night.

 

I haven't tried a majority of their beers, but of the ones I have tried....

Favorite: 2012 Double DBA (only vintage I have tried)
Least Favorite: Union Jack (it's actually a fantastic beer, but I prefer Walker's Reserve Porter and Double Jack, which are the only other two beers I've had from them).

 

You may be right, but I just think I dont like whatever combination of hops they use in those IPA's. To be fair, just because they are my "least favorite" FW beers, doesn't mean I think they are terrible. FW makes some amazing beers, those are just my "least" favorite.

 

Favorite is the delicious Wookey Jack
Least Favorite: Anything that is not Wookey Jack; although, I love them all and have yet had a FW beer that I have not enjoyed.

 

Favorite: Velvet Merkin, Bretta Rose
Least Favorite: I'm probably in the minority but I didn't think Stickee Monkee was all that great.

 

Favorite: Double Jack
Not-so-favorite: Velvet Merkin. Tried three different times, each time yielded surprisingly watery mouthfeel -- time and temperature did seem to give it a little more body, but at a blind test I would not have guessed that it was an oatmeal stout.

 

Been loving Easy Jack lately, one of the better session ipas out there imo. Surprised there isn't much love for DBA, it's nothing crazy but maybe one of the better balanced beers out there, and one of the only English pale ales I've enjoyed. Pivo is kick ass, especially during/after a long bar shift. And UDBA has no equal, I always grab a growler or two when I can make it to Paso. Also, good job on Bretta Rosé, that was a world class Framboise. Also forgot how great PNC was, glad it's coming back again. If I had to, I'd say 805 is my least favorite since I'd always take Pivo over it for something light, but it's a well made beer. Agrestic was the only FW beer I found disappointing, there was just too much buttery oak and/or diacetyl in that one.